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Books
Adam Nicolson must have thought one good masterpiece of English deserved another He has matched the eloquent beauty of the King James Bible with prose that doesn 8217 t just sparkle but sings This story has been told before Benson Bobrick 8217 s Wide as the Waters and Alister McGrath 8217 s In
Editorials
The prospects are dark for the world’s refugees and asylum seekers. Ever more stringent security measures in the wake of terrorist attacks have led to higher and higher barriers in countries that once welcomed them. These less-than-welcoming countries, moreover, are among the wealthiest: the U
Recent ethical and legal scandals in the American church pose a perplexing question. How could intelligent and generally good persons have been sucked into such a mess? The same question arose when the recent business scandals were studied. What has been learned from analyzing business scandals can
The Word
I would do anything rdquo That rsquo s a phrase we hear often It may even play an important role in our own lives ldquo I would do anything to have your good looks rdquo mdash and some people go to great lengths to try to change their appearance nbsp ldquo I would do anything for your lo
Faith in Focus
Turning 70—what a thought! And yet here I am on that very threshold. In fact, though, a friend pointed out to me that having celebrated my 69th birthday, I had already begun my 70th year. Rita’s explanation came as something of a double whammy, like having to deal with reaching 70 twice.
Books
Best known in the United States for his early films ldquo Diary of a Country Priest rdquo 1951 and ldquo The Trial of Joan of Arc rdquo 1962 Robert Bresson became known to the critical establishment as a ldquo Catholic rdquo filmmaker In this brief but comprehensive survey of the comple
News
Conservatives to Meet With Bishops on Sex Abuse CrisisSeveral leading U.S. bishops are expected to attend a discussion forum with self-styled conservative Catholic voices on the clergy sexual abuse crisis on Sept. 8 in Washington, D.C. We should be talking about the 25-year legacy of our pope and ho
A major theme sounded by the Bush administration before and after the war against Iraq is the right and responsibility of the United States, as the world’s leading democracy, to unseat the forces of tyranny and replace dictatorial regimes with democracies wherever U.S. interests are threatened
Books
Although Vatican II urged moral theologians to pay attention to Scripture and the Christian vocation the old wineskins of traditional moral theology burst under the ferment of new biblical personalist and liberationist contents Connecting Scripture and moral theology has proven to be a formidabl
Of Many Things
A few weeks ago I made a quick stop into my local deli for a small can of tomato sauce, which wound up costing me $105.49. The 49 cents was my actual purchase. The $105, thanks to New York’s Mayor Mike (which rhymes with hike) Bloomberg, was a parking citation. You’ve heard, I&rsq
Columns
There is fear that paralyzes and fear that compels. The distinction can melt into nothing in a split second, but the difference means everything in life.
The news stories about Korea seem to veer from saber-rattling toward negotiations and back again. Despite the latest agreement on multiparty talks, mutual misperceptions and, on the part of the United States, avoidance of the issue may yet risk an unnecessary war, whose victims will be the civilian
Letters
Certain Uniformity
Among the items in Signs of the Times on Aug. 4 is a notice that the Vatican says flexibility allowed on posture after Communion, even though the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 43, states that all are to remain standing until the end of Mass. The reason given for this statement by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments is worth noting and should be observed as a principle regarding other postures at Mass, such as standing for the eucharistic prayer: The mind of the prescription of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, No. 43, is intended, on the one hand, to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture with the congregation for the various parts of the celebration of Holy Mass, and on the other, to not regulate posture rigidly....
That explanation is in accord with the much-ignored principle of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 37, which insists that even in the sacred liturgy the Church does not wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not involve the faith or the good of the whole community.
Charles E. Miller, C.M.
Books
In the last decade or two we have witnessed a spirited revival of the rhetoric of design Sometimes this translates into a modest case for a peaceful settlement of the science religion skirmish For the proponents of the modern Intelligent Design I D movement however a negotiated truce is not a
The day after Arnold Schwarzenegger announced to Jay Leno and the world that he was running for governor of Californiatoughest decision since getting a bikini wax in 1978Andrew Sullivan, erstwhile conservative Catholic who supported the war in Iraq and considers leaving the church over gay marriage,
Faith
Seventy years ago a fateful meeting occurred in Rome. The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (the future Pope Pius XII), and Germany’s vice chancellor, Franz von Papen, formally signed a concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich on July 20, 1933.
Film
Symbolic landscapes shift during the years. For a century or more, starting perhaps with Mark Twain, American writers have looked to the South as a metaphor for failed expectations and ruinous nostalgia. William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams, Flannery O’Connor, Thomas Wolfe, Walker Percy and
Books
Many Catholics today seem content to attend Mass on Sunday send our children to Catholic schools and worship the gods of materialism and secularism for the other 167 hours of the week Matthew Kelly a motivational speaker and unabashed Catholic evangelist is a post-Vatican II Catholic who writes
Editorials
Faced with the suffering caused by World War 60 years ago the Catholic bishops of the United States founded the War Relief Services. That organization evolved into Catholic Relief Services, which can now look back on a proud heritage of supporting disaster relief efforts throughout the world during