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The Word
So many stories in the Bible recount the wondrous working of God In some of them the events are reported in such unremarkable ways that one wonders whether or not anything exceptional really happened An example of this might be God rsquo s revelation to the prophet Elijah in ldquo a tiny whisper
News
Neighbors Describe Pope as Humble Cat LoverSince the papal election on April 19, tidbits have begun trickling out from those who came to know Pope Benedict the man, as distinguished from the theologian. "I like him more than Wojtyla [Pope John Paul II]. Maybe that’s because I knew him,&qu
They came from all over, some 220 parents and children, and waited in line for up to three hours to enter the century-old red brick building in East Harlem. In this once Italian neighborhood, they were now mostly Hispanic immigrants from all over Central and Latin America and the Carribean. What the
Arts & CultureBooks
India has turned into something like the center of the world Forever touted as the world rsquo s largest democracy it is now about to become the world rsquo s most populous country The achievements of its scientists artists and writers many of them migr s are astonishing The thoroughly mod
News
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Elected Pope Benedict XVICardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, 78, who has been prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for the last 24 years, was elected the 265th pope and took the name Benedict XVI. Appearing at the central window of St. Peter’s B
The Archdiocese of Boston recently completed an evaluation of the demographic and fiscal viability of parishes that resulted in a 25 percent reduction in the number of parishes. A principal reason for initiating this reconfiguration process was the fact that one-third of the pastors in Boston are ov
Arts & CultureBooks
Kishore Mahbubani rsquo s bittersweet assessment of the recent shortcomings of U S foreign policy will more than likely fall upon deaf ears The dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore Mahbubani explains how American leaders have alienated governments around the world a fact
FaithThe Word
The time between the feast of the Ascension and that of Pentecost is a period of liminality an in-between time Jesus has left but the Spirit has not yet come God rsquo s promises have been fulfilled in Jesus but in our liturgical observance we await the coming of the Spirit We now live in the
Columns
When he looks back on the years when he was a young parish priest in suburban New Jersey and then in wounded, smoldering Newark, Msgr. Thomas A. Kleissler remembers the lessons he learned in the living rooms and kitchens of his parishioners. It was, he said, the richest experience of my life as a pr
Theater
The 1985 bestseller and nostalgic spoof Growing Up Catholic included a parody of The Baltimore Catechism and asked the following question: “Who’s really in hell?” The answer: “We cannot say for certainty that anyone is in hell, except for maybe Hitler and Judas.” Even t
Arts & CultureBooks
Robert A Orsi Harvard Divinity School rsquo s Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America takes a complex approach to his own religion and academic disciplines drawing from his Italian-American family history to illustrate how mid-20th-century Catholics in the United States re
In 1992 the then-chief executive of Monsanto, Robert Shapiro, told the Harvard Business Review that genetically modified crops will be necessary to feed a growing world population. He predicted that if population levels were to rise to 10 billion, humanity would face two options: either open up new
Letters
Toward Reconciliation
Catholicism, Death and Modern Medicine (4/25) was a splendid article by Lisa Sowle Cahill. Waiting until the dust settled on this traumatic event was wise and effective. We know that timing in such matters is of great importance. The crux of her argument lies in her statement it would seem, the rejection of the means of life-prolongation is not tantamount to directly desiring that the patient be dead, but rather to acceptance of death as now timely and a part of the human condition. It was determined after the autopsy that Terri Schiavo suffered no abuse or neglect, so we should assume Terri’s husband did not desire her dead. It also seems that her parents, who loved her very much, had a hard time accepting death as part of the human condition. With the help of thoughtful writings such as Ms. Cahill’s, one hopes reconciliation between parents and husband can go forward.
Howard Grandjean
Arts & CultureBooks
New York City in the year 1930 was simultaneously ascending and descending Its most ambitious project was the building of the world rsquo s tallest skyscraper unashamedly called the Empire State Building right in the heart of busy Manhattan Meanwhile its descent was less evident the stock ma
Editorials
A tug of war is taking placenot among children, though they may be grievously affected by this contest’s outcomebut between the federal government and the states. The struggle is over Medicaid, the entitlement program that guarantees health care for over 50 million low-income Americans. So far
The Word
The meaning of the feast of the Ascension is found outside human history but its implications touch the lives of all believers We might wonder just what really happened on that Ascension Day Was Jesus actually lifted up And if so where did his body go The space travel that this generation know
Arts & CultureBooks
The title of this book is misleading The book is not about the evolution of Christianity but about the evolution of doctrine mdash or theology as Marshall D Johnson calls it in his introduction The 12 crises therefore are crises about what Christians normatively believe The author whose prio
News
Cardinals List Qualities for Next PopeSaying they needed time for serious prayer and reflection, the world’s cardinals stopped talking to the press, but only after giving them an almost endless list of qualities they said they would look for in a future pope.In interviews up to Pope John Paul
In the spring of 2005, Pope John Paul II and Theresa Schindler Schiavo died within three days of each other. The pope’s death was held up as a Christian model; Ms. Schiavo’s was a flashpoint of moral and ecclesial turmoil. Terri Schiavo was 41 years old, had been in a so-called persisten