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Terry PrendergastThe numbers of people getting married in Britain are decreasing and the sharpest falls are in church weddings, particularly Catholic ones. Here, an expert on the institution argues that one cause of the decline is our diffidence in advocating the merits of marriage Free
From the editor’s desk
| Heinous crimes, grave failures Free It was an unprecedented event in Catholic history. Pope Benedict XVI summoned the entire hierarchy of the Church in Ireland to Rome this week and publicly rebuked them. The sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy was “a heinous crime ... | An open hand in helmand |
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Features
 Europe’s Achilles heelStephen WallWhen the founding states of the European Community first committed themselves nearly
40 years ago to the path they hoped would lead to a single currency for all, they failed to back it with any central authority. Now debt, in the guise of Greece, could prove to be its undoing... |  Shelter from the stormMain RidgeAs India prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in October, a huge clean-up is under way in Delhi, and that clean-up includes the poor and homeless. While the rest of the city is reinventing itself, Catholic schools have opened their doors to the unwanted street-dwellers... |
God and nothingnessStephen WangFor many people, Jean-Paul Sartre was the ultimate atheist philosopher. But he was baptised a Catholic, and, arguably, Sartre’s idea of God was surprisingly simplistic. If he had allowed himself a less restricted intellectual journey, he might have found himself in a very different place...
|  Pastors newChristopher LambIn times past, the laity’s role appeared to be to ‘pray and obey’. But following Pope Benedict’s recent addresses to English, Welsh and Scots bishops on lay people in the life of the Church, is now the time to encourage active pastoral councils to help teach and preach?... |
Hunger to liveDaniel McCarthyThe full mystery of Christ is celebrated in every liturgy and lived every day. Yet this Sunday begins to unfold an extended reflection on the mystery of Christ’s self-offering,
writes Daniel McCarthy, beginning just after his Baptism with the temptation in the desert...
| Raise up the WordJames LeachmanThe Scripture readings mediate Christ’s presence in the Mass and need to be proclaimed with power, but this is not always the case. Ministers of the Word must be well prepared, but the point of delivery is important too, symbolically as well as acoustically...
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 Family’s sure foundationVincent NicholsAmid concern over the decreasing numbers of people marrying in Catholic churches, the Archbishop of Westminster stresses that a marriage involving God is more than a personal choice – it is a vocation... | Waiting for the ambushDaniel O’LearyLent is often characterised as a time of self-denial for Christians, but this is not the whole story. It can be a time of extraordinary richness in which we are able to discover the limitless power of God’s love...
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‘Our bond is no less sacred’Isabel RossiFor a Catholic marrying an atheist, the decision about where to marry could have been a cause of dispute, writes Isabel Rossi....
| ‘We discussed the Church’s teaching on starting a family’Michael HirstMy Northern Irish Protestant in-laws took very well to their darling Caroline marrying a “left-footer”, writes Michael Hirst....
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Columnists
 Christopher Howse‘Dr Williams plunged from the cockpit of the Synod to the cocktails of a publisher’s party’  Clifford Longley‘The implications of Newman’s journalism were controversial, then as now’
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Books and arts
A gate that should not be shut Free
A Conversation Waiting to Begin: the Churches and the gay controversy
Oliver O’Donovan
Oliver O’Donovan is a conviction Protestant with sufficient knowledge of the Catholic world to have lectured at the Gregorian University and at Maynooth. His concern in these ... |
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Can the Church support abuse victims on its own terms?
Elena Curti
The clear message that emerged from the symposium on child sexual abuse held in Rome from ... 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 ...
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