Thirty people from political life took part in a three-day round table conference on good governance.

What makes a society strong? The vitality of its community life, maintains Mike Lowe.

Paul Nouwen took a very different path from his famous brother, the devotional writer Henri Nouwen. But they share more than just their roots, discovers Hennie de Pous-de Jonge.

Family life is a juggling act these days, writes Catholic journalist, lecturer and mother Faustina Starrett.

As reported in FAC (Feb/Mar 1999), the Clean Slate Campaign invites people to promise to take at least one practical step during 1999 towards cleaning their slate.

An international group, with experience of facilitating change in their societies, spent a week in April in Israel and Palestine, at the invitation of people who had participated in MRA conferences in Caux, Switzerland.

Indian businessman Farhad Forbes packed his bags in California's Silicon Valley and returned to serve his own country. Now his company is meeting the challenges of India's economic reforms.

'The world desperately needs business leaders whose moral values leave an imprint on every dicision they make' says Bill Jordan at the Caux business and industry conference.

The Right Revd Richard Chartres is the Bishop of London

'The Politics of Hope' by Jonathan Sacks: Jonathan Cape, 1997, £15.99