| What Ireland now knows Free Catholic Ireland has suffered a series of moral earthquakes that have shaken it to its foundations. The latest shock arises from the publication of the Ryan Commission Report into the industrial school system that used to be run by religious orders, ... | Cometh the hour |
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Features
 We are in this together Free Philip BlondLiberalism is rooted in an individualistic account of humanity that has difficulty in accommodating the concept of objective virtue. Instead of ruling ourselves in line with this diminished ‘reality’, we must develop institutions and government that take account of our essentially social nature... |  Joy at the cathedralChristopher Lamb, Isabel de BertodanoThe music, the spectacle, the solemnity, but above all the prayer and eloquence of the new Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, will be remembered by those who attended his installation Mass on 21 May. Here we present some of the central images of the occasion and members of the congregation recall the highlights of that day... |
 Mercy, after all these years …James RobertsProbably the most difficult question for many Christians is ‘How can your God allow this?’ when we are faced with the cruelty suffered by the innocent. The Church tells us that in time we will understand what we cannot now comprehend. This teaching was reinforced for one man 50 years after the death of his father... |  Keeping faith in the BBCJonathan Wynne-JonesThe Corporation’s new head of religion and ethics has in the past specialised in commissioning hard-hitting programmes. He is also the first Muslim in the post, prompting some to accuse the BBC of anti-Christian bias. So what is the future of religious programming under Aaqui Ahmed?... |
 Our guiding lightVincent NicholsOn Sunday we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost when Jesus’ disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is, says the new Archbishop of Westminster, a celebration of the presence in our lives of the Spirit who guides even the patterns of history... | Undesirable suitorsBen QuinnAs the British National Party courts the Christian vote in European and local council elections next week, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York express concerns that the far Right could benefit from a backlash against the main parties in the row over MPs’ expenses...
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Many tongues, one voicePete CoppolaToday in Britain many parishes can be seen as microcosms of the universal Church, in which people from many nations gather together to worship the one God. Pentecost is surely the most appropriate moment to celebrate this unity in diversity...
| Both gift and giverDaniel McCarthyThe way in which God gives to the faithful is described in this prayer in increasingly specific terms, says Daniel McCarthy. In it, God bestows heavenly bounty on the Church generally, and then, more concretely, his personal presence...
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A visit of two halvesBernard WassersteinWith the dust of the Holy Land now shaken from the papal slippers, we can discern more clearly the effects of Benedict XVI’s pilgrimage. His path to Jerusalem was paved with good intentions but the results were mixed...
|  Hungarian rhapsodyDominic PrinceAmerica had Seabiscuit when times were tough in the 1930s; today, says Dominic Prince, Hungary’s national mood is being lifted by the winning ways of Overdose – now dubbed the Budapest Bullet... |
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Columnists
 Catherine Pepinster‘There is little space in the definitions of sin for the place of the victim’  Christopher Howse‘I would love and admire The Daily Telegraph even if it did not pay my wages’
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Books and arts
Zealots who fanned the flames Free
Fires of Faith: Catholic England under Mary Tudor
Eamon Duffy
Wishful thinking is a perennial companion of moral outrage. In particular, we wish that those two cardinal virtues, prudence and justice, were indivisible. When fulminating against ... |
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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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