VOCATIONS CHALLENGE: Bishop John Brewer in our special supplement on the shortage of seminarians that will turn Europe into a missionary territory.
KURDS IN AGONY: Martin Cottingham reports from the Iraq-Turkey border on the daily death toll, page 2 HOMELESS SAINT: Bruce Stewart on Benedict Labre, 'a saintly old scruff' now out-of-fashion, page 5 DYING NATURALLY: creative send-offs for those tired of dismal funerals, page 5 FATIMA WAITS: Susan Lowndes Marques on the Pope's trip next month and how to make a holiday out of it, page 7
PAPAL POLL TAX: John Rattle MI' on Ilig,senturyold encyclical Rerum novarum and its guidance on local government, page 5
ROUSSEAU'S GOD: John Moynihan on the faith of the author of the Social Contract, page 6 PLUS: Desmond Albrow on the start of the cricket season; Virginia Barton on the philanthropy of Sir George Bowyer; Anna Reynolds on the prison chaplains as a vital family friend; Brenda Maddox on Me and My God; and Fr Ronald Rolheiser on mental masturbation.