This issue covers October which is traditionally the month of Mary and the rosary, hence the various articles we have about Our Lady. Urban Camenzind, a leader in the Charismatic Renewal in Switzerland, whom I interviewed last year at the International Charismatic Leaders Conference in Rome, shares about the evolution of his relationship with Mary, and his growing understanding of her role in the spiritual life. Pauline McDougall from the Emmaus Family of Prayer continues the theme of Mary on the Agape page writing about Mary, the Girl from Nazareth. I have also found to my surprise, how effective the rosary can be as a tool for evangelisation with inner city teenagers and share some of my experience.

The alternative name for Focolare, one of the lay movements in the Church is "The Work of Mary", so it is perhaps also appropriate this month that we have an article about Chiara Lubich, the founder of Focolare, who visited London in June this year. The special insight and vision of Focolare is the message of mutual love and unity, which Chiara emphasised during her trip. This call to unity is further underlined in the articles by English NSC chairman Charles Whitehead and Steve Lavery, a member of the Scottish NST, who write about the special leaders' consultation that will take place in June next year for invited leaders from the Northern Isles - England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. This will be the first time such a meeting has taken place and promises to be very significant in helping to bring about reconciliation between the countries for past historical hurts and to help look at what the Holy Spirit is saying to us about the future direction of the Charismatic Renewal and how best we can co-operate with his plan.

Readers will have no doubt noticed over the past couple of issues that we have included several articles in the area of sexuality and the Christian life. We are doing this because we see Goodnews as a Catholic spirituality and discipleship magazine, albeit with a charismatic dimension, and there can be a danger for us all to divorce our spiritual life from the practical living out of the gospel. This is doubly difficult when we live in a culture that has very different social values, particularly in the

area of sexuality. Money, sex and power are the classic areas of struggle for everyone and we feel it is important for people to be both challenged and encouraged by the real life experiences of those who are trying to stand against the tide and follow the Church's teaching in these areas. In the light of this, we also plan, in the future, to have a short series on sexuality and human development by Fr Anthony Doe, a psycho-therapist, who has come to see through his work, how surprisingly wise Church teaching often turns out to be, even from a psychological perspective.

In this issue we have two articles related to Christian marriage. In their article, Geoff and Gina Poulter from the Catholic Bible School explain how the cycle of "Romance, Disillusionment and Joy" is one that runs through all marriages. On a more practical note, Kevin and Rachel Pugh, married with four children, share how despite their initial scepticism, natural family planning has been a huge blessing for their relationship over the last twenty years or so.

On the grassroots front, we two very encouraging reports of local parish initiatives. Mike and Maria Pia Oliver from Oxford share about the amazing success CaFE has been in their parish and the fruits it has brought, while Simon Cameron and Bernadette Kearney share how the faithfulness of a small group in Hereford, who have been praying for two years for the Lord to show them what to do, has led to the organising of a local Catholic Family Conference for the churches in their area. This sense of a time fruitfulness and harvest is reflected in our front cover.

Meanwhile we continue with part two of Cardinal Ratzinger's article on the New Evangelisation, where he stresses the importance of conversion and metanoia. With Mission Sunday coming up on 19th September we also bring news of CASE, the new agency for evangelisation in England and Wales, plus the latest videos being produced by Catholic Evangelisation Services.

Kristina Cooper