The Tablet

My newspaper colleague, S-R editorial page editor Doug Floyd heard from an Episcopal priest and friend about a Catholic publication called The Tablet. I'd never heard of it before, but when I checked it out, I was wowed. It offers a unique perspective on the reforms brewing right now. The London-based Catholic publication, which has been publishing since 1840 has an ecumencial bent and wonderful writing.

For instance, in a recent article, Sheila Keefe, a member of an east London parish, describes her parish's outreach to fallen-away Catholics.

She writes: "The more visits we made, the more we started to realise how absurd is the term 'non-practising'. Listening, we discovered that Catholics who do not go to church have not ceased to be people of faith; often the faith is deep but unexpressed, or lived out at home and in the office, at school and on the football pitch, but without the strength we Massgoers derive from the faith community and the sacraments. These Catholics struggled on their own, often unsupported. But they taught us that there is a profound witness, frequently hidden, in the lives of many alienated Catholics, and that all of us, Massgoers or not, were 'practising' Catholics."