CONTENTS

September 2004

Clifford Longley is a journalist and Catholic commentator. Here he assesses the contribution of two of the twentieth century’s most influential Catholic theologians. Their opposing views are summarised in their response to the question: Where is Christ in the world – ‘already out there, ahead of the Church’ or brought by the Church as a gift?

Vivian Boland teaches moral theology at St Mary’s College, Twickenham. Here he suggests that, far from diminishing the value of moral theology, opposing standpoints can actually enrich it – so long as it is ‘kept constantly in touch with its “setting” in the mysteries of creation and redemption’.

Andrew Cameron-Mowat is Dean of Postgraduate Studies and convenor of the MA in Pastoral Liturgy at Heythrop College and a liturgical musician. He describes the ways in which the liturgical reforms of the Council have been received – a renewal programme ‘which has only just begun’. He calls for an end to the squabbles which ‘are preventing the Church from moving forward into a truly inculturated way of celebrating the liturgy’.

Caroline Farey lectures in philosophy at St Mary’s College, Oscott, and in catechetics at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham. She explores here the trends in catechesis and suggests that what is needed is not a one-sided catechesis of subjective experience but rather one that links a person’s existential, historical experience into the larger patrimony of the Church and the story of salvation in Christ.

Pat Gaffney has been General Secretary of Pax Christi, the international Catholic movement for peace, for the past fourteen years. Here she suggests ways in which parishes can celebrate peace and prepare for next January’s Peace Sunday.

A Catholic publisher describes how he was encouraged to produce a guide for planning a family funeral. He suggests that there would be much value in using it to help with the development of a bereavement ministry programme in the parish.

John Lally is the parish priest of the Sacred Heart and St Margaret Mary, Leicester, in the Diocese of Nottingham. Here he offers some reflections on the lectionary readings for the Sundays in November.

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Books

Our Lady of Guadalupe: image and tradition across five centuries,
D.A. Brading
Cambridge University, £27.95
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


Mary: the Virgin Mary in the life and writings
Philip Boyce
Gracewing, £32.50
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


Missing Mary: the Queen of Heaven and her reemergence in the modern Church
Charlene Spretnak
Palgrave Macmillan, £16.99
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


The Cosmic Circle – Jesus and Ecology
Edward P. Echlin
Blackrock, £5.99
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974


The Church Then and Now
Christopher Lightbound
Maynooth, £7.95
Tablet Bookshop Price: £ Tel: 01420 592 974

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