Al Capp was as much a celebrity as L'il Abner, one of his chief creations.

Louise Gl ck has won the Pulitzer Prize the National Book Critics Circle Award the National Book Award the Library of Congress Rebekah Johnson Bobbit National Prize the Bollingen Award the William Carlos Williams Award and the Melville Kain Award She has served twice as the poet laureate of t

I rsquo ve read that groceries were introduced into Walmarts with the idea that once consumers were in the door mdash say for bread or milk mdash they would before they knew what was happening wander into dry goods to purchase towels DVD rsquo s and cat toys Seems to be working Not long a

The Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley has mounted the west coast premiere of Matthew Lopez 39 s play quot The Whipping Man quot The play won the 2011 John Gassner new play award from the New York Outer Critics 39 Circle It played there at the Manhattan Theatre Club It is set at the end o

With elections in Venezuela scheduled for next week Mark Ungar of Brooklyn College offers an analysis of the issues at stake Since bursting on the scene with a failed coup in 1992 Hugo Ch vez has dominated and altered political and social life in Venezuela With his death in March the country n

The editors of Time 39 s new quot bookazine quot on Pope Francis Pope for a New World asked me to contribute an essay called quot Why I Love Being a Priest quot which I was happy to do nbsp The essay was written after Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation but before the conclave ha

A new release from the USCCB reiterates the bishops 39 position on gun control as debate in Congress nears Bishop Blaire Urges Senate To Support Policies That Reduce Gun Violence Build Culture Of LifeThe chairman of the U S bishops 39 Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development urged t

From the archives, Peter Hebblethwaite on the rise of a young Tory leader

Back in 1975 America contributor Peter Hebblethwaite wrote about the rise of Margaret Thatcher who passed away this morning In its leadership contest the Conservative party in Britain exhibited two outstanding characteristics ruthlessness and daring Without the slightest sign of compunction or

In the first installment I set out the traditional Greco-Roman letter format and looked at the ldquo Judases rdquo and ldquo Jameses rdquo in the New Testament There seemed to be only one good option for whom the Judas Jude to whom this letter is attributed could be the Judas Jude who is the

Our editor Matt Malone S J is featured in this week 39 s quot Breaking Bread quot column in the New York Times From columnist Clyde Haberman In Rome one of Jorge Mario Bergoglio rsquo s first acts as Pope Francis was to call his newsdealer back home in Buenos Aires and cancel his daily deli

Big news Pope Francis in a surprise move has chosen the head of the Franciscans Jose Rodriguez Carballo to help lead the Congregation for Religious Technically he has chosen the OFM 39 s quot Minister General quot to be the quot Secretary quot the all-important Number Two person in the

This week brought news of two significant developments for the cause of peace in the world First the United Nations approved a Treaty on Small Arms Trade By a vote of 154 to 3 with 23 abstentions the United Nations General Assembly approved a treaty intended to limit the transfer weapons to pote

Because I often don rsquo t get to read the Times until late at night I learned of the New York Times rsquo legendary op-ed columnist Anthony Lewis rsquo s death in an email from Chris Keating political reporter for the Hartford Courant whom I had taught journalism at Fordham and who went on to

Beside the grave when they were seated in the metal folding chairs under the awning the preacher said a few words more and read from scripture once again and he prayed for the safe translation of Harold rsquo s immortal soul into everlasting heaven Afterward he shook Raymond rsquo s hand And by

This translation has been provided by Juan V Fern ndez de la Gala The original post can be found here Esta es una historia de amor y no de muerte Estaba empezando la Cuaresma y me detuve un momento ante la tumba de tres religiosas de Maryknoll en un peque o cementerio al noroeste de El Salvado

As Easter approached I began to see a number of Ishtar equals Easter memes roll across my Facebook feed as friends or acquaintances of mine with pagan leanings decided to spill the hidden truth on the origins of Easter Indeed it turns out that a Facebook page from The Richard Dawkins Foundation f

Salvation and surprise in HBO's 'Game of Thrones'

In the epilogue of his latest book The Pope rsquo s Last Crusade How an American Jesuit Helped Pope Pius XI 39 s Campaign to Stop Hitler Peter Eisner offers an interesting insight on the men who held the seat of Peter during the 20th century Of the seven pontiffs that were elected during that t