July/August/September 2019

Editoral Change
Anthony Towey
Recently I was asked by an organisation to conduct an ‘institutional review’ with colleagues from diocesan and academic  ...

 

Focus on Chaplaincy ‘I was in prison and you came to see me’ (Mt. 25.36) Chaplaincy in prisons
Kathleen Diamond
HFB was the Roman Catholic Chaplain at ­Holloway Prison until its closure in 2016. Here she reflects on how chaplains reach out to  ... 

Chaplaincy on the Emmaus road: Lay chaplains in Catholic schools
Diana Polisano,
Chair of the Association of Catholic Chaplains in Education, explores the contribution and the potential of ­chaplaincy in Catholic  ... 

A home away from home: The Manchester universities’ Catholic chaplaincy
Brendan Callaghan SJ
reflects on how a thriving chaplaincy can help enable students to find a space to live out their faith at university. The  ... 

Ethics as good news: How healthcare ethics serves life
Pia Matthews,
Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Chaplaincy at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, explores how Christian ethics with the dignity of all  ... 

Leadership & MinistrySafeguarding: What could a Public Health approach do for the Church?
This article suggests a seven-point plan to address safeguarding in the Catholic Church, based on a Public Health approach. Jim McManus is a Director  ... 

Safe landings: A contemporary way to support parishes in welcoming people back to the church
A programme for returning Catholics is explained by Dominic Robinson SJ, Landings UK Director, with co-authors Ruby Almeida and Margaret Johnston,  ... 

What’s the alternative?
At a time of competing narratives about faithfulness and orthodoxy and the loss of credibility of religious institutions, Bridie Stringer, formerly a  ... 

 

Theology TodayWhy study theology? New answers to old problems
This is the second of three articles on why formal study of theology is valuable. Thomas O’Loughlin is Professor of ­Historical Theology at the  ... 

 

Catholic social teaching and contemporary political life
This is an edited version of a lecture given by John Bruton, former Taoiseach of Ireland and European Union Ambassador to the United States of  ... 

How the Church became an unexpected battlefield in Europe’s new politics

In this article, Ben Ryan, Head of Research at Theos, a Christian think tank, argues that, in his view, the use of Christianity in the rhetoric of  ... 

 

SpiritualityA professor of friendship: Jean Vanier and L’Arche

Jean Vanier,

founder of the worldwide L’Arche community, died in May 2019. Tony Gibbings, community leader of L’Arche in Ipswich, explores the  ... 

The ordination of Jean-Marie Vianney, curé of Ars

The ordination story of the patron saint of parish priests, the curé of Ars, is told by Patrick H. Daly, a parish priest in the Diocese of  ... 

 

Resources for MinistryAll are welcome

Hazel Bradley and Jim Cargin

work for L’Arche UK. Drawing on the experience of the L’Arche community they offer practical guidance and ideas for  ... 

 

In contemporary culture books and words are so available and accessible to every individual that the idea of listening to words read out in an assembly seems quite unusual, and yet for those who are disciples of the Lord this is an essential element of our Christian reality. As Pope Benedict articulated: ‘Being friends with Jesus is par excellence always friendship with his followers. We can be friends of Jesus only in communion with the whole of Christ, with the Head and with the Body; in the vigorous vine of the Church to which the Lord gives life ...