A Catholic Votes for George W. Bush
In 1960, millions of Catholics voted for John F. Kennedy for little reason other than that he was a Catholic. In 2004, millions of Catholics, myself included, will vote enthusiastically for George W. Bush because this Texas Methodist has a clearer understanding of, and a more serious commitment to,
A Catholic Votes for John Kerry
Many pro-life Catholics, like myself, find the positions of Democratic candidates on domestic and foreign policy much more to their liking than the positions of the Republican Party. But can a pro-life Catholic even consider voting for a pro-choice presidential candidate? Despite being pro-life, I a
A Mandate for Anti-Catholicism: The Blaine Amendment
In recent years a better understanding of American history has gradually moved the U.S. Supreme Court away from a strict separationist perspective on church and state and toward a greater accommodation of religion.
Paranoia in Politics
We made it through the Olympics without it happening. We got through the Democratic National Convention without it. And we’ve survived the Republican convention as well. What is it? Islamofacist Terrorism, if you prefer an incendiary phrase, or Internal Terror, if you are concentrated on the d
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
A cork-lined room—that was Marcel Proust’s way of coping with the street noises of early 20th century Paris while he was writing his classic, Remembrance of Things Past. But what about present-day New York City? The City Council issued a report late last year warning that subways are so
Letters
Letters
Try to Imagine
While admiring the nuanced article American Catholics and the State (8/2), one hopes that someday our legislators, with their degrees and posturing, will view our society through the eyes of the world’s people. Try to imagine the most primitive, illiterate, unlettered tribespeople on earth suddenly seeing our society of same-sex marriages and legalized…
Editorials
TB and Poor Nations
Tuberculosis is a disease of the poor that thrives in crowded, unsanitary settings. Although it is still found in the United States in prisons and homeless shelters, by the 1980’s it had largely disappeared from the general population in the industrialized countries of the North. But now it ha
Faith in Focus
Rousing Dormant Memories
I had been dreaming for some time of a winter wonderland, wrapping myself up in a warm blanket, reading a good book and admiring the snow outside the window, so I accepted the invitation of Brother Wolfgang to visit his abbey in Admont, Austria: the Benedictinerstift Admont. The impressive, fortress
Books
The Man’s Full Measure
Scott Stossel rsquo s uplifting biography of R Sargent Shriver deserves a prominent place on the reading lists of Catholic studies programs It is an inspiring and skillfully told story of a bright American hero whose public-minded outlook and optimism finds its source in his Catholic faith Stossel
Woe Are They
The good life in The Good Life is brittle fragile ironic impermanent And it is often Catholic In these 11 short stories Erin McGraw author of three books and professor of creative writing at Ohio State University watches hears and records contemporary America in 15-page snatches She drops i
Can We Talk?
One of the most interesting religious developments in the late 20th century has been the warming of relationships between Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christians As William Shea says at the beginning of his book The Lion and the Lamb both have hated each other in the United States since colonia
The Word
Faith or Hope?
We don rsquo t hear much about faith nowadays except faith in ourselves Ours is a culture of self-reliance and self-determination However if we are honest with ourselves we will have to admit that we are all burdened with a measure of self-doubt mdash not necessarily the unhealthy kind of self-
Faith
Excommunicating Politicians: Some cautionary tales from history
How has the church traditionally dealt with political figures who have run afoul of the church, or at least of churchmen?
News
Signs of the Times
Pope Urges Bishops: Collaborate in GovernanceIn the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, U.S. bishops should be open to a more collaborative style of governance that shares responsibility with lay Catholics, Pope John Paul II said.A consultative approach should not be seen as an abandonment of episcopa
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