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Editorials
A handful of the provisions of the USA Patriot Act are set to expireor sunset on Dec. 31, and Congress is therefore considering which of them to re-authorize. President Bush wants the entire act to be made permanent, contending that it has made the United States safer in the wake of the terrorist at
Arts & CultureBooks
In 1954 when the blockbuster horror movie Them hit the silver screen the young Barnard graduate and budding writer Francine du Plessix not yet married to the artist Cleve Gray was off in France Even if she hadn rsquo t been there was no way such a sophisticated intellectual with flawless Fre
Faith
Balthasar believed our contemplation of God must take its cue from Christ, who entered into solidarity with human suffering.
Film
They don’t make movies the way they used to, and Cinderella Man shows why. Before it opened, Universal thought it had a certain hit on its hands. The film features two of the most bankable names on any marquee in the world: Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger. Its director, Ron Howard, had team
FaithThe Word
In the minds of many people, the circle is a symbol of inclusivity. But circles can also be very exclusive.
Editorials
At the end of its current term, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court issued two judgments and 10 opinions concerning the constitutionality of governmental displays of the Ten Commandments. One judgment upheld the permissibility of the 44-year-old display in the Texas Capitol Park of a six-foot gra
Faith
The ministry of deacons has been intertwined with peacemaking from the church’s very beginning.
I used to be a priest, a minister of the Gospel, but I left the priesthood, went to law school and became a lawyer. The other day, as I waited my turn to go before the judge in one of my cases in the criminal courts building here in Houston, I was struck by some fundamental similarities between my f
Letters
Major Source
I commend C. Colt Anderson for acknowledging the action St. Peter Damian took regarding the crime of clerical sexual abuse of children in the 11th century (6/6). The time has come for Catholic scholars to give voice to the hundreds of saints and sinners who have done the same. Peter Damian’s notice to the pope is available in English translation, called the Book of Gomorrah. This is one of the rare major sources of the history of clerical sexual abuse that is available to all.
Patrick J. Wall
The Word
It is very convenient to drive up to a metal box place an order turn the corner of the building and pick up a meal in a colorfully decorated bag But indulging our penchant for speed and convenience is often paid for by the loss of human sharing There is something very intimate about eating with
News
No Insurmountable Problems to Diplomatic Relations With China, Says Vatican A top Vatican official said there were no insurmountable problems to establishing diplomatic relations between the Vatican and China. Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican’s equivalent of a foreign minister, said on
The face of leadership in Catholic organizations has changed dramatically in less than a generation. Catholic health care offers a clear illustration. Forty years ago most of the presidents of Catholic hospitals in the United States were Catholic women religious. Today those hospitals are nearly all
Faith in Focus
The first thing you should know is that I don’t hug trees. I don’t collect money to save whales. I don’t drive a Volvo. I hate tofu. I don’t attend Upper West Side cocktail parties or drink white wine. And I don’t gather in somebody’s basement in the dead of night
Of Many Things
Walk, walk, walk says my cardiologist. And I do, mostly just as a way of getting home. But I also enjoy it, though the Manhattan tempo is so accelerated that what might be called walking easily becomes run, run, run. This adrenaline-driven tempo has transformed me into one of the legions of jaywalke
I write on a hot summer day in Saint Louis. The newspaper notes that Communist China, the great new rising capitalist and consumer society, has made a bid to buy a mid-level American oil company for $1.5 billion more than offered by Chevron. The networks announce that crude oil has reached $60 a bar
"I am the only male member of my family on either side who hasn’t been in jail,” Mark Ford tells me. “During high school I sold and used drugs, I dropped out, and got kicked out twice.” We were speaking in a row house in Camden, N.J., that serves as office space for Hope
Culture
Where do I turn for fresh inspiration? How do I learn from others who practice the spiritual life? Spiritual reading is part of the answer. Great devotional classics encourage me; but I also need contemporary thoughts and insights. New writers (or those who are new to me) keep me reflecting and pray
The Word
If you were approached by God as was Solomon and told ldquo Ask something of me and I will give it to you rdquo how would you respond Would you ask for money A happy family Good health World peace Solomon asked for ldquo an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish righ
Arts & CultureBooks
Saturday brings Ian McEwan rsquo s novel output to a neat dozen with one exception most of them have tended toward brevity rather than length I have read almost all of them and consider myself a fan Ironically McEwan received the Booker Prize for Amsterdam a short novel of intrigue while his