| Peace must prevail Free Israel's ferocious military assault on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza has brought international condemnation, despite its insistence that it is only targeting militants and terrorists. Hundreds have been killed and hundreds more injured, including ... | Mixed episcopal messages |
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Features
 The struggle continues - in the familyFrancis McDonaghTwo leading Brazilian theologians have been squaring up to one another in a debate that captures the current state of liberation theology. The radical Leonardo Boff, who left the priesthood, and his brother Clodovis, still a priest and increasingly conservative, are at odds over the 'option for the poor'... | They traversed afarLucien de GuiseCologne Cathedral is a place of pilgrimage for its supposed relics of the Magi, but a modern industrial city in Iran probably has a stronger claim as the final resting place of the three wise men of Matthew's gospel. It provides an unexpected link between ancient Persia and Christianity ...
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 Now say thank youPeter KavanaghMargaret Visser has spent an entire career exploring what our manners and morals tell us about ourselves, writes Peter Kavanagh. Her latest study is on giving, receiving and above all gratitude, which she argues is the social glue that holds everything together... | Lead, kindly lightDaniel McCarthyThe prayer after Communion for Epiphany evokes the star that guided the Magi to Bethlehem, and uses this image to convey the idea of the heavenly light that leads us on our whole Christian journey - including, Daniel McCarthy explains, the light of the Eucharist...
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Best and worst are yet to comeThe year ahead: 2009The past year has seen cataclysmic changes, both for good - with the election of the first African American to the White House - and for bad, with chaos in the world's financial markets. Here our experts take an informed guess at what the new year has in store...
|  Power of the unionIsabel de BertodanoWith more turbulence in the economy forecast for 2009, church leaders are encouraging communities to set up credit unions. They can help with emergency loans to the most vulnerable and keep predations of the loan shark at bay... |
Green thoughts in a greener ChurchEllen TeagueMany people are looking for ways to incorporate their concern for the planet into their Christian faith. Scripture, theology and mystical writings can all help develop our concept Creation, and inspire the search for practical ways to care for it...
| 'Do whatever he tells you'Edward KesslerJesus' Jewishness has been highlighted by recent biblical scholarship, but the fact that Mary was a Jewish mother, however, has been largely overlooked. An appreciation of this fact casts her role in a revealing light...
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Columnists
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Books and arts
Old songs newly minted Free
The Bard: Robert Burns, a biography
Robert Crawford
Robert Burns was an alchemist of the commonplace, with a rare touch for turning folk speech and folk song into gold. This is a great gift, and he knew it: "My muse, tho' ... |
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Is the Church too slow in recognising that academies are the future for Catholic schools?
Christopher Lamb
According to the chairman of governors at the Cardinal Vaughan School, west London, one ... Goodwin the scapegoat
Elena Curti
There was an old Sixties TV series, Branded, about a disgraced soldier that always began ... The pain of being a coeliac Catholic
Sr M, guest contributor
"Whoever comes to me, I shall not turn (him) her away" (John 6:37). Many readers will recognise ...
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