In his contribution to a recent volume on forgiveness, edited by Everett L. Worthington Jr., Martin Marty hazards the opinion that if there were a single word that expressed the very heart of the Christian message, it might well be “forgiveness.” Christians, he says, are called to exper
Why do media moguls think we are interested in Ashleigh Banfield? Why do they believe that we couldn’t wait to be afflicted with Phil Donahue again? Why do they imagine that we are concerned about Rosie’s magazine? Why do they think that Ann Coulter would be a media fixture if she were a
When he was elected in 1958, the 78-year-old Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli appeared to be a “transitional pope.” He did in fact become transitional—in unexpected ways. As Pope John XXIII, he inaugurated a new era for the Roman Catholic Church when he prayed for a “new Pentecost.&r
In the heat of a Dallas summer and the even more intense heat of national and international media scrutiny, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met on June 14 to address what they described as a crisis without precedent in our times, namely the crisis within the Catholic Church sparked by the se
Oct. 16 is World Food Day—the founding date over half a century ago of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. But in view of the starvation that is claiming many lives in the poorest countries, Oct. 16 might more appropriately be called World Hunger Day. During a late-sum
Needs at This Time
The proposed national plenary council for U.S. bishops (Signs of the Times, 8/26) sounds like a desperate exercise in self-validation. The time would be better spent in a critical self-examination of bishops’ needs at this time in church history.
For
It takes great courage to speak candidly in the midst of a crisis. To speak serenely when surrounded by mayhem requires wisdom and tact. To speak at all these days to the members of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors requires fortitude. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, the coadjutor bis