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A Harsh Light
James S. Torrens, S.J.
Traffic, an Academy Awards nominee film directed by Steven Soderbergh, is a rapid-fire saga of the drug trade and of stumbling binational efforts to stop it. It is also a dark-hued morality play. The drug trading and the violence in Traffic take place on both sides of the border crossing between Tij
Faith in Focus
Be Awake
Mary Beth Moore
It came as a surprise to find myself compelled to reflect on consciousness and mortality. It happened because I went to a Zen retreat by accident. But then, though there are surprises in this life, we may collaborate in bringing ourselves to the place of surprise—to the brink, or to the unders
Beautiful Rottenness
John F. Kavanaugh
The New Yorker cover for the new millennium’s first week of March was a perfect cartoon rendition of our culture’s inverted values. A theater marquee, hyping some nameless show, is plastered with rave banner reviews of nameless critics. A New Low! Gratuitously Prurient! Lurid! Rock Botto
Devastation, Faith and Resilience
Dean Brackley
In an earthquake one feels very small. During the earthquakes in El Salvador on Jan. 13 and Feb. 13, the street heaved underfoot; buildings and light posts rocked; telephone cables swung like jump-ropes. The first quake, 7.6 on the Richter scale, had its epicenter off the coast, while the second, 6.
The Word
By the Cross, Weeping
John R. Donahue
Each year Holy Week begins with a re-enactment of Jesus entering Jerusalem amid shouts of praise The week soon moves to his rejection suffering and death and concludes with the preconium paschale the ringing proclamation that he has been raised Each Evangelist highlights different aspects Luke
Books
We Remember
George F. Giacomini, Jr.
These are two very different books on a similar topic Rychlak rsquo s is the lawyer rsquo s brief Phayer rsquo s the scholarly monograph Both approach Pope Pius XII from the standpoint of Vatican diplomacy Rychlak concludes that the criticism of Pius XII for not speaking out against Hitler and t
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Egan to Be a Leader at Synod of BishopsPope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Edward Egan of New York to be one of the principal leaders at the Synod of Bishops in October (see page 15 of this issue). As the synod’s general rapporteur, or recording secretary, he will have the very influential ro
Congo: A Tale of Two Churches
Timothy Longman
The assassination of President Laurent Kabila in Kinshasa on Jan. 16 was but the latest violent episode in the tumultuous recent history of the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to Africa’s largest Catholic community. Having himself come to power in 1997 as head of an armed rebellion, Kabila
Public-Religious Partnerships
Fred Kammer
President Bush recently unveiled his promised White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. For Catholic Charities USA members across the nation, the ensuing debate has been stimulating, frustrating and important. It invites us to share with the president our own hopes and concerns. I
The Health Care Reform Equation
Michael D. Place
Every Christmas, through the miracle to which we bear witness, we are reminded of life’s infinite possibilities. In this context, we enter each new year with a sense of renewed hope and opportunity. We see afresh the potential for achieving good and righting wrongs in our lives, in our communi
Neither Person Nor Property
Paul Lauritzen
In his testimony before the National Bioethics Advisory Commission on stem cell research, Gilbert Meilaender urged the commission to be honest in its recommendations. If you endorse federal funding of stem cell research, he said, don’t do so by pretending that an unimplanted embryo is not an e
Editorials
AIDS and the Drug Companies
The Editors
Through Medicaid and other programs, most poor people in the United States have access to the new AIDS drug therapies. But in developing countries, their cost—over $10,000 a year—has made their use all but impossible. As a result, the AIDS pandemic has widened its devastating scope in bo
Books
Keeping a Killer in Check
Dr. Daniel P. Sulmasy
This book is at least as interesting because of the process of its creation as it is because of its content It was born of the efforts of a group of concerned scholars who have called themselves the Catholic Theological Coalition on HIV AIDS Prevention convened by Jon Fuller S J and James Keena
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
Snapshots play a part in the lives of many of ussmall pictures of family groups, children, friends, co-workers. You find them not just at home, but in the workplace too, as well as in wallets and purses. On my way to work on the subway, or going home in the evening, I sometimes see passengers sharin
Faith in Focus
The Light Under the Basket
Johanna Gulay
A reading from the letter of Paul to... began the lector; but instead of following St. Paul’s epistle, I opened the parish bulletin and read, once again, a mother’s letter of gratitude to her fellow parishioners and the outreach program they support. The woman was not a single mom, but a
Dominus Iesus as an Event
Peter Chirico
Dominus Iesus, the declaration of Aug. 6, 2000, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, has received myriad interpretive responses. This article is not an attempt to add to these. Rather, I shall consider Dominus Iesus as more than a document. I propose to consider it, along with various
Books
So Near and Yet So Far
Eugene J. Fisher
The coincidence of timing in the publication of these two books so different in tone content and style yet complementary in what they have to tell the reader is striking Yossi Beilin rsquo s book narrates the Middle East peace process from the secret meetings at Notre Dame in Jerusalem in Augus
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Youth Ministers, Chaplains Offer Comfort to Shooting VictimsIn an outpouring of faith in the midst of tragedy, Catholic youth ministers, priests, chaplains, parents and teens ministered to one another following the shooting on March 5 of 15 people at Santana High School in Santee, Calif. Five youth
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Beacons of Hope

Your editorial Saying No to Israel (3/5) provides a beacon of hope for the many who have raised protests in this Holy Land against the Israeli occupation, protests that rarely surface in Western media. These protests have come from Israelis and Palestinians, from Jews, Muslims and Christians, and they deserve a hearing.

Israel Shamir, a Russian Israeli journalist, has pointed out that these are the darkest days for the people of Israel, because the worldwide silence of Jews indicates that the country’s policies are now rapidly undermining the long-term achievement of Jews in the struggle for democracy, human rights and equality.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, has continuously appealed during these six months for justice and understanding. From the opening weeks of the intifada he pointed out that the Palestinian revolt should not be considered simply a public disorder that has to be quelled and punished. The issue that must be faced is that a people who have been kept hostage are struggling for their freedom. It is a struggle that must be carried out with love, not with hatred and vengeance. In his Lenten message he appealed to both Palestinian and Israeli to see God in one another. He called upon Israelis to see in Palestinians not the image of terrorists, of those who want to hate and kill, but rather the image of the poor and oppressed who are struggling for their liberty, their dignity and a right to the land. He called upon Palestinians to see in Israelis, who withhold liberty in the name of security, carriers of the image of God whom we approach with love, not with anger, and whom we ask with the full force of the Spirit to put an end to oppression and occupation.

In his long and distinguished career, Elie Wiesel has often mentioned that the vocation of the Jew is to teach the world how to be human. I fear that the policies of the State of Israel vis--vis the Palestinian people are a betrayal of this noble and ancient heritage of our Jewish sisters and brothers.

Donald J. Moore, S.J.

Columns
A New Saipan
Terry Golway
Here’s the latest dispatch from the global marketplace. Dozens of Vietnamese women working in a sweatshop in American Samoa were beaten, deprived of food and not paid minimum wages as they carried out their assigned role in our great borderless economy. The workers were making clothes for a Ko