Vol. 12 No. 2 FEBRUARY 1998

CONTENTS

Repossessing our souls
The Assistant Editor

Can we ever be satisfied?
Margaret Atkins

Commercialised life
Stratford Caldecott
Is our religion one more 'lifestyle accessory' that we change with the fashion? Stratford Caldecott, Director of the Centre for Faith and Culture and a research fellow in the department of theology at Westminster College, Oxford, argues that we need to fight the consumerism of this world with 'the consumerism of God, reversing the economics of this world...'

Call to cultural resistance
Francis X. Meehan

In praise of the market
Robert Sirico
Robert Sirico, President of the Acton Institute and columnist in the Wall Street Journal, challenges the assumptions of The Common Good. He makes the contraversial claim that although there are 'many human needs which find no place in the market, that does not mean that these needs are best met by putting the state sector in charge...' We invite your responses.

Addiction
Christiana Ashabo ICADC
Can you joke about addiction? Not according to American network television which refused to syndicate Absolutely Fabulous. Christine Ashabo, who was born in Nigeria and is now a therapist and addiction counsellor in Canada, analyses addictions, the behaviour patterns they produce and their root cause of spiritual disintergration. Healing, she writes, 'unifies the mind, body and spirit as interdependant, balanced and connected with God.'

A Franciscan on consumerism
Frances Teresa OSC
Francis naked in the square before his father and the bishop is a counter-cultural image, but one of that few of us can identify with. Sister Frances Theresa, a Poor Clare, shows that Francis' approach to life and its riches was balanced and sane, and has much to teach us about the traditional Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer and almsgiving.

Modern Hermits
Scholastica Egan
When life was luxurious in the modern world, the fathers fled to the deserts to find God. Today, in our luxurious world, men and women are answering the same call. Sister Scholastica Egan, a modern hermit, explains the attraction of this life, and how it is being lived by modern hermits. It is not 'a primrose path to peace' but is a 'turning away from the values of the world, emptying in order to be filled with the Spirit.'

On the matter of materialism
George Rutler

Preaching and teaching the word
Richard J. Taylor
Richard J. Taylor, a priest of the Salford diocese, is currently teaching scripture and ecumenism at the Angelicum University in Rome. Here he offers reflections on the Sundays in March.

Correspondence

Book review

Old Testament chronicle
Bernard Robinson
In his annual review of the new releases, Bernard Robinson, who teaches scripture at Ushaw College, Durham, comments on a few Old Testament books likely to interest the non-specialist.

Postscript: The sense in humour
Brian Green

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