PHOTO: PHILIP KING

A rehearsal of And a Sword Shall Pierce Your Soul, the Oxford Community Passion Play 37

COLUMNS

Liz Dodd ‘The hope I see in Easter is the God showing up asking only for love and giving love in return’ / 7

Christopher Howse’s Notebook ‘At the Garrick, a nice woman – stylish, Catholic – appeared to be sitting on the lap of a gent’ / 11

REGULARS Letters 20 The Living Spirit 21 Word from the Cloisters 22 Puzzles 22

CONTENTS 30 MARCH 2024 // VOL. 278 NO. 9546

FEATURES

4 / Easter greeting

A significant encounter after the Resurrection is often overlooked / BY GERALD O’COLLINS

5 / The longing for peace The war in Gaza will leave deep rivers of bitterness / BY VINCENT NICHOLS

6 / Art for faith’s sake A tour of the Vatican Museums reveals their treasures / BY JOANNA MOORHEAD

8 / ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’ Our final reflection on Christ’s seven last words / BY PATRICK VAN DER VORST

9 / ‘Do this in memory of me’ It is in the liturgy that we encounter Jesus / BY NEIL XAVIER O’DONOGHUE

12 / Bursting into cheers

A father recalls the baptism of his daughter with Down’s syndrome / BY PHILIP PARHAM

14 / An encore for Jesus Who are the women who go to minister in a Mexican prison? / BY LINDA PRESSLY

15 / The Tablet poem After St Francis of Assisi / BY CAMILLE RALPHS

16 / Divinity class at Sunday lunch Mealtime religious clashes shaped a novelist’s spiritual outlook / BY MICHÈLE ROBERTS

18 / At the still point of the turning world A moment of epiphany meeting a Swedish literary hero / BY KARIN ALTENBERG

NEWS

32 / The Church in the World / News briefing

33 / Pope laicises abuser Vangheluwe

35 / View from Rome 36 / News from Britain and Ireland / News briefing 37 / Easter Passion plays performed at venues across UK

COVER: © MUSEI VATICANI

BOOKS / PAGE 23

Paul Vallely Life: My Story Through History POPE FRANCIS Catherine Pepinster Rites of Passage: Death & Mourning in Victorian Britain JUDITH FLANDERS Nicholas Tucker Precarious: A Survivor of Clerical Abuse Remembers PATRICK C. GOUJON Lavinia Byrne Listening Together: Meditations on Synodality TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE

ARTS / PAGE 28 Theatre/Cinema Sister Act; The New Boy MARK LAWSON Music Bach’s St John Passion BENJAMIN POORE Dance Swan Lake FÁTIMA NOLLÉN Exhibition Angelica Kauffman SEÁN WILLIAMS Television Testament LUCY LETHBRIDGE

For more features, news, analysis and comment, visit www.thetablet.co.uk

30 MARCH 2024 | THE TABLET | 3