Liberal at home initially beset by stomach pain (8)
I believe the answer is:
catholic
'liberal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'at home initially beset by stomach pain' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
'beset by' indicates putting letters inside ('beset' could historically mean 'cover').
'stomach pain' becomes 'colic' (type of stomach complaint).
The initial letter of 'home' is 'h'.
'at'+'h'='ath'
'ath' put into 'colic' is 'CATHOLIC'.
(Other definitions for catholic that I've seen before include "Prayer" , "This religion lit coach up" , "All embracing" , "Diverse" , "Eclectic" .)