The labours of Obama

America’s new president will enter the White House on a tide of goodwill next January. But, conscious of the fickleness of popularity, he knows time will be against him as he squares up to some of the most Herculean of challenges ever faced by an untried leader...

Might of metaphysics

Lying behind the current financial crisis is the same ethical lacuna that hinders effective debate over climate change – a lack of any clear moral compass beyond compliance with the law. What is needed is a return to the classical virtues...

Epicentre of the faith

At the recent Synod on the Word of God in Rome, there were indications that preaching at Mass often left something to be desired. Here a professor of homiletics argues that the homily can be the heart of a mutually enriching conversation between faith and culture...

Log in the Church’s eye

The Bishop of Lancaster has accused university-educated Catholics of sowing dissent in the Church with their ‘misinterpretation’ of the teaching of Vatican II. Here, a leading theologian asserts the importance of education to discipleship, and says that perhaps the failings come from the top...

A therapy for life

In the latest of our series of interviews with those whose faith informs their work in social care, Terry Philpot talks to an eminent psychiatrist who says Catholicism works like a diagnosis to help him understand and make sense of what is happening...

To a blessed eternity

When we offer ourselves to Christ, we come together with him in his own offering of himself, and thereby join in the glorification of God. Our continued participation in the liturgy transforms us, writes Daniel McCarthy, so that we can give ourselves ever more freely...

We are not alone

Prisoners’ Sunday takes place tomorrow. An exciting new initiative pioneered in south London aims to help former prisoners to avoid reoffending by giving them a sense of belonging in a small community...

Bringer of dreams

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