Sorry seems to be the hardest word

In the current ‘shame culture’ that appears to have overtaken the BBC, executives must make sure that there is not one rule for gaffe-prone superstars, such as Jonathan Ross and Jeremy Clarkson, and one for lesser mortals, such as Carol Thatcher...

Voyage from faith

The idea that Charles Darwin’s discoveries about natural selection destroyed his Christian faith is a myth. Rather, what made the great naturalist – born 200 years ago this week – agnostic, was the inability of his own lukewarm version of Christianity to deal with acute personal suffering...

Now it’s up to them

A former head of relations with Jews for the United States bishops’ conference outlines the steps he believes the Society of St Pius X must take before the Lefebvrist group as a whole can be admitted back into full communion with the Church...

Already inside the tent

Rome’s demand that all SSPX members recognise Vatican II and the Magisterium of all the Popes from John XXIII to Benedict XVI could turn out to be little more than window dressing if the experience of other traditionalist groups already under papal patronage is anything to go by...

Is a country churchyard worth a Mass?

This week Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor used his speech at the Church of England Synod to urge Anglicans and Catholics to work together. But a fierce argument in the heart of a Kent village reveals that divisions of the English Reformation can still lie deep...

Justice blind – but dumb

The recent refusal by the High Court of the request by Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed for evidence relating to his alleged torture highlights the powerlessness judges feel when faced with politicians’ demands for closed courts in the name of ‘national security’...

Daily bread from Heaven

Our ordinary desires and familiar hunger can guide us on the heavenly path, if these are formed and informed by the body and blood of Christ, explains Daniel McCarthy. This prayer shows how, in his presence, we come to want the very things that we truly need...

Don’t stifle the flame

Some Catholic schools want to make baptism within a year of a child’s birth a condition of entry, while some churches also insist on early initiation ceremonies, citing canon law. But do such rules take into account people’s complicated lives – or the way in which faith sometimes emerges?...

Cape crusaders

...