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I have often wondered about the long-range value of writing, whether books or articles. It is certainly true that some novels and non-fiction works have shaped my own life, as I was recently reminded when a community of graduate students and professors traded the titles of books that were transforma
A well-known Jewish parable tells the story of a young man who was hiking on a journey. It was common at that time to follow signposts, which displayed the names of various destinations and pointed in different directions. At one particular crossroads on his way, the young man found the signpost had
The Latin words nostra aetate mean “in our time,” a fitting opening phrase for the declaration promulgated by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 that has truly transformed our time. In Nostra Aetate the Catholic Church accepted that those of different faith communities, the “others
The Word
It was only a few months ago that we reflected on religious leadership Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Today rsquo s readings place this theme before us again The frequency with which the Bible considers religious leadership points out both its importance and its challenge Because of human
What do we really know about the woman we call Mother of God and Mother of the Church, the first of all the saints, the model believer? What do contemporary Scripture studies, archaeological research and analysis of the literature of her time reveal to us about Mary? I invite the reader to reflect w
Arts & CultureBooks
Linda Greenhouse the Pulitzer Prize-winning Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times was off duty when in 1989 she joined a huge march supporting legal abortion in Washington D C This was shortly before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a major abortion case and other journalists c
Editorials
Last month the nation observed for the first time Constitution Day. Some school administrators confessed that they were not aware of recent legislation that requires all public schools and colleges to sponsor an annual program on the Constitution on or around Sept. 17, the date in 1787 when the Cons
The Just War Theory is a centuries-old set of principles that provide objective norms for the moral evaluation of war. With each new technological advance or new kind of warfare the just war theory has evolved in order to remain relevant. In the wake of the most recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanis
Faith in Focus
I am a wealthy woman. I don’t have as much as some, but I know that I have far more than I need. Compared with most human beings on this planet and even compared with most Americans, I am rich. This fact troubled me for a long time. I was aware of the violence of poverty. I heard what Jesus sa
Arts & CultureBooks
When I was in junior high I decided after reading every Cherry Ames book in the public library to become a nurse because nursing sounded interesting and fun I went to Georgetown University and discovered that nursing was professionally and intellectually challenging During my first job in a lar
News
Monika Hellwig, Noted Theologian and Author, Dies After StrokeThe noted theologian and author Monika Hellwig died at Washington Hospital Center on Sept. 30 after suffering a severe stroke. She was 74 years old. She had recently retired as president and executive director of the Association of Cathol
Cramped into a mobile home, we were standing in a circle holding hands, each person uttering a brief prayer of thanksgiving in Spanish. Three were Mexicans, three from Colombia, two from Peru, one from Honduras, one from Panama and myself, the lone “gringo” of the bunch. What made this p
Faith in Focus
In the catholic understanding, a saint is somebody who is all-out for God, full of faith, hope and love. Such a person, decidedly, was the Chilean Jesuit Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga. Hurtado, born in 1901, was four years old when his father died, leaving his mother saddled with heavy debts and forced t
The Word
Every once in a while the world of popular music brings forth a song that can captivate our minds with its beautiful simplicity and can lift our yearning souls heavenward Jacques Brel rsquo s ldquo If We Only Have Love rdquo is such a song The melody is easy enough to grasp after singing only a
Arts & CultureBooks
Erin Noteboom born in Iowa is now a Canadian writer whose two recent books illustrate a classic division of poetry into the genres of narrative and lyric Seal up the Thunder derives its title from the Book of Revelation ldquo Seal up what the thunder has said and do not write it down rdquo 10
Of Many Things
The late Pope John Paul II frequently called for a “new evangelization,” by which he meant the renewed preaching of the Gospel in regions long assumed to be Christian, like Europe and the Americas. Pope Benedict XVI continues these efforts. On Sept. 29, presidents of the 34 European epis
The last piece of mail I opened that Friday afternoon was a large white envelope bearing the return address of the Diocese of Cleveland. Having already received a memorandum about this mailing, I tore into the rectangular package with curiosity. Inside, I found the newly released Standards of Conduc
The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is a remarkable summary of Catholic social teaching. Those who were disappointed with the abbreviated treatment of Catholic social thought in the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be d
Letters
Insights and Answers
Bishop Donald W. Trautman’s challenging article, Our Daily Bread (10/3), raised many concerns about the function of the World Synod of Bishops in pursuit of its mission. I urge him, once the current meeting of the synod is over, to give us the benefit of his insights and his answers, if there are any, to his questions.
John E. Dean
News
John Long, Leading Ecumenist, Dies at 80John F. Long, S.J., a leading ecumenist and one of the world’s foremost Catholic experts on Eastern Orthodox churches and theology, died in New York on Sept. 20 following hospitalization for emergency cardiac surgery. He was 80 years old. Cardinal Willia