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Faith in Focus
When Light Yields to Darkness
Margaret Roche Macey
Years ago - before I had children - I spent several hours one evening on a friend’s deck in the Adirondacks sitting perfectly still, watching night come. My purpose was to be the one person on earth that day to witness the exact moment when night definitively arrived at one place, when darknes
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Missing Reference

I was astonished on reading your editorial The Worst of All Options (5/8), describing Iran’s nuclear future and American response options, to find not one mention of Israel. Given that nation’s multiplicity of actual and potential roles in this matter, the absence of reference to Israel is at best an intellectual sin of omission. It would be foolhardy for the United States to omit Israeli considerations in drafting its policy regarding this situation, as you did in drafting your editorial.

Robert V. Levine

Arts & CultureBooks
The Great Commoner
Thomas R. Murphy
The historical reputation of William Jennings Bryan has not been a distinguished one He is ridiculed for losing three presidential elections He is often presented as a reactionary spokesman for a dying rural culture that resisted yielding to the progress of urbanization His opposition to American
The Word
Pentecost Past and Present
Daniel J. Harrington
Pentecost is one of the major dates in the church rsquo s calendar along with Christmas and Easter Our word Pentecost derives from the Greek word for 50 The feast occurs 50 days after Easter Pentecost was and is a Jewish festival celebrated in late spring 50 days after Passover Its biblical
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
"Pas de vitesse," said our instructor in Italian-accented French. Then in English, "No rushing." I was one of several men being trained to work as a volunteer in the baths at Lourdes last month, and I was worried. This was my third visit to the French town of Lourdes, where the V
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
U.S. Bishops Urge Immigration ReformPresident George W. Bush’s address on May 15 about immigration reform received mixed reviews from advocates for immigrants, who expressed gratitude for his support of legalization for illegal immigrants but had concerns about his plan to deploy National Guar
The Scariest Gospel
Brendan Byrne
For centuries, Mark’s Gospel shared the fate of Cinderella in the well-known German folktale. As Cinderella languished in the kitchen until rescued by her prince, Mark suffered almost total eclipse by its three longer fellows (Matthew, Luke and John). A century and a half ago, in scholarly cir
Poetry
Meanwhile
Kathleen O
A photocopy of my mother’s heart,
Arts & CultureBooks
Place of Refuge
Robert F. Walch
With sensitivity and a strong sense of place first-time novelist Debra Dean vividly recreates one of the overlooked stories of World War II In the fall of 1941 with German troops preparing to invade Leningrad the Hermitage Museum staff frantically packs away over two million priceless items for
Current Comment
Current Comment
The Editors
Down on IslamSome years ago Cardinal Francis Arinze, then the president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, complained that the dialogue with Islam consisted largely of Catholic initiatives, and it was time for the church’s Muslim partners to bear responsibility too for th
FaithFeatures
Good News From Judas? Behind the newly popular gnostic text "The Gospel of Judas"
Pheme Perkins
A New Testament Scholar demystifies the newly popular Gnostic text.
Arts & CultureBooks
A Radiance Fills Them'
Robert E. Hosmer Jr.
It may well be a curse rather than a blessing to be described as a religious or spiritual poet todaynot simply because in a secular or post-secular age such labels are anathema but because such designations may raise expectations of simple-minded pious jingles that are a far cry from the real thi
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Drew Christiansen
It was the beginning of the fall academic term in 1974. I was meeting for a reading course with my doctoral adviser, Margaret Farley, R.S.M. At the end of the session, she said to me, “Bill Coffin has been meeting with the undergraduates about world hunger. I think you ought to go down to Dwig
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Catholic Leaders Urge Calm in East TimorCatholic Church leaders in East Timor have called for calm as troops continue to patrol the tense streets of Dili in the wake of a riot by hundreds of dismissed soldiers and about 1,000 of their supporters. Army protesters and their sympathizers took to the st
The Ordinary Way of Benedict
Dolores R. Leckey
It does not take parents very long to realize that they teach their children not so much by what they say as by who they are. Their presence, their choices, their lives, their being speak to their children in the deepest way. The same can be said of true educators, whose teaching reaches beyond tech
Woodys World
Robert E. Lauder
Woody Allen’s latest film, “Match Point,” is probably one of the most explicitly atheistic films in the history of American cinema. It is also a vivid illustration of the nihilistic worldview that Allen has been presenting in most of his films for nearly 40 years. While God is abse
The Word
Carrying on Jesus Mission
Daniel J. Harrington
The feast of the Ascension commemorates the risen Jesus rsquo departure from earth and his exaltation to his heavenly Father Pentecost Sunday celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and their associates and the beginning of the Christian mission to the ends of the earth Meanwhil
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Not Too Hysterical

If what the Rev. Michael Kane writes about New Standards for Pastoral Care (4/10) is true, I wonder, as a psychiatrist, why any man would even venture to become a priest. The priestly role is already a lonely one in our day, but according to him things are likely to make it even lonelierwith his bishop becoming an advocate for the diocese, and not a support for the priest, and his parishioners so likely to jump on him because something goes amiss in his counseling role that he had better get himself some malpractice insurance.

Frankly, I think the author is being carried away, perhaps because he may really be overly identifying the priest’s role with that of a psychotherapist, whose professional role is so much more clearly defined, while the role of a priest is much broader and not to be guided by rigid boundaries (the buzz word these days for mental health workers).

As I read the Virtus Model Code of Pastoral Conduct,I really get no sense of the doom and gloom he implies to be there. Rather I get a good picture of very reasonable principles to guide a priest in his counseling role, some rather common-sense principles that I assume are easily followed by men with the level of education enjoyed by current priests. Nor do I sense a stage being set for bishops to abandon their supportive role to the clergy. Please, let’s not get too hysterical in the aftermath of the sexual abuse debacle.

Donald J. Carek, M.D.

Arts & CultureBooks
They Belong Together
Richard M. Gula
What does going to Mass on Sunday have to do with going to work on Monday Or in what ways might the liturgy of the Eucharist spill over into the liturgy of life to influence the sort of people we become the way we see the world and the decisions we make According to Dennis Billy C Ss R and Jam
Current Comment
Current Comment
The Editors
Prayers for ChinaWhile the situation of the Catholic Church in China has not been normal for many decades, in very recent times it appeared that the lot of Chinese Catholics was improving. It became known that many bishops of the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association were, in fact, also in