Star-Crossed Nominees
Is it a comedy or a tragedy? Or is it a farce? Although for the most part the antipathies between the hard-line Democrats and Republicans have become laughably sad, sometimes it just looks like a silly joke. The most recent stage for them to strut on, working out their private scenarios, has been th
One Table at a Time
“Have another,” urges Sister Mary Tacheny, passing a plate of buttery, made-from-scratch cookies. She nibbles her own slowly and with obvious pleasure. A School Sister of Notre Dame, Sister Tacheny is serving the cookies with organic, hormone-free milk from Cedar Summit farm and creamery
A Most Particular Vocation
Most families who live at Catholic Worker houses of hospitality or farms recall that Dorothy Day showed some ambivalence toward families in the Catholic Worker movement. Day expected Workers with children to move from urban houses of hospitality to Worker farms, and insisted that donations made to b
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Last week I had the opportunity to see the newest Broadway production of the musical “Sweeney Todd.” First performed in 1979, “Todd” unwinds the grisly tale of a barber in 19th-century England who returns to London after 20 years trapped in a prison colony on trumped-up charg
Letters
Letters
Regard to Decorum
Much of what James F. Gill says in his article, Advice and Consent (10/31) concerning the proper role of the Senate in passing upon presidential appointments to the Supreme Court is incontestable; but his view that the Senate should confine its inquiry to questions of integrity, intelligence, experience and the like and pass…
Editorials
At the Hour of Death
On June 26, 1997, at least 47 states had laws banning assisted suicides. These laws were aimed mainly at physicians who prescribed lethal medicines for patients who wanted to end their lives because of their great miseries. In two states, Washington and New York, those bans had been overruled by low
Features
Five Years with Dorothy Day
I had planned to stay a few months, but was pretty quickly hooked and remained for five years – the last five years of Dorothy’s life, as it turned out.
Faith in Focus
A Shield for Workers In the Southwest
"Our mission statement? When people ask us what it is, we just tell them Matthew 25—the section about welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked,” said Mark Zwick. I was speaking with Mark and his wife, Louise, about the Houston Catholic Worker, which this yea
Books
Hard Times
On khokmes as they say in Yiddish but seriously nobody not even a veteran scholar like Professor Sachar could compress the whole of modern Jewish history into a mere 800-plus pages with alas no maps photographs or statistical tables Not if you start roughly with the horrific massacres le
Through Open Doors
It is difficult if not impossible to overstate the dramatic changes in American religious life in the mid- to late 20th century Regardless of whether one views them a success or failure no one can argue that Catholic religious sisters burst through the Second Vatican Council rsquo s doors and wi
The Work, Among Us
Any organization shrouded in secrecy casts a powerful spell over the imagination Entities as varied as the Mafia and the Central Intelligence Agency inspire fervid fantasies about their hidden powers that only sometimes accord with reality La Cosa Nostra decimated by decades of zealous prosecutio
Film
Beneath the Surface: North Country
Long, sweeping shots from the air reveal a sullen winter landscape. Frosty roads hint at a tentative incursion of humanity into this otherwise barren countryside, but otherwise the scene could be taken from a distant planet. The camera slides over the edge of a monstrous crater, fashioned by steel a
Television
What Goes Around: Karma and penance on NBC
Sometimes when I see a movie with a friend in which a mean-spirited character finally gets his (or her) comeuppance, I’ll say jokingly, "It’s like Jesus says in the Gospels, 'What goes around, comes around.’" Usually the friend will smile. But on occasion, the person
The Word
Waiting in Hope
For most Christians the First Sunday of Advent is a sign of hope We begin a new cycle in the church year We look forward to celebrating Christmas and getting into the ldquo holiday rdquo spirit And we think about the coming of Christ and what that event has meant in our lives and our…
Faith
Five Years with Dorothy Day
I had planned to stay a few months, but was pretty quickly hooked and remained for five years – the last five years of Dorothy’s life, as it turned out.
News
Signs of the Times
Support Urged for Anti-Torture Provision in Defense Department Appropriations BillU.S. law and policy about torture of prisoners is more about who we are than who they are, an adviser to the U.S. bishops told congressional staffers on Nov. 2. In urging support for an anti-torture amendment to the ap
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts