The Tablet - International Catholic weekly newspaper

CURRENT ISSUE

SPECIAL REPORTS

Blessed John Paul II

The Tablet Lectures

The UK Papal Visit

Newman beatified

SPIRITUALITY

What’s Catholicism

Glossary

Spirituality

Restoring religion to the public square

Linda Woodhead

Results of a £12-million research project on the place of religious belief in public life will be aired in a series of groundbreaking debates as well as in The Tablet beginning next month. One of the main aims, argues the project’s head, is to help correct the secular bias at universities Free

Latest News

‘Disappointment’ over women bishops change

Religious liberty fight goes public

Georgetown defends Sebelius invite

Orthodox denounces Western Church

Christian Aid targets big business

From the editor’s desk

In defence of conscience Free

President Obama has made a serious mistake. He is demanding that Catholic hospitals must make contraceptives available to their staff as part of their health-care packages. The new rules are part of the health-service reforms, which are the greatest achievement ...

Be careful what you wish for

Self-determination has become a key principle of international affairs. So when the leader of the Scottish Nationalists insists on having a referendum on the break-up of the union with England established in 1707, it is taken for granted that the result ...

Texts in full

Secularism - good or bad?
Archbishop Nichols and Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor take opposing views

The two most senior clerics in England and Wales set out on the same day contrasting visions of the threats posed to Christianity by secularism.

In a lecture at ...

Clare Short: ‘Church gave me best of values that have continued into my political and adult life'
Former Labour minister offers candid and fond reflection on her Catholic upbringing

I've chosen as my theme the link between a Catholic childhood and radical politics. I fear this may be slightly self-indulgent and autobiographical but there are some points ...

Features

‘A compromise of our religious liberty’Michael Sean Winters The news that President Obama will not allow Catholic institutions, such as hospitals and universities, to opt out of providing contraception to their employees as part of their health insurance has infuriated the US bishops. It is fuelling suspicions that he is hostile to religion...	Dark shadows of the pastMary Colwell As Northern Ireland prepares to mark the fortieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, some of those involved remember the events that were pivotal to the decades of violence, recalled last week by the conviction of a dissident republican for the murder of two soldiers in 2009 ...
One bread, one bodyLiz O’Brien and Diana Klein People with special needs sometimes find resistance to their participation in parish programmes. This may have happened in a case reported last week when a seven-year-old boy was stopped from make his First Communion with his classmates. But it is important to be inclusive where possible...	Abuse must have no hiding placeJonathan West One man’s blog has highlighted complaints of abuse at St Benedict’s School, Ealing, and what he believes are the monks’ shortcomings in addressing them. But here the author of the blog identifies potential difficulties with protecting the vulnerable at all independent schools...

Not in its backyard Conor Gearty The eviction of the Occupy movement near St Paul’s Cathedral is on the cards after the City won its case against the protesters last week. Here, a human-rights expert reflects critically on the role of the cathedral authorities in the affair...	‘Faith cannot be brushed under the carpet – its relationship with politics has to be considered’Charles Clarke No politician serving, as I did, in both the Department of Education and Skills and the Home Office could fail to be struck by the importance of faith within our national politics and policies, writes Charles Clarke....
Takes one’s breath awayBernadette Campbell Plunging into the waters at Lourdes left this pilgrim gasping for air while feeling that she had never been so alive as at that moment. It was, as she describes, the ultimate forever first time...	For love not moneyBen Andradi David Cameron has talked about ‘moral capitalism’ but Pope Benedict XVI is streets ahead with his concept of ‘gift and gratuity’ – an idea which has been taken up by radical economists...
An extraordinary giftBridget Hewitt After spending just a week with the brothers of Taizé, one retreatant found herself more able to embrace the source of all being back home amid the frenetic rush of everyday life ...	Walking the Franciscan wayAnthony Weaver For many pilgrims, Francis means Assisi, but four sacred sites in a holy valley at the very centre of Italy are key to understanding the life of one of the Church’s greatest saints...
The pain of gainGuy Consolmagno

Columnists

Clifford Longley

‘The only truth that really matters is the truth that is freely chosen’

Christopher Howse

‘When bishops hold out the hand of friendship to journalists they just get them bitten’

Books and arts

Full sweep of possibilities Free
The Architecture of Theology: structure, system and ratio
A.N. Williams
In The Ground of Union (1999), Anna Williams argued that the supposedly most intractable conflict between Eastern and Western Christianity might be resolved by reconsidering our ...

^ Back to top