For the last several months images of heroism have filled the media. The immediate heroes, the firefighters, police and rescue workers, have gradually been supplanted by brave survivors, mourning the dead and living for the future. Their stories have helped us through the horror, especially in this

Back in the boom days of the very near past there was much talk of how stock ownership in the United States had been democratizedwith a stock in every pot There is no doubt that in the 1990 rsquo s many families like my own were suddenly mindful of the market having sunk savings for college or

While I was baking Christmas cookies in mid-December (oh, good, here’s another broken one!), my thoughts suddenly turned to Lent. Clearly I was en route to surpassing the average 1.4 pounds we Americans gain during the Christmas holiday season. So in a perverse sort of way, while munching my w

In his State of the Union address, President Bush launched another salvo in the war against terrorism, not to mention his war against clarity. He declared Iran, Iraq and North Korea to be an “axis of evil,” which all civilized nations must recognize and resolutely eradicate. Ever since 9

The Bush administration has waged an effective war in Afghanistan, and, for the most part, has waged it in a just manner. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we wrote that the terrorists should be brought to justice because of their crimes and because of the danger they pose to life in this country

A sea change has overtaken parole in the course of the last three decades. Partly in response to ever-harsher public attitudes toward offenders, in state after state parole boards have either been eliminated or their powers with respect to prisoner-release decisions have been greatly reduced.Previou

In Humanity A Moral History of the Twentieth Century Jonathan Glover made his quot moral history quot above all an account of the wars international and civil in which human beings killed one another throughout the century The book made for interesting appalling and enlightening reading Yet

As a liberal Catholic, I admire the progressive doctrine of Reform Judaism. Last summer, Reform Jews gave me something else to applaud. They have been open-minded enough to restore what they call the affective side of their religion: traditions like Hebrew chant. They now acknowledge that those gest

I suspect that many Americans are, like me, torn between two conflicting desires. On the one hand, we yearn for nothing more than the opportunity to revert to our comfortable pre-Sept. 11 ways, even if some aspects of our culture and routines now seem a bit frivolous. On the other hand, we feel the

The people of Zambia voted on Dec. 27, 2001, in the election of a new president, members of Parliament and local councilors. Though the president gained only 29 percent of the vote and none of the 10 major parties gained a majority, the stage is set for a new direction in Zambian politics. Questions

While our nation was breathing a sigh of relief over the rapid deterioration of Taliban power in Afghanistan, we American Muslims were still reeling from the fact that our faith had also been hijacked on Sept. 11 by people who twisted their version of Islam into a blackened form uglier than the burn

Spiritual genius is the uniquely human ability to seek life rsquo s meaning It rsquo s the voice inside us that keeps asking What rsquo s it all about Who am I How can I make a difference Thus does Winifred Gallagher begin this insightful and important book Her thesis is that all human beings

At a friend’s home a few years ago, I sat across the dining table from a Muslim woman who had been born in Egypt and had lived in many cities around the world. Ramadan had recently ended; Lent would shortly begin, and fasting became a topic of conversation. She spoke knowledgeably about Islam&

At the risk of being rounded up as a Taliban sympathizer, I propose that President Bush is dressing up a boondoggle for the rich as a patriotic budget, wrapped in the American flag. Be patriotic and buy. Be patriotic and fly. Be patriotic and be quiet. Observing the Enron debacle, one can almost und

Following another rsquo s spiritual journey can be a voyeuristic undertaking Like sampling diverse liturgies one can as an aloof observer watch others worship making insightful observations about their correctness or oddity But like engaging liturgy one can also accompany the other to find w

More than one perplexed priest has asked me: "What should I do when people come to confession and say they have nothing to confess?" It used to be that when people had not been to confession in years, they would offer a lengthy list of sins. Or longtime sinners would say, "You name it

When I was growing up in suburban Philadelphia in the 1960’s and 1970’s, most of my friends were Jewish. I can say with confidence that I went to more seders than novenas, and attended more bat and bar mitzvahs than First Communion parties. At one point, I had been to so many bar mitzvah

I once had a spiritual director who told me that A Lent missed is a year lost from the spiritual life. Every year at this time, those words come winging back. And often my best Lenten devotion flows from reading. Here are a few reflective titles that seem worth mention for these 40 days.Philip Yance