COLUMN

9 CATHERINE P E P I NSTER

‘People often think that being Catholic means you have to tick all the boxes’

1 1 LAURENCE FREEMAN

‘These are not crazy, dangerous women. They are deeply loved and respected’

1 3 CHRISTOPHER HOWSE’S

PRESSWATCH ‘History will have trouble fitting all these tesserae into the mosaic’

CONTENTS

5 MAY 2 0 1 2

F EATURES

COVER STORY: FOCUS ON SPAIN

4 Teetering on the brink Jimmy Burns

Spain’s austerity solution to its recession has fuelled fears that the almost inevitable bailout could be coupled with insurrection

4 ‘It’s because of people’s greed’ Jennifer Waddell

Young Spaniards talk to The Tablet about the causes of the crisis and what lies ahead for them

1 6 PARISH PRACTICE 1 7 NOTEBOOK 1 8 L ETTERS 1 9 THE L I V I NG S P I R I T 2 0 PUZZLES

6 Hard times yield new vocations Julius Purcell

Some are asking whether the rise in numbers in Spanish seminaries can be directly linked to the country’s economic woes

BOOKS

2 1 N I CHOLAS V I NCENT

Thomas Becket: warrior, priest, rebel, victim – a 900-year-old story retold John Guy

P E T ER STANFORD “I’m on the train!” Wendy Perriam

ARTS

2 4 F EATURE

Mark Lawson South Downs, The Browning Version, Written on the Heart

ROCK AND POP Brian Morton Theo Bleckmann: Hello Earth! The Songs of Kate Bush

RADIO D.J.Taylor Archive on 4: Lunch is for Wimps

C I NEMA Francine Stock Albert Nobbs

8 Robin Hood to the rescue Keith O’Brien

Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric explains why the Government’s failure to support a levy on financial transactions is hurting the poor

1 0 Flowers of the rarest Mary Colwell

Many wild flowers that bloom this month have long been associated with the Virgin. But their variety and profusion is now under threat

1 2 Rome’s three-line whip Robert Mickens

The trio of senior clerics given the job of reforming the Leadership Conference of Women Religious are men of drive and ambition

1 4 The mother of all callings Joanna Moorhead

A new book on parenting has been published, remedying a lack of guidance on what the Church regards as a key vocation

2 8 THE CHURCH I N THE WORLD

Koch accuses Küng of misleading the faithful on Vatican II 3 1 L ETTER FROM ROME 3 2 NEWS FROM BRITAIN AND I RELAND

New strategy for vocations as seminarian numbers increase

COVER ILLUSTRATION: MIGUEL MONTANER

5 May 2012 | THE TABLET | 3