Company Men: On preserving the unique identity of Jesuit universities
The Jesuits in American higher education have lost the principle of assignment. In its place, the principle of attraction has been at work since the 1970s. Previously, the superior of a Jesuit province would, after appropriate consultation, assign one of his men to a given college or university facu
The Cardinals’ Appeal: Perspectives from the periphery
In February Pope Francis installed 20 new cardinals. In keeping with the pope’s interest in moving the church “to the peripheries,” these new cardinals hail from all over the world, many from places we rarely hear mentioned in the U.S. press. Most are pastors who have worked with p
Getting Personal: The philosophy of W. Norris Clarke, S.J.
When I arrived at Fordham University in the fall of 2007, W. Norris Clarke, S.J., was reaching the end of more than 50 years of teaching there, where he was a great light in the study of Thomas Aquinas. In particular, Father Clarke focused his attention on what is known as personalist Thomism, a sch
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
A mere half mile from the spot where Our Lord was born, nine children are born each day at Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem.
Letters
Reply All
F.D.R.’s LegacyIn “The Taxman Cometh” (4/13), Joseph Dunn writes that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “massive experiment with redistribution failed to work as planned.” On the contrary, F.D.R.’s experiment exceeded expectations. Beginning in 1933, nearly
Editorials
The Student Debt Crisis
Catholic colleges have a responsibility to offer affordable education.
Faith in Focus
Vocation Crisis: A mother comes to terms with her son’s priesthood.
My children claim it is often hard to get my attention. I am apt to wander in and out of conversations. I’m often late and easily distracted. I can spend too much time working and not enough time with my family. But when it comes to the big things, when my children are lost or…
Books
What Happened to Nelle?
‘The Mockingbird Next Door,’ by Marja Mills
Proto-Pundit
‘Walter Lippmann: Public Economist,’ by Craufurd D. Goodwin
Redefining Union
‘Only One Thing Can Save Us,’ by Thomas Geoghegan
Theater
Race and Grace: A classic by Flannery O’Connor comes to life.
A classic by Flannery O’Connor comes to life.
Poetry
From Nothing
“I am rebegot/ Of absence, darkness, death; things which are not.” — John Donne, “A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy’s Day” Again and again, from nothingness I’m born.Each death I witness makes me more my own.I imagine each excess line of mine erased,each muscle
The Word
What Time It Is
Still reeling from the trauma of the crucifixion and then the shattering of all earthly expectations by Jesus rsquo resurrection from the dead the apostles trying to make sense of the common Jewish beliefs regarding the Messiah and the apocalyptic establishment of God rsquo s kingdom pose a simp
(Un)Conventional Wisdom
In My Backyard
Civic improvement always has its victims.
Columns
New Monasticisms
The New Monastics seek a catholicism more universal than what the Catholic Church normally practices.
Current Comment
Current Comment
World Health Organization says world remains vulnerable should a major outbreak occur.
Faith
New Monasticisms
The New Monastics seek a catholicism more universal than what the Catholic Church normally practices.
Generation Faith
An Irish-American Dream: Lessons on education from my immigrant parents
I tend to blame some of my less desirable attributes—my too-big feet, my sad excuse for an immune system—on genetics, that unique combination of traits I received from my parents. While in some regards it seems to me I wet my toes in the shallow end of the gene pool, I did make off with
Of Other Things
Of Machines and Men
Targeted ads are one thing; being implicated in the creation of an A.I. is quite another.
Signs Of the Times
Audit Released on Abuse Compliance
The U.S. bishops on April 17 released an annual audit tracking the church’s response to the abuse of children by members of the clergy. During the 2014 audit year (July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014), 37 allegations of abuse were current and 620 were made by adults who had been abused in the
News Briefs
Stefanie Tiefenbacher, 87, of the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood, was robbed and murdered in her bedroom in the small town of Ixopo, near Durban, South Africa. • An appearance by Sister Jeannine Gramick, censured for positions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage, at a Catholic chur
Xenophobia in South Africa
In a chilling reprise of the events of 2008, South Africa in April endured a resurgence of anti-immigrant violence. Sparked by a demand from the Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini that foreign- born Africans “pack up and go home,” the attacks on individuals and businesses quickly spread from
What Does Mercy Demand? Two Views of Church Leadership
National attention was drawn to the Archdiocese of San Francisco in mid-April after a group of about 100 area Catholics placed a full-page advertisement in The San Francisco Chronicle criticizing the leadership of Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone and asking Pope Francis to remove him.Among those w
J.R.S. ‘Disappointed’ By E.U. Response
The Jesuit Refugee Service expressed disappointment on April 24 with the measures announced by the European Union to respond to the accelerating migrant crisis in the Mediterranean, describing the outcome after meetings in Brussels as “a lost opportunity.” James Stapleton, the internatio
Envoy for Christians
Beheadings, enslavement, kidnappings and rape plague minority religious communities across the Middle East, and it is time for President Obama to fill a job created to address their plight, a group of prominent evangelicals, scholars and other religious leaders told the White House. In the seve
The Francis Bump
The president of the Latin American bishops’ conference called Pope Francis’ planned visit to Cuba an opportunity for the church to play a larger role in a country experiencing reforms and re-embracing institutionalized religion.“Whether we want to accept it or not, Cuba is undergo
Vatican Dispatch
Progress With China?
Is an accord between the Holy See and China on the horizon? China watchers are asking this question following a flurry of interviews, articles and comments in the Chinese and Italian media in early 2015.The interest began when Vatican Insider interviewed some Chinese bishops who encouraged the Holy
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