America Magazine - In All Things

Spiritual but not Religious? Not so Fast!

Author: James Martin, S.J.;

It's not surprising that, given all the problems with organized religion, many people would say, “I’m not religious.” They say: “I’m serious about living a moral life, maybe even one that centers on God, but I’m my own person.”

“Spiritual” on the other hand, implies that, freed from unnecessary dogma, you can be yourself before God. The term may also imply that you have sampled a variety of religious beliefs that you have integrated into your life. You meditate at a Buddhist temple, participate in Se

More on the Heat Pope Benedict

Author: Michael Sean Winters;

My colleague and friend Austen Ivereigh has an important post below about the sexual abuse crisis and the way Pope Benedict XVI is now involved in addressing it. The situation in Germany itself, and in Regensberg particularly, has raised the possibility that some enterprising journalist will be searching the files in Munich, where Ratzinger was briefly archbishop, to see how he dealt with any cases of abuse. He quotes a Reuters article that included the now requisite question about leadership amidst a scandal: what did he know and when did he know it?

I would submit that this is the wrong question. If anything is clear by now, it is clear that the sexual abuse of minors by clergy

Pope Benedict feels the heat

Author: Austen Ivereigh;

Tom Heneghan at Reuters has an excellent analysis piece on the developing central European abuse crisis.

The more the scandal of Catholic priests sexually abusing boys in Germany spreads, the more the focus turns to Rome to see how Pope Benedict reacts. The story is getting ever closer to the German-born pope, even though he has been quite outspoken denouncing these scandals and had just m

Mr. Massa, Please Go!

Author: Michael Sean Winters;

On last weekend’s NPR quiz show "Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me," host Peter Sagal recalled the resignation of then-Governor Elliott Spitzer who got caught up in a high-end prostitution ring. Sagal commented, "Who know that would be the high water mark for moral conduct among New York politicians," or words to that effect.

Full disclosure: I think "Wait, Wait" is the best highbrow humor since the libretto of "Candide." My estimation of the news quiz show went up considerably, however, when they made one of my ideas the answer to a news question. During the Trent Lott mess, when he said the country would b

Vatican statement on European abuse marks strategic shift

Author: Austen Ivereigh;

It is extremely unusual for the Vatican to make a statement on the clerical sex abuse crisis. The one read out by the Pope's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, on Vatican Radio yesterday is a sign that Rome feels it can no longer resist the accusation that it is maintaining a wall of silence on the issue -- especially because a tide of fresh allegations against church institutions of cover-up and indifference are breaking over Catholic Europe.

What Fr Lombardi said: