Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Clear filter
The Word
What's New?
Dianne Bergant
We seem to tire so easily of the ordinary in life Many of us are constantly looking for something new something exciting We want to be entertained by life and to have the latest of everything whether that means style electronic equipment or fame We are often taken in by the advertisements that
Editorials
A Bad Bet
The Editors
George W. Bush is a high-stakes gambler. When the going gets tough, he is inclined to up the ante. Whether it is tax cuts, the prescription drug benefit, bringing democracy to the Middle East or sending astronauts to Mars, he reaches for the sky. His endorsement of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharo
Books
Cleanse Us From Our Sins
Thomas H. Stahel
You rsquo ll need an iron stomach and a leather bottom to get through these two investigative reports but if you want to know about sexual abuse in the church they are indispensable You will also have to put up with cute titles and chapter heads as well as an occasionally questionable judgment
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Kennedy to Kerry: Catholic Candidates in Strikingly Different TimesWhen Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts ran for president in 1960, he faced a barrage of questions from a predominantly Protestant public, like, "How do we know you can separate your Catholic beliefs from your political re
The Word
Is He Alive in Us?
Dianne Bergant
Not too many people serve grilled fish for breakfast mdash smoked maybe but not grilled But who would turn it down if Jesus was the one offering it Bread and fish Not unlike the meal he earlier served to the large crowd on the mountainside Jn 6 9-11 Both times he astonished the disciples Unf
The Glorious Paradox
David E. Nantais
If a Jesuit Volunteer Corps community were ever chosen to appear on MTV’s “The Real World,” you might hear words like the following, an altered version of the program’s usual opening credits: “This is the true story of some young adults who live together and pursue the
(iStock/wideonet)
Faith
Ministers of Communion
Margaret Mary Kelleher
Why do we need ministers of Communion? Why not just pass the eucharistic bread and wine and let people take it themselves?
Books
Voice of the People
George M. Anderson
El Salvador rsquo s civil war took 175 000 lives and during the dozen years of its duration human rights abuses ran rampant Those who denounced the abuses mdash like Archbishop Oscar Romero the six Jesuits at the University of El Salvador and other activists mdash were targeted for assassination
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
John W. Donohue
St. Paul would not have been surprised by the clash of opinions aroused by Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ.” At the beginning of his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul alluded to the controversy he himself encountered when he proclaimed “Christ nailed to the
Must We Preserve Life?
Ronald Hamel
Is the removal of a feeding tube that supplies nutrients and fluids, especially in patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), simply a means of killing a vulnerable persona form of euthanasia? Judging from some of the responses to the much-publicized Terri Schiavo case, it seems there are thos
The Word
A Great and Diverse Multitude
Dianne Bergant
Today is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday But the readings call our attention to the flock rather than the shepherd Still the character of the flock does tell us something about the one who guides and cares for it The fact for example that there are different kinds of sheep indicate
Hispanic Ecumenism
Kenneth G. Davis
With the steady growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, Christian denominations have been competing as never before for the allegiance of Latinos. Now many Hispanic religious leaders have begun to ask an intriguing question: couldn’t we accomplish more for our people by collabo
Books
Boulder's Miracle Child
Ron Hansen
On Aug 15 the feast of Mary rsquo s Assumption a homeless Chaucer scholar on antipsychotic drugs has a vision that convinces him that 14-year-old Francesca Dunn is the Virgin pregnant with the Savior Certain he rsquo s been elected to serve and protect her Chester finds the girl at a Colorado
Editorials
Eight Hundred Thousand
The Editors
This year, the United Nations proclaimed April 7 an International Day of Remembrance. For in the 100 days beginning on the eve of that date 10 years ago, 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda. The divisions between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples in Rwanda were not always as deep as those that separated t
Remembering Rwanda 1994-2004
Mark Raper
During early April this year, thousands of quiet, sad memorials were held across Rwanda. Holy Week also fell in early April, but the passion that Rwanda re-enacted is uniquely its own. Ten years ago, on April 6, 1994, a raging genocide was unleashed that claimed over 800,000 Rwandan lives in 100 day
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Peer Review

Regarding Bishop Emil C. Wcela’s title query, What Did I Miss? I should like to suggest that the missing category about which he is puzzled is the use of peer review (3/15). If seminarians had been polled regularly, perhaps some weeks before the seminary authorities met to discuss and vote on the candidates for priesthood at the end of each academic year, much more could have been learned about the candidates and their ability to relate effectively and appropriately. While peer review never tells the whole story, it does add another dimension. Ordained in 1965, I too, like the bishop, wish I could have been more effective, but there was no way at the time to help.

(Rev.) Stephen F. Duffy

News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Vatican Asks Bishops to Focus on Wider IssuesTop Vatican officials are urging U.S. bishops to move beyond the sexual abuse crisis and restore their focus to the wider range of pastoral and international issues. That is the main message emerging from a series of encounters in late March between heads
The Second Adam
Gerald OCollins
The paintings on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in Florence show Masaccio (1401-28) at his artistic and spiritual best—not least in the way he links Adam and Eve with Christ. Driven from the Garden of Eden, our first parents are in despair. Weeping and weighed down with terrible pain and lo
Another Easter Statistic
Jens Soering
Two thousand years ago, three young men—a revolutionary and two thieves—were executed by the governing civil authority of the Roman province of Palestine. One of those three condemned convicts turned out to be the Son of God, much to everyone’s embarrassment. Naturally, we would al
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Center of Our Lives

I am writing concerning Presiding at the Liturgy of the Eucharist, by Keith F. Pecklers, S.J. (3/15). I do not find an abundance of words in our reformed liturgy. I like to hear the work of human hands to recall my gift of life. I want to hear that the Spirit is changing these gifts into the body of Christ. We no longer have copies of the text in our hands, so we need to hear the words being said in our name.

I realize that it is not the intent of this article to speak about the role of the assembly. But I would love to see the Mass viewed from the perspective of the person in the pew, written for us the assembly. I believe it is different from that of the presider. Thank God, we are one in so many ways.

I appreciated Sacrifice: the Way to Enter the Paschal Mystery (5/12/03) and Running to Communion (10/27/03). We need more essays like them to bring the Mass to the center of our lives, where it truly belongs.

Jane Day, S.S.J.