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Culture
John B. Breslin
Back in the 1950’s, when I was a kid in a Jesuit high school, a novel called Mr. Blue, by Myles Connolly, was all the rage. The eponymous hero was a mystical type who combined the social activism of Dorothy Day with the contemplative reserve of Thomas Merton. In short, he made Catholicism cool
Books
Marie Anne Mayeski
Kenan Osborne O F M professor emeritus at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley brings impressive credentials and an enviable reputation to the task he sets himself in this volume The task is worthy of the man a complete reworking of sacramental theology so as to open it up to new line
William J. OMalley
If Booth Tarkington wrote Seventeen today, he’d have to call it Ten. Yet those in charge of Catholic catechesis, judging from their directories and vetting of texts, urge us to teach the young as if their families still routinely attend Sunday Benediction. Someone should inform the front offic
Editorials
The Editors
At one point in his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention last month, Vice President Gore worked himself up into a rhetorical outcry: The last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade. That was actually a scare tactic. On June 28 of this year, the
Letters
Our readers
Historian’s PerspectiveIn reference to the article by John W. O’Malley, S.J., on the beatification of Pope Pius IX (8/26), I am moved to ask, Was it not this pope whose body the Roman citizens attempted to throw into the Tiber during his funeral procession?I think the real question Catho
Books
Regis A. Duffy
Titles can be deceiving but The Prophetic Spirit of Catechesis does indeed capture both the argument and spirit of this book It is only in the Afterword that Mongoven formally explains the title but the attentive reader will experience its meaning on every page The book is divided into two parts
FaithFaith in Focus
Dennis M. Linehan
Mother Katharine Drexel founded schools nationwide, including Xavier University, and a religious order to serve people of color.
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
What do you do when you can’t afford an out-of-town summer vacation? If you are a New Yorker living in Manhattan or one of the surrounding boroughs, you might spend an afternoon or a day at Coney Islandnamed by Dutch settlers after the word for rabbit, konijn, which abounded there in the 1600&
Columns
Terry Golway
Upon hearing that Al Gore had chosen Joseph Lieberman to be his running mate, a friend remarked: Very interesting. He’s religious. He’s for school vouchers. He’s against partial-birth abortion. Pause for effect. I guess the bishops have their man!As the would-be No. 2 put it, only
Books
William J. Collinge
At a chapel I occasionally attend some worshipers face the tabernacle during the Liturgy of the Word even though the lectern is at the opposite end of the central aisle Elsewhere at a Sunday liturgy I heard the presiding priest begin by invoking the Creator the Redeemer and the Life-giving Spi
Andrew M. Greeley
In normal usage, the word apologetics means the craft of arguing effectively. But I use the word here in an analogous sense. Beauty does not argue. It doesn’t have to. When I say beauty is a form of apologetic, I mean that the most powerful appeal of Catholicism both to its own membership and
Julie A. Collins
Perhaps it’s my 25 years as a teacher, but for me Dec. 31 rarely prompts much soul searching or melancholy musing on the passage of time. No, for me time’s movement becomes especially vivid and poignant in June. The school year ends and a teacher is left in a state of almost bipolar ambi
News
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
False Sense of Religious Tolerance’ Worries VaticanTaking aim at the notion that one religion is as good as another, a new Vatican document emphasized the exclusive, universal and absolute value of Jesus Christ and said the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation. While acknowledging that n
The Word
John R. Donahue
Christians today tend to think of the age of martyrs in terms of the early centuries of the church with vivid pictures of lions about to devour those who would not deny Christ Yet Karl Rahner once noted that today we should speak not only of martyrs of the faith but also of martyrs of justice Th
Television
James Martin, S.J.
Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the last few weeks, you know that the lucky winner of the CBS series Survivor was revealed during its Aug. 23 episode. America’s newest millionaire is the now-famous Richard Hatch, a Machiavellian corporate trainer, of whom we will undou
Of Many Things
Dennis M. LinehanThomas J. Reese
Summer is a time of celebration and transition in most religious communities. It is no different for those who live and work at America House, situated midway between Radio City Music Hall and the West-Nile virus hot zone in Central Park. Though none of us has been stricken with any exotic tropical malady, we have suffered from the vagaries of ordinary life. In June, Vincent Duminuco, S.J., director of the International Jesuit Leadership Project, went to Belen College in Miami to give the commencement address. While there, he tripped on a banyan root and broke his shoulder in three places.

A few days later, walking back from visiting Father Duminuco in the nearby hospital, our superior, Vincent T. O’Keefe, S.J., former vicar general of the Jesuits, had an asthma attack. Or so we thought. It turned out to be more serious. He needed surgery on a heart valve plus a double bypass, which was done on June 21. His recovery at the New York Province infirmary progressed well enough for him to enjoy the celebration of his 50th anniversary as a priest on Aug. 24. Our senior editor, John W. Donohue, S.J., had celebrated the same anniversary in June, along with our Father Minister, James Stehr, S.J., who has been a priest for 25 years. Not to be outdone, John Gallen, S.J., our peripatetic liturgist, also celebrated 50 years as a Jesuit in August.

Although Father O’Keefe will be returning to America House as soon as his recovery has progressed sufficiently, his term as superior ends this year. In the meantime, Father Duminuco, who had to cancel his teaching schedule in Italy and Poland while he mends and undergoes physical therapy, was tapped to act as superior. He will hold the reins until January, when we will welcome back to the community as superior Robert A. Mitchell, S.J., whose career has included service as provincial of the New York Province of the Jesuits, president of the U.S. Jesuit Conference and president of the University of Detroit-Mercy. Most recently he was president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where as a young priest he had been a teacher and dean after his return from studies in Louvain and later in Strasbourg.

Another transition hit us with the sad departure from America of James E. Brogan, who has been a wonderful colleague and an efficient and knowledgeable assistant editor. Jamey came to us after a stint teaching at St. Aloysius in Harlem as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. As a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Georgetown and a graduate of St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, he enjoyed a thorough Jesuit education. He is now moving to Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., where he was awarded the J.V.C. scholarship. He will be joining other laypersons who are studying for the master of divinity degree, which he will use in teaching or pastoral ministry after he graduates. We wish him well and will miss him.

In the staff listing to the right of this column, longtime readers will

Books
Mark S. Massa
I should have been required to read a book like this the summer before I began studying theology for ordination That was my thought as I read Arthur Jones rsquo s breezy but compelling new book on U S Catholicism It certainly constitutes required reading for anyone contemplating ministry in the N
Columns
Thomas J. McCarthy
An unusual amount of hot air suffused the American atmosphere this past August. I’m not referring to the wildfires in the West, but to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. Though less noteworthy, the conventions garnered more media attention, because when all was said (and said
Joseph A. Califano Jr.
How about the following planks for a political party platform this November:1. Health care is a fundamental human right to which every American is entitled.2. The lack of safe affordable housing is a national crisis and such housing should be available to all on a non-discriminatory basis.3. The min
Books
Thomas Bokenkotter
Reformation Counter-Reformation Tridentine Age Age of Confessionalization Some of the above All of the above John W O rsquo Malley S J professor of church history at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge Mass argues that no one label is sufficient to embrace all the aspects of th