Jean Bethke Elshtain, an ethicist, scholar and author, died on Aug. 11 in Nashville at age 72. • Calling the program “deeply needed” by many, U.S. Agriculture Department undersecretary Kevin Concannon expressed his gratitude on Aug. 19 to Catholic leaders for championing the Supplem

History, wrote T. S. Eliot in 1920, “deceives with whispering ambitions” and “guides us by vanities.” Over the past decade, ambitions and vanities have led the United States badly astray, nowhere more than in the Islamic world. Let us tally up the damage.Among most Americans,

Catholic Press Association award winner for Best Coverage of Marriage: "Language, tone and style appropriate to help explain a highly complex situation."

A questionnaire to gather feedback for next year’s Synod of Bishops on the family has been the source of some confusion since it was delivered to bishops’ conferences around the world in October. In preparation for the international meeting, the synod’s secretary general, Archbisho

Several U.S. bishops wrote short reports giving a general sense of the responses to a survey for the Vatican in preparation for the upcoming synod on the family. Common among the comments was that Catholics admit to a poor understanding of the church’s teachings on the family. The Rev. Dennis

In many ways, we still live in an Adolf Hitler world. The Middle East is his legacy; so is the configuration of post-Soviet Eastern Europe. And while it may seem like a subordinate concern, his indiscriminate kleptomania and infinite bad taste continue to reverberate through the world of art.To get

Lessons from Inge and Jørn's winter getaway to the Arctic beach in "North of the Sun"

Pope Francis has done it again, generating a global media frenzy with just a few words that referred to the church and its relationship with gay and lesbian people. In a recorded interview with Italian media published on March 5, Pope Francis said that while the church believes “matrimony is b

Hunger, not religion, is the root cause of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa, said Charles Steinmetz of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. “A hungry man is an angry man. If there is no job and you cannot feed your family or kids, it leads to extremism,” said Steinmetz, a visiting assistant

The U.S. Postal Service announced in February that it would discontinue Saturday deliveries. When members of Congress strongly protested, the post office suspended its plans, but the reprieve may be short-lived. Polls show that most Americans approve of cutting Saturday delivery.My fellow citizens s

A revolution has taken place in the Roman Catholic Church’s understanding of the Bible.

Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie first appeared on Broadway in 1945, beginning what would be a wave of great American plays about troubled families. Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” and “Death of a Salesman,” William Inge’s “Picnic,” Eugene

We met Rafael’s battered body in Capulín, El Salvador, where the dusty road out of the parish of Chirilagua reached its highest and widest point. From there, one can survey the western part of the 200-square-mile parish: the cornfields climbing steep, deforested mountains and mud and stick hu

Jesus’ teachings offer good news for the righteous, whether they are the poor and marginalized or the rich who are generous with their bounty. All can find a place in the kingdom. Yet there is little comfort for those who expect that their wealth alone will save them. The story of Lazarus and

Relying on drones and special forces, we operate against nameless foes in a nameless war.

As one of the early entrants into the “women can have it all” sweepstakes during the 1970s and ’80s, I am shocked both by how much has changed with regard to motherhood over the last 40 years and how little. Mothering in the modern world is still a charged topic. The media stories

U.S. warships steamed toward the Black Sea on a “routine deployment” as the Russian military solidified its hold on the Crimean peninsula on March 7. With Russian soldiers encircling Ukraine military outposts, a hastily reconstituted Crimean parliament, in a further provocation, voted to

The Beatles’ arrival in the United States marked the beginning of a revolution.

Many American Catholics are deeply concerned about business, and especially about large corporations. Readers of America have posted comments online: “Today’s businesses, especially large corporate businesses, focus on one thing, and one thing only…the Profit motive,” and &l

Furred, the horizonsare both calling and escaping:there must be an edge.Near the bases on the prairiethe farms in silhouette seem homesick;one can imagine entering their kitchensand from the stubbled fieldsbirds rise up, hopeful.Someone stands at a windowlooking for a limit to visionbut the fields p