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Faith in Focus
The Bad Thief
Jens Soering
There is a chip in the paint on my bunk bed where Keith hanged himself. Like everything else in prison, penitentiary paint is cheap. Even a suicide’s shoestring rope is enough to nick it. That scratch is all that is left of Keith now. In the year or so that we shared a cell, Keith and I never
The Word
Rejoice in the Lord!
Dianne Bergant
In the middle of Advent we pause for a moment of rejoicing This is not a period of rest taken during a long journey It is more like a short stop at a scenic view where we stand in awe of the spectacular panorama before us Advent is a liturgical journey toward Christmas the feast that celebrate
Books
Odyssey of the Long-Winded Lady'
Tom Deignan
In 1997 literary luminaries like Alice Munro and Mavis Gallant hailed a collection of stories written by an Irish writer named Maeve Brennan Entitled The Springs of Affection Stories of Dublin Houghton Mifflin these stories were set in Ireland and often revolved around young girls or women Th
A Catholic Vote?
Andrew M. Greeley
In the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, a combination of media experts and religious leaders have argued that “religion” and “moral values” have taken on a new importance in American political life. The evangelicals are claiming control of the Republican Party bec
The Primacy of Procreation
Robert Sokolowski
I am grateful for Stephen J. Pope’s careful reading of my essay and glad to have the opportunity to reply. His basic claim, it seems to me, is that a specifically sexual kind of friendship, not procreation nor friendship as such, is the feature that defines marriage. Marriage is “about a
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Can of Sardines

I wish to comment on Immoral Bingeing by Terry Golway (10/18). I feel that I not only do have a right to complain about the price of gas with which I fill my gas-guzzling S.U.V., but I have a right to complain about the cost of my S.U.V., along with the cost of my pants, shirts and shoes. I have that right because I don’t have a say in what I drive. I am 6’ 4 and weigh 190 lbs. For the first nine years of my driving life, I drove Chevy Cavaliers and a Ford Tempo. They have the leg room and head room of a can of sardines. The same goes for those Hondas and Toyotas. It is not fair that I should have to buy an S.U.V., but they are the only vehicles made with a person slightly taller than average in mind. I really feel discriminated against by the fact that I cannot buy a cheaper car. The shorter people are catered to; the taller people aren’t. So I should not be put in the category of S.U.V. yuppies who don’t care how much gas they burn.

Matthew Toohill

Books
Weigel's Catholic World
Mark Mossa
Reading George Weigel rsquo s Letters to a Young Catholic is a bit like watching Kevin Costner attempt a British accent in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves You can see that he rsquo s trying and for stretches he gets it but despite his best efforts he can rsquo t avoid returning to his normal way of
Legal Failure or Moral Success?
Antony Barone Kolenc
Does the ban on partial-birth abortion really save babies’ lives? Does the ban violate the U.S. Constitution? How crucial is the ban to the pro-life movement? This summer, federal judges in California, New York and Nebraska dealt a major setback to pro-life efforts to ban the controversial par
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Immense Debt

Thanks to Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J., for his magnificent tribute to my former professor, Karl Rahner, S.J. (11/8). I was a student at the University of Innsbruck from 1958 to 1962 and witnessed firsthand the genius and humility of this great priest-theologian.

The church owes an immense debt to Karl Rahner, who inspired so much of the renewal of the Second Vatican Council.

While Rahner could be very serious and profound, he was also very gentle and gracious. I recall sitting with him in the exam room for my oral final. Here was a struggling young American taking an oral exam in the presence of this world-renowned theologian. He pardoned my nervousness, he repeated questions in German and Latin and, like a father, complimented me to give encouragement. The students rightly called him Karl the Great.

(Most Rev.) Donald W. Trautman

The Word
Preserved Without Stain
Dianne Bergant
For many people the feast of the Immaculate Conception is as confusing as is the familiar statue that honors Mary under that title One reason is that the Gospel reading recounts the conception of Jesus not that of Mary As for the statue today rsquo s passage from Genesis clearly states that it
Books
Preparing for the End Time
Jeffrey Gros
Religious forces in the Middle East and in the United States are complex While Muslim Jewish Catholic and Orthodox perspectives are widely known account is often not taken however of the strong millennial movement in the evangelical subculture which assigns a special theological significance
The Values Vote
John F. Kavanaugh
First, a confession: I couldn’t do it. I wanted to vote for one of the two nominees from the dominant parties, but I just could not offer my vote to either. I went for the Green candidate, since he was for universal health care and conservation policies that 20 years from now we will all wish
Needed: A New Spiritual Left
Rabbi Michael Lerner
For years the Democrats have been telling themselves “it’s the economy, stupid.” Yet consistently, for dozens of years, millions of middle income Americans have voted against their economic interests to support Republicans who have tapped a deeper set of needs. Tens of millions of
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Drew Christiansen
When the Franciscans of the Holy Land elected their new superior last spring, they opted for renewal. The custos or guardian, so called because of the Franciscans’ traditional role in protecting the holy places, is a 39-year-old Italian priest, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. With just 14 years in th
Books
Toward Higher Ground
Richard J. Hauser
View From the Altar is a must-read for all who are interested in understanding the causes of the scandal of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy Howard Bleichner a Sulpician priest who has served for 40 years in seminary formation 20 of them as rector of two major seminaries deserves t
Editorials
The Family of Europe
The Editors
The signing of the new European constitution in Rome on Oct. 29 was a bittersweet moment for Catholics on the continent. It is the latest achievement of a movement initiated by postwar Christian Democrats, like Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi, which began with the European Coal
Faith
A Life-Giving Choice
Tim Muldoon
For many people today, globalization is happening at the dinner table. My wife and I, both of Irish-American descent, stare across the table every day at two exquisitely Chinese faces. As toddlers, both our daughters traveled halfway around the world to be at home with us, their hope-filled parents,
Bankruptcy and the Catholic Church
Jennie D. Latta
On July 6, 2004, the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., became the first Catholic diocese in the history of the United States to seek the protection of the bankruptcy court. On Sept. 20, 2004, the Diocese of Tucson became the second. Both of these filings resulted from the wave of lawsuits brought again
Faith in Focus
Faith Underground
Angelo Stagnaro
Among my New York City circle of friends, I am considered to be the best read. This is not because I am the most educated or gifted with the highest I.Q. It is because I have the longest commute. When one lives in the outer borroughs, as our less enlightened, Manhattan-centric brethren call them, on
The Word
The Peaceable Kingdom
Dianne Bergant
quot The Peaceable Kingdom rdquo a print by the German-born illustrator Fritz Eichenberg is one of many artistic representations of the oft-quoted passage from Isaiah we hear today We see animals that are natural enemies sitting together peacefully under the widespread branches of a sheltering