I am a slothful pray-er. At Mass I pray standing up, kneeling or sitting along with the flock. But at home I seem to pray more earnestly—in a prone position. Sheer laziness, probably, but I rationalize the act by assuring myself that God doesn’t mind. The posture isn’t important, n

Evaluated in ConscienceSister Jeannine Gramick’s unenviable situation (Signs of the Times, 6/17) calls to mind the dictum of St. Thomas Aquinas (envisioning, actually, an even more extreme situation): When an ecclesiastical decision that is evaluated in conscience as certainly unacceptable is

The debate over globalization is heating up not only in the streets of Seattle and Washington D C and the halls of Congress but among academics journalists and writers on public affairs A major contribution is A Future Perfect written by two veteran reporters for The Economist As is to be ex

Here in America, I’ve watched mothers in the kitchen after a meal throw away more food, and better food, than I might eat in Russia in a week.... And I simply can’t help staring when people leave their plates half full, as they do so often in restaurants. Who wrote these words, and when?

The contemporary world situation demands a successor of Peter who, with divine assistance, can teach and direct the entire people of God.

Dr. Sanford Cinematz, F.A.P.A., P.C.: Dreams. Yes, yes, your dream.

It could be argued that fundamentalism is a serious contemporary problem that affects all aspects of society and will likely influence all cultures for the foreseeable future Such is in fact Karen Armstrong rsquo s assumption Her book makes an attempt to understand the development of fundamentali

Justice and Human RightsI would like to add to the fine editorial, Solidarity in Globalization (6/3). Representing the Sisters of St. Joseph at the United Nations, I have come to realize that, in addition to all that was so eloquently expressed in your editorial regarding how Americans need to respo

The nation had little choicepun intendedwhen it came to the abortion controversy. I say this after 40 years as a reporter who entered the business with pride and left it feeling ashamed. I underwent this transformation largely because of the way so many of my colleagues handled the wording and shadi

The other day a friend called to tell me her newborn boy had been rushed to the hospital. The doctors had discovered a serious heart defect. "What can I do?" I immediately asked. The answer was simple enough. She needed companionship as she camped out day and night in the I.C.U. waiting ro

One of the givens about religious life is that after spending so much time in studies, and with so many friends working in schools, the year seems to end in the summertime, rather than at the end of December. As a result, one naturally tends to reminisce as soon as the mercury begins its annual clim

Wags in the divinity school at the University of Chicago used to love retelling the joke about someone who tries to call Professor Martin Marty rsquo s office and gets the following response from Marty rsquo s secretary quot Could you hold on for about a minute and a half while Professor Marty fin

CD, Internet Site Aiming for World Youth Day AudienceYoung people around the world will be able to participate in some of the World Youth Day activities without leaving home, through Internet and music CD’s. The Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment Co. has been contracted by the Vatican to cr

The U.S. Supreme Court Justices left their fellow citizens plenty to think about when they adjourned last month amid a crescendo of significant decisions. In three of those cases, the court decided some sharply focused constitutional issues without coming anywhere near to wrapping up the profound mo

When Ralph Nader won the Green Party’s nomination for president, The Saint Louis Post Dispatch gave the event 12 inches on the second page. They allotted Nader a tiny picture, symbolic of the 3 percent support vote he received, as they noted under his face. A heading for the article ran: &quot

Faith and reason are companions indispensable to each other on Catholicism’s journey from Jerusalem. To understand the implications of faith, to relate the constructions of reason to these implications, the two must go hand in hand. One kind of institutional setting in which such understanding

As the House was preparing to debate the China trade bill on May 24, Representative Bill Archer, the Texas Republican who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, warned his colleagues: "This vote will be the most important vote that we cast in our congressional careers."That overstate