Shaking Hands

27/01/2014 | Reform

A poem by Pádraig Ó Tuama

27ú lá Meitheamh, 2012

Because what’s the alternative? Because of courage. Because of loved ones lost. Because no more. Because it’s a small thing; shaking hands; it happens every day. Because I heard of one man … Read More

On the pilgrim way: Sprits high

27/01/2014 | Reform

I have been surprised by how some kinds of good news can lift my spirits sky-high. I don’t mean the sigh of relief when a medical investigation reports nothing untoward, or when a friend’s son, undertaking a dangerous long-distance cycle … Read More

Reviews – February 2014

27/01/2014 | Reform

Meeting an old friend
 for the first time

Confessions St Augustine, translated by 
Fr Benignus O’Rourke Darton, Longman and Todd £12.99

I have a confession of my own to make: I had never actually read Augustine before. Like many of … Read More

Editorial: A year for remembering

27/01/2014 | Reform

I have a sixth sense. More powerful than any of the normal five, it reaches across miles and years. It brings me scenes, conversations, events, sensations and information from far distant times and places. It’s a superpower I share with … Read More

Simon Jenkins: Between hairiness and holiness

27/01/2014 | Reform

Beards have been bristling into the headlines in the recent months. Jeremy Paxman’s decision to give his razor a rest last summer proved as much of a gift to journalists as David Dimbleby’s tattoo. The Newsnight audience polarised into pro … Read More

The villain’s vicar

22/01/2014 | Reform

Here’s a picture of my knee, playing a supporting role in an interview today with a man that the Daily Mail tells me is known as “The Villains’ Priest”. He also has a beer named after him, called “Bad Christian”. So … Read More