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Books
The 20th century gave birth to an age of human rights In recent decades the world has witnessed a revolution of moral concern personified by an international community sworn to global standards of justice and decency As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and such documents as the Genocide
The Word
Nowadays we seem to be dissatisfied if we are considered ordinary We seek to be the first or the best or at least to belong to the group that is first or best Yet most of us are really quite ordinary people living ordinary lives Despite this there need be nothing ordinary about being ordinary W
News
Cardinal Law Resigns After Year of Growing ScandalCardinal Bernard F. Law’s resignation as archbishop of Boston on Dec. 13 came at the end of a year in which the burgeoning clergy sexual abuse scandal practically paralyzed his archdiocese and exploded into a national crisis that consumed the e
Driving on the A1 expressway to Charles de Gaulle Airport, one sees, gradually emerging, the town of St. Denis with its rows of low-income housing. Until recently St. Denis stood out for its urban sprawl, massive soccer stadium and royal burial plot. Then, in early August, hundreds of immigrants sto
Just as a daily examination of conscience reviews the past 24 hours and, at the same time, illuminates the next, so also a moral review of the past year reveals the challenges of the next. Perhaps this is more evident this year than ever, because the dominant ethical issues of 2002 are certain to re
Faith
After nine years in Communist prisons and labor camps in Vietnam, Joseph Nguyen Doan emerged with his faith not only intact but deepened, and with a determination to continue serving his people in his native land. A Jesuit, he is now the episcopal vicar for religious in the archdiocese of Ho Chi Min
Books
The title is brave God and the Imagination The book is even braver for in 22 essays the prizewinning biographer and poet Paul Mariani probes himself modern American poetry and the poetic imagination His goal is to link together the making of a poem the worldview of a poet and the shining of Go
Faith in Focus
“Stop! Don’t Shop on Sunday.” That was the advice of a large poster hanging on a wall of our Catholic Labor Alliance office in Chicago during the 1950’s. We drummed home the same message in our monthly publication, called Work, and in a pamphlet I wrote for Ave Maria Press. I
With Cardinal Jaime Sin sick and plans in the works to divide the present archdiocese into six smaller dioceses, church affairs in Manila, Philippines, are at a standstill. This provides an opportunity to reflect on what the church should be about once the changes are made.Will the proposed changes
Life in the barrio changed me as a Jesuit. Part of my heart remains snagged on the razor wire surrounding Central Juvenile Hall; a portion of my soul is entwined with people whose language I speak so poorly. What began as a sabbatical from Loyola Marymount University quickly became a crash course in
The Word
The Christmas season closes with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord This is not the end of things but rather the beginning The readings remind us that the one born of our flesh is the servant of God mdash the very Son of God mdash who brings a promise of justice and hope to a world in desperate
Books
Sebastian Barry first made his mark as a writer with The Steward of Christendom a play about his grandfather who rose from the ranks to become a superintendent of the Irish police force in Dublin under British rule but quickly fell into disrepute and dejection with its passing It made the rounds
The Word
Is it over yet Are the carols gone from the air waves Have the stores dismantled their decorations Has Christmas been put away to make room for Valentine rsquo s Day It always happens so fast We waited and waited for Christmas and then it came and went in a flash But it did not happen like th
Of Many Things
One benefit of taking a vow of poverty is that it greatly simplifies Christmas shopping. I realized this during my first year as a Jesuit novice, when our monthly stipend (or personalia, in Jesuit lingo) was set at $35. That year my family and friends, who had long been used to receiving numerous gi
Editorials
The Christmas celebration in Bethlehem will be muted this year. Few pilgrims are expected. Since the 40-day occupation and siege of the Church of the Nativity last April, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah told America, the Christians of Palestine feel abandoned by the world (see the interview in this is
The Word
Although darkness can be very soothing and romantic as well it can also be very frightening We lose our way in the dark we bump into things we cannot perceive what or who might threaten our safety The phrase ldquo under the cover of darkness rdquo suggests some manner of deception In our vu
Letters
Broader Context
Thanks for your forthright editorial regarding Ordaining Gay Men (11/11). In the broader context of today’s church, I would add married men to your conclusion. Preventing the ordination of gay and married men would deprive the church of many productive, hard-working and dedicated ministers and would, moreover, ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who has called these men to holy orders.
Lee P. Kaspari
Beatitude, the al-Aqsa intifada has gone on now for more than two years. In September you declared it has been “a catastrophe” for the Palestinian people. What did you mean? The conditions of life imposed by the Israeli military are simply inhuman. The whole population, more than th