Catholic Triumph at Durham

Another story I`d been meaning to draw attention to I first saw in the Tablet but I also see gets good coverage in the Northern Cross. Readers will remeber the Intelligence Squared debate in London last year where the motion that `The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world` was overwhelmingly defeated. Then there was the more recent debate, hosted by the Spectator, on the motion that  `England should be a Catholic country again` where the motion was carried by Cardinal Murphy O`Connor, Piers Paul Reid and Dom Anthony Sutch. Now we have had a similar debate at Durham university on the motion `This house believes that Catholic morality has no place in the 21st century`. Speaking for the motion were Dr Julian Baggini, an atheist and editor of The Philosophy Magazine and one Thomas Ball. Speaking against were the university Catholic chaplain, Fr Tony Currer and Chris Lamb of the Tablet.  Fr Currer has written an account of the proceddings in this month`s Northern Cross  (p.6). He made the point that the bedrock of Catholic teaching is the innate dignity of the human person and that the biggest afront to human dignity is poverty, injustice and warfare. That seemed to do the trick as the motion was defeated. Congratulations to Fr Currer and Chris Lamb.