Catholic Herald

[beanpole]

17a Under the shadow of death, a good man is showing courage (6)
???S?Y

8a One in a sect,he who beats the drum,abstainers banished (6)
T?O?A?
Trojan ?

15a Last American character born in a Scottish valley's the father of 20 (answer Judas Iscariot) colleagues (7)
?E?E?A?

[bibblebub]

17a feisty

[Dinkypuzzled]

17a. fe(lst)y

[beanpole]

Thank you both

[bibblebub]

8a taoist ??? very iffy and requires the A to be wrong

[Dinkypuzzled]

8a. Thomas (tom tom ?)

[boxtops]

there are a number of words in an anagram of "i a sect" but I don't know the meanings of any of them would fit the clue for 8a?

[beanpole]

I did think Thomas

6a which gives the fifth letter (a?) is
Woman not named ,doing a turn in Sodom (4,4)
?O?? ?I??
i thought Mona Lisa but may be wrong

[bibblebub]

Lot's wife

[slaney]

8a Taoist for 8a is all I can think of too, ta(TT)oist - abstainers (TT) banished, but an "o" missing from tattooist (drummer).

[bibblebub]

I said it was iffy because I have been unsuccessful in finding the drummer spelt as 'tattoist' (i.e. with single O)

[beanpole]

Thank you all. Your kindness amazes me

If Lot's wife is correct for 6 down then taoist must be the answer for 9a

[porilo]

There isn't a missing "o" because another slang term for abstainer is "t-to" (pronounced "tee-toe"). As in, "he is a t-to" . I have TAOIST for the answer too.

[Valanne]

15a Zebedee (father of James and John, fellow disciples of Judas)
Zee is last letter of American alphabet, b for born in it plus Dee for Scottish valley.

[bibblebub]

thanks for the info, porilo, i haven't heard of t-to before