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Books
Allan Figueroa Deck
Charles Dahm a Dominican priest is more than qualified to write about parish-based Hispanic ministry Like many U S priests of the Vatican II generation his first passion was Latin America where he steeped himself in Spanish as a missionary in Bolivia On his return to the United States he comp
Editorials
The Editors
"No young man believes he shall ever die,” said William Hazlitt, the 19th-century British essayist. That shrewd observation is contradicted in times of war. A 22-year-old machine gunner with a French battalion in Korea in the 1950’s wrote to his father: “In our time, when you
Richard G. Malloy
Catholic Universities are not “really” Catholic. So, at least, charges Burton Bollag, writing in the Chronicle of Higher Education in April. As one who is on the front lines in the classroom and in campus ministry and lives in a freshman dorm at Saint Joseph’s University in Philade
Peter Kountz
During the Lent-Easter season this year, America published a series of articles under the heading Good Liturgy. The series focused on themes central to the current Catholic liturgy, including the role and place of the assembly, presiders, deacons, lectors, eucharistic ministers, music ministers, par
Books
Gerald T. Cobb
Nobel Prize-winner Jos Saramago must have been thinking of Franz Kafka rsquo s The Metamorphosis when he wrote this his latest novel In Kafka rsquo s tale Gregor Samsa awakens one morning to find he has been transmogrified into an insect something utterly other than what he once was In The Dou
Books
Robert E. Hosmer Jr.
Czeslaw Milosz rsquo s last collection of poems is a thoroughly typical series of lyric exercises deepening and enriching the concerns that preoccupied him during his long career as a poet The 32 poems in Second Space dwell on the mysteries of the human predicament and the movement of history towa
Richard M. Liddy
In These Pages: From October 11, 2004
News
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Catholics Engaging in Personal Attacks Over Politics, Says Archbishop FlynnThe fusillade of personal attacks in the current presidential campaign is infecting the debate over issues among Catholics, said Archbishop Harry J. Flynn of St. Paul-Minneapolis. One wonders why the Christian values of chari
Richard M. Liddy
Bernard Lonergans writings are notoriously difficult. On more than one occasion I have noticed eyes roll upward at the very mention of his nameas if someone had brought up the topic of nuclear physics. This only makes the depth of peoples attachment to his thought rather mysterious. After all, in th
Letters
Our readers

Stay Alert

The thoughtful article, Assume Nothing: A Postscript to the John Jay Report, by Beth Sullivan (9/13), clearly illustrates the need for parents to be aware of words or actions by an adult that might indicate that the person is, or could be, a child abuser. As part of the safe environment programs mandated by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in June, 2002), training programs are now provided in nearly all dioceses and eparchies around the country.

Thousands of parents and caregivers have received information regarding such important topics as: how to identify an individual who might abuse a child, how to determine when a child might be the victim of some type of abuse, what to do when you suspect a person is an abuser, and what to do if you believe that a child is being abused. I strongly urge persons responsible for the care of children and young people to use this resource to learn about the problem of child abuse and how it is manifested in various parts of our society.

Sexual abuse remains the most under-reported criminal activity in the United States. Many factors contribute to this, such as fear of retribution or embarrassment. In those instances where a sexual assault is believed to have occurred, this information should be brought to the attention of the appropriate law enforcement or child protection agencies. It is critical that persons who have been abused come forward as soon as possible in order to prevent future acts from occurring, to ensure that offenders are held accountable and to help victims and their families begin the healing process.

Additional support for victims is available through specially trained diocesan or eparchial victim-assistance coordinators, as well as from public sexual assault and counseling centers located in most major cities.

Kathleen McChesney

Books
George M. Anderson
Imagine this Your teenage son has been tortured to death under the regime of a Latin American military dictator Imagine too that instead of quietly succumbing to your grief you publicly denounce the murder and speak out against the regime mdash that of the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner
Books
John Jay Hughes
ldquo Those who live for a time in Rome experience the church rsquo s age but also its youth They experience the church rsquo s breadth and diversity its religious and human wealth but also the limits and weaknesses of its representatives and members rdquo So writes the widely respected Germa
Of Many Things
Drew Christiansen
Sports physiologists talk of slow-twitch and quick-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch muscles are fit for events like weightlifting, quick-twitch muscles for sprinting. The world seems increasingly built for quick-twitchers. Video games raise the reaction times of young people to levels that even Tom Cruis
Rabbi Michael Lerner
When hundreds of supporters of the Tikkun community from over 200 Congressional districts walked the halls of Congress in the spring of 2003 and again in 2004, urging a new “middle path” for U.S. Middle East policy that would be both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, our elected leaders freq
Sheila Provencher
By now, people all over the world have seen the horrifying pictures of Iraqi prisoners being abused and ridiculed by U.S. soldiers. The question in the hearts of most Americans, as they look at these degrading pictures, is probably, How could young American men and women do such horrible things? The
Books
John B. Breslin
Novels inspired by great works of art are hardly novel but in the past several years their number seems to be growing Tracy Chevalier can claim some credit for the increase since her Girl With a Pearl Earring proved to be both a best-seller and the inspiration for a successful film and her secon
Editorials
The Editors
To judge by the presidential campaign, civil discourse in the United States lies exhausted and beaten alongside the campaign trail, a victim of the culture wars. Problems produced by the Iraq war are mounting, and the war remains the nation’s number one issue; but neither the candidates nor th
Anthony C. E. Quainton
The recent death of Ronald Reagan has brought back many memories from the 1980’s, none more controversial or painful than the secret war against the Sandinistas. The war began in March of 1982 with the destruction of the bridges linking Nicaragua and Honduras and continued until the electoral
Letters
Our readers

Spiritual Journey

Many thanks for the wonderful two-part Faith in Focus article by James Martin, S.J., on his experiences at Lourdes. While reading of the faith experiences of other pilgrims was inspiring, I especially appreciated reading Father Martin’s honest reflections on his own spiritual journey. He made a somewhat reluctant visit to Lourdes, only to find that un-nameable, intuitive something that stayed with him, and his experience blossomed into the prayerful and engaging song of hope published here (8/2, 8/16).

His story reminds me of a young woman we know about who also made a journey and upon recognizing that intuitive something, leapt into her own song of hope and triumph: My soul does glorify the Lord, my being rejoices in God my savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. Father Martin has reminded us, quietly and powerfully, that God still looks with favor on his lowly servants, that we still call the young woman blessed, and that Holy is his name. Thanks for the refreshing journey.

Elizabeth Thecla Mauro

Books
Carol Nackenoff
James Gustave Speth dean and professor at Yale University rsquo s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies has written a lively conversational and yet very substantial examination of the failures of global environmental governance to date and an exploration of prospects for the future of the