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Books
A Dilemma of Identity
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
Pondering the Human Condition
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
Of Many Things
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
Criticism of AIPAC Is Not Anti-Semitism
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
Responsibility and Healing in Iraq
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
A Way With Words
Lucy Lethbridge
In The Thing in the Forest the opening story of A S Byatt rsquo s latest collection two young girls evacuated during the last war to the English countryside witness a monstrous creature in a sunlit wood Rolling toward them devouring everything in their path comes a grotesque worm that appea
Editorials
Shadow Play
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
After the Revolution
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
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
Mysterious Masterpiece
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
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Vatican Dismayed Over Memo on CommunionWhen Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sent out a brief memo in June about politicians and Communion, he probably never imagined it would ignite a heated discussion about Catholics and voting. The document, leaked to an Italian reporter but never officially acknowledge
Critics From Within
Robert P. Maloney
I entered St. Peter’s Basilica yesterday just after the gates swung open at seven in the morning and found myself drawn to the altar of Blessed John XXIII. Each day a priest preaches there who does everything wrong and everything right. He didn’t disappoint me. Having once taught homilet
Poetry
Art of Detection
Sara Miller

I took the possum apart by myself.

Books
Protecting the Planet
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
The Word
The Broad Embrace of God
Dianne Bergant
We may think that leprosy known today as Hansen rsquo s disease is an ancient affliction that has been eradicated from today rsquo s society In fact the current World Health Organization considers it one of the major health problems in developing countries But what is called leprosy in the Bibl
Books
Woe Are They
Joseph J. Feeney
The good life in The Good Life is brittle fragile ironic impermanent And it is often Catholic In these 11 short stories Erin McGraw author of three books and professor of creative writing at Ohio State University watches hears and records contemporary America in 15-page snatches She drops i
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Pope Urges Bishops: Collaborate in GovernanceIn the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, U.S. bishops should be open to a more collaborative style of governance that shares responsibility with lay Catholics, Pope John Paul II said.A consultative approach should not be seen as an abandonment of episcopa
A Catholic Votes for John Kerry
James R. Kelly
Many pro-life Catholics, like myself, find the positions of Democratic candidates on domestic and foreign policy much more to their liking than the positions of the Republican Party. But can a pro-life Catholic even consider voting for a pro-choice presidential candidate? Despite being pro-life, I a
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Try to Imagine

While admiring the nuanced article American Catholics and the State (8/2), one hopes that someday our legislators, with their degrees and posturing, will view our society through the eyes of the world’s people. Try to imagine the most primitive, illiterate, unlettered tribespeople on earth suddenly seeing our society of same-sex marriages and legalized abortion. They would be horrified. They would think we were crazy.

They would know a man is a man and a woman is a woman and they would reverence the miracle of birth.

Our nation may yet self-destruct.

(Rev.) George P. Carlin

Books
Can We Talk?
Thomas P. Rausch
One of the most interesting religious developments in the late 20th century has been the warming of relationships between Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christians As William Shea says at the beginning of his book The Lion and the Lamb both have hated each other in the United States since colonia