Why I Am Still a Catholic: Essays in Faith and Perseverance / Edition 1

by Peter Stanford

Overview

What does it mean to be a Catholic in today's world? What distinguishes the modern Catholic from anyone else? At a time when the Vatican provokes hostility by its opposition to contraception, abortion and the use of condoms in fighting AIDS, how many Catholics share its views? And if they don't, how can they in good conscience stay in the Church? These are among the many questions that writer and broadcaster Peter Stanford is addressing here. There is a whole spectrum of response in this entertaining and enlightening collection.

'Fascinating... a surprisingly uplifting book.' Sunday Telegraph
'A hard-hitting book which criticizes as much as it praises... it should be read by anyone interested in the phenomenon of organized religion.' Spectator

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826491459
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/23/2006
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.33(d)

About the Author

Peter Stanford is a writer, broadcaster and biographer, whose books include biographies of Lord Longford, C Day-Lewis, and the Devil and the travelogue, The Extra Mile. A former editor of the Catholic Herald, he writes for The Daily Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday and The Observer and has a regular column in The Tablet. peterstanford.co.uk

Table of Contents

+Cherie Booth QC on Catholic social teaching and its influence on her career+Rugby legend Shaun Edwards on how faith saw him through the tragedy of his younger brother's death+Channel 4 presenter Dermot O'Leary on conscience and how he still prays every night+Writer Christina Odone writes how her marriage to a divorcee has excluded her from the sacraments but not the Church+Award-winning script-writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce imagines a dialogue with God to devise a new Penny Catechism+Today's Edward Stourton traces his faith back to Reformation rebels+Anne Maguire on how her faith sustained her while imprisoned for nine years for terrorist crimes she did not commit+Comedian Mel Gieldroyc (of Mel and Sue) on the pull of her Polish Catholic roots+Jourbanalist Charlie Brown on being gay and Catholic+Stem-cell research expert Professor Neil Scolding on discrimination against Catholics in science+Baroness Patricia Scotland, Home Office minister, on being a Catholic in government+Former priest and leader of CND, Bruce Kent, on life from the other side of the altar rails