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Books
Perhaps the least helpful statement in Susan Sontag rsquo s otherwise indispensable introduction to Summer in Baden-Baden is her peremptory opening declaration that she would include it among the most beautiful exalting and original achievements of a century rsquo s worth of fiction and para-fic
The Word
As a diptych to the story of the temptation of Jesus the Transfiguration is always proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent The title masks its deeper meaning since the earliest English use of quot transfiguration quot is for the feast and the word rarely appears in quot secular quot discours
Of Many Things
Lack of affordable housing has affected all low-income people, but its effects have been especially harsh for the elderly and vulnerable. New York City provides a case in point. Many of the single-room occupancy hotels that dotted the Manhattan landscape through the 1960’s have disappeared, co
Editorials
Sexual abuse of minors by priests is once again making national headlines. No news story about the church is more shocking and scandalous than a report of children being sexually abused by priests. No victim is more defenseless than a child being preyed upon by an adult, especially an adult in a pos
Every year thousands of cases of anti-Catholicism come to the attention of the Catholic League. Our first job is to determine whether the alleged offense merits our attention. If it does, then we must verify the authenticity of the offense to the best of our ability. If everything checks out, a stra
News
Young Adult Catholics Know Little About ReligiousYoung adult Catholics generally have a positive opinion of men and women religious, but many do not know a great deal about them, according to a new national study. Only one-third of those surveyed, for example, said they knew the difference between d
Letters
World Peace
Thank you for publishing the pope’s Message for World Peace Day (1/7). Appropriately, we hear often from the Vatican about significant but essentially internal church matters. But this message is a stunning reminder of how timely, human, warm, clear, compassionate, courageous and hopeful the Catholic Church can be when we address all our human sisters and brothers about our common life here and now. As one who is grateful to stand unmerited within the Catholic community, I appreciate that the pope’s message is a reflection of how God’s merciful love animates all life, surpassing our understanding and anchoring our hope. May those among us who do not share that confession nevertheless find in the pope’s message the light and promise for which we all yearn.
Robert B. Murray
Columns
I’m writing this column smack in the middle of Catholic Schools Week, a bittersweet occasion this year. In parishes like my own, Catholic Schools Week is a cause for celebration and even a little self-congratulation. In other places, however, the week must seem terribly sad indeed. Another rou
Many of the Italian political extremists who spread death and terror in the 1970’s and 80’s have been reintegrated into society. Indeed, some relatives of their victims claim that society has shown more concern for the ex-terrorists than for them. Occasional pamphlets and one killing in
Books
Jim Cullen has rowed shorter pieces across the pages of Rolling Stone and Newsday as well as skippered three books through the riptides of cultural studies The Civil War in Popular Culture A Reusable Past Born in the U S A Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition The Art of Democracy A Co
Poetry
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. –Isaiah 1:18
We grabbed hold of goggled Howard as he
If ever the sum is greater than the parts, it is in combining the power of God, religion and spirituality with the power of science and professional medicine to prevent and treat substance abuse and addiction. That’s the good news from So Help Me God: Substance Abuse, Religion and Spirituality
Books
The Parish As Covenant A Call to Pastoral Partnership is a synthesis of wisdom about parish life based on Father Thomas Sweetser rsquo s years of leadership in The Parish Evaluation Project The Parish Assessment and Renewal Process his work with parishes experiencing pastor transitions and other
The Word
Lent developed backwards from a celebration of the paschal triduum when the catechumens were baptized and admitted to the Eucharist The Good Friday and Easter Vigil fast was gradually extended to a 40-day fast and after the conversion of the Roman Empire with the decline of adult baptism the se
News
In Assisi, Religious Leaders Call Violence, Religions IncompatibleViolence and terrorism are incompatible with the faith and belief of all the world’s religions, more than 200 spiritual leaders said during a meeting with Pope John Paul II in Assisi on Jan. 24. Since the terrorist attacks in Ne
Columns
I remember my first clumsy efforts at cutting hearts from red paper to create a valentine for the person I loved most in the world, my mom. No matter how crooked the edges, she always praised my efforts as if they were priceless pieces of artwork. Although my mom died over 20 years ago, each Valenti
Faith in Focus
More than we imagine, probably. Hallmark. Fashion gurus. Purveyors of sentimental gifts. And I, too, once prayed to him.
Books
quot The past is a foreign country they do things differently there quot L H Hartley once famously said Few lives exemplify this better than Paul Robeson rsquo s Today one can go to movies or sports arenas or turn on the television and see black actors singers and athletes followed even
Arts & CultureFilm
What follows should come with a warning label for a goodly number of longtime readers. It is time for us Catholics to turn up the lights and take a second look at that brand of mid-century Anglo-Catholicism from both sides of the papal divide that dominated our undergraduate days.
One of the more bloody coup d’etats of modern times took place in Chile on Sept. 11, 1973. Twenty-eighth anniversaries are not usually much commemorated, but any time is a good time to reflect on one of the positive developments that resulted from that chaotic era: the growth of the modern hum