The Tablet

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Christopher Howse

I’m sometimes a bit slow on the uptake. Michael Berkeley has been presenting his excellent Private Passions programme on Radio 3 for 30 years. Of the interview format he said recently: “I always loved John Freeman’s Face to Face and wanted to do something similar on radio, which is ideal for allowing people to tell their stories.” But the clincher is that “we would never have someone who is not passionate about classical music”.

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Ruth Gledhill

Speaking after MPs passed an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that effectively decriminalises abortion in England and Wales, Archbishop Sherrington added, “Our alarm arises from our compassion for both mothers and unborn babies.”  The amendment, in a clause tabled by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, was approved in a free vote by MPs by 379 to 137. It lifts any criminal liability for women performing their abortions for any reason, at any time, including up to and during birth.

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Kate Keefe

The new lectionary has now been in force since the beginning of Advent last year. I say “in force” rather than a more neutral expression, because there was no question of parishes choosing to adopt it, or even vary the timing. It came to us out of nowhere and was presented as compulsory. Now we have sung our way through the joys of Christmas and Eastertide. We have experienced both the high points, the greatest feasts, of the Church’s year in this new format. How is it going for you?

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Ruth Gledhill

The elevation of Liverpool’s Catholic cathedral is acknowledgement at the highest level of Sir Frederick Gibberd’s radical design and the way it has transformed Catholic worship spaces The list entry for Hopwood Hall Chapel in Middleton, Greater Manchester has also been updated to recognise shared architectural significance with its Liverpool counterpart The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has awarded the higher status following advice from Historic England meaning it is now...

1 week ago | thetablet.co.uk | Ruth Gledhill

David Jones, Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham and Director of the Anscombe Centre, writing in a paper for Politeia, warns that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill falls dangerously short of providing the safeguards needed. Without these, it is likely that the weak, the old, the disabled and those suffering from depression and mental illness may be induced or encouraged to kill themselves, he says.