We have been reading the religious press this week. Eye does keep a watching brief of the church media to see how it is handling some of its controversies (and also to see if Quakers get a mention), but we were particularly impressed to see the new face of Third Way, which declares its role as a 'Christian comment on culture'. TW's recent revamp has turned it into an attractive glossy monthly publication and the summer issue has a star interview with the Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al, who looks remarkably like George Clooney.

Eye finds the sprucing up of the religious message in most of the 'spiritual' media an encouraging trend. The periodicals are so much more interesting to read these days (we hope we fall into this category too!). Third Way's topics include an attempt to reclaim Darwinism for the Christians instead of leaving him to the atheists and how Christians struggle with addictions just like anyone else. We were dismayed but not alarmed to see the columnist Jude Simpson finding Quakers a little uninspirational on her first encounter. It started off well – 'there was a warmth, a sense of acceptance, a feeling of genuine fellowship which deeply impressed me.' She checked herself – yes, there were thirty-nine other people in the room and she felt well-disposed towards all of them. Then they started ministering. It appeared to go downhill from there for her. 'Was that man honestly inspired by the Holy Spirit to extract spiritual lessons from yesterday’s supermarket shop? Did that woman really need ten minutes to remind us that God loves unconditionally? And why would the Lord ever reveal anything to a man wearing peach-coloured socks with green crocs?' Oh dear. Perhaps people expect too much first time.
We learned from The Tablet that the feared dictator Mugabe is still a Catholic, and that an ally of the pope is trying to bring back the old tridentine mass to Britain. One of the objections to the new rite, we learn, was that some priests had not taken mass seriously enough – in one case dressing as a clown, and another was alleged to have worn a miniskirt. Apparently Vatican II still sends shivers down the traditionalist spine.

Labels: catholic, mugabe, quaker, the tablet, third way