One day after the tragic shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl celebrated a Mass for consolation and healing in which he prayed for the victims of the rampage and asked God to "heal the wounds in our society so that we can prevent tragedies such as we have just witnesse

Two of the tasks I have set for my blogging have been to present biblical studies in a format that is both accessible to a wide readership online and that steers clear of unnecessary controversy in order to present to this wide readership which is theoretically an unlimited and ecumenical audience

With American politics stuck in a ditch perhaps for at least another decade assuming a Democratic lock on the White House and a Republican lock on the U S House of Representatives fantasies about changing up the system are getting more attention On Monday political scientist Jonathan Bernstein

In the United States, hearing the words “it’s a girl,” is a cause for enormous joy and celebration for most people, said Rep. Chris Smith, Republican of New Jersey. “Today, the three most dangerous words in China and India are: It’s a girl,” Smith told a congressi

Letters Versus ArticlesRe “Of Many Things,” by Matt Malone, S.J. (8/12): It seems clear enough that publications like America must find new ways of sustaining themselves in this age of digitized information and opinion, but Father Malone’s suggestion that readers can now be &l

Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., described in detail the financial situation of the diocese in two recent letters to parishioners that were read during weekend Masses. The most recent letter, read during weekend Masses on Sept. 7 and 8, announced the diocese’s plans to consider fi

I’m not sure if any official guidelines exist about going to a priest for spiritual direction; but if they do, I’m fairly certain that “Remember to insult your spiritual director at the first meeting” is not among them.In my defense, it wasn’t intentional. I’d kno

Avid readers of U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of colleges and universities will find the names of dozens of Catholic schools on the lists. The University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind., is the top-ranked national Catholic institution, placing 18th. Georgetown University, i

An international panel of cardinals charged in April with preparing recommendations for the pope on reforming the Curia will issue their report and meet with Pope Francis on Oct. 1-3. • According to reports from the Sudan Catholic Radio Network in September, the Sudanese air force continues to

We are thankful to Pope Francis for embracing his role as pope with a “big heart open to God.”

A coworker of mine was struggling to get her students to understand the concept of tolerance during a discussion in her sophomore English class. Seeing in class a pair of best friends, one Christian and the other Muslim, she used them as an example of people who showed tolerance towards each other.

Solidarity 101; A Tragi-Comic Opera; Understanding the Poor

Organizations as old as America rarely do anything completely unprecedented. For every “new” idea, there’s a pretty good chance that it’s been done before, in one way or another, during the course of 104 years of weekly publishing. This issue of America, however, is truly a f

The first question asked of Pope Francis in the widely reported impromptu press conference on July 28 during the flight home from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro was, not surprisingly, related to the Roman Curia: “What type of reform do you have in mind?” In his reply, the pope first m

Writing in one of Italy’s major secular newspapers, Pope Francis called for a “sincere and rigorous dialogue” between the church and nonbelievers as an “intimate and indispensable expression” of Christian love. An “open and unprejudiced dialogue” between Chr

An American paratrooper leaps from a plane, descends through the hazy night sky and lands, unnoticed, directly on the backstage catwalk of a large, U.S.O.-style show. Onstage an Asian ventriloquist performs an expressionless routine before a sea of unmoved military brass with a distinctly Communist

U.S. and Russian negotiators hammered out a deal on the cataloging, securing and disposal of Syria’s 1,000 tons of chemical weapons on Sept. 14, side-stepping a confrontation with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that could have ended with a U.S. missile strike. The question now is whet

The evening was one that few know about and in some ways seems unlikely On Monday Sept 16 on the eve of the opening of the 68th nbsp session of the United Nations General Assembly leaders from around the world gathered in prayer just a block away from the U N complex at the Church of the Holy

This past summer my colleagues and I had summer homework Our principal asked us to read an excellent book Chris Lowney rsquo s Heroic Leadership Best Practices from a 450-year-old Company that Changed the World As many readers know Lowney carries quite a varied and impressive resume He spent

We are sad to note the passing of James DiGiacomo S J a longtime religious educator who wrote frequently for America DiG pronounced Deej as he was affectionately known was the author many books including Do The Right Thing A Guide to Christian Morality Understanding Teenagers nbsp When Y