nbsp I am getting ready to teach in the spring semester at Fordham and one of my courses is a graduate class called Theology of Ministry Every year I feel the impossibility of saying something with solidity about a topic that is deeply elusive So many ministries are worthy of study in their exp

The Catechism says that every sign of unjust discrimination must be avoided when it comes to gays and lesbians.

Ironically one can learn a lot about what it means to be human from the teaching of St Thomas Aquinas on angels Consider for example a contrast the angelic doctor draws between angels and humans Every human being is an individual member of what Aristotle called the human species but St Thoma

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp In principle as a Catholic Democrat I rsquo ve always rejoiced in the presence of Catholics in public life I remember as child a delegation coming to our house in Trenton to ask my father a World War I he

The U S bishops were more than pleased with today s unanimous Supreme Court ruling in the Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v EEOC In a groundbreaking decision that had been anxiously anticipated by religious bodies across the country the court held that a ministerial excepti

Today s Google Doodle honors Nicolas Steno the father of geology who also happened to be a Catholic bishop The Christian Science Monitor tells his story Don t feel bad if you ve never heard of Nicolas Steno Even though the 17th century Danish anatomist and geologist made a number of discoveries

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissenter standing in today s Supreme Court 8-1 decision to toss out a 1996 Louisiana quintuple life sentence Juan Smith had been convicted for two separate home invasions that resulted in multiple homicides The first now voided conviction led t

The Occupy movement is about to turn four months old and already is planning a host of events for 2012 See Occupy Together nbsp and InterOccupy nbsp for news on the larger movement and Occupy Wall Street nbsp for NYC-related developments Occupy Together lists 1508 Occupy sites globally Some o

Forbes reports that 5 former ambassadors to the Holy See signed a statement backing the Mormon candidate for president Mitt Romney passing over Catholic candiates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum From the article Mitt Romney rsquo s Mormon background doesn rsquo t concern five former Catholic amb

Wow nbsp Tim Tebow the famously religious quarterback who kneels in prayer before during and after games led the Denver Broncos to another apparently miraculous win yesterday nbsp And as if the win itself weren rsquo t dramatic enough the football phenom passed for an astonishing 316 yards

David Brooks and Michael Gerson find in Rick Santorum a hopeful departure from the current radical Republican presidential contenders who range from neoliberal to libertarian nbsp They celebrate his embrace of subsidiarity as a more robust political philosophy than the rest of the field nbsp I s

Since leading a civil wedding ceremony a few months ago some thoughts on that experience nbsp here I ve been thinking a bit amount the many dimensions of marriage in our society from the role it plays with families to the couples allowed to participate in the institution to the weakening state o

Cambridge MA In a New York Times column entitled ldquo So Much Fun So Irrelevant rdquo on January 3 Thomas Friedman focused on the importance of the vast advances in global connectivity and the way what and how we know today is changing the quality of our lives All of this of course rather

Is the problem of poverty or at least covering poverty coming back in style Decades of not-so-benign neglect has allowed poverty to molder in America rsquo s cultural basement and the bad news on poverty in America has been unremitting for years now The nation currently endures the highest rate

This week s editorial looks at the March for Life and other ways in which Christians can express their support for the pro-life cause A few commenters have already pointed to some worthwhile pro-life ministries and we hope you ll add some other names to the list There are many excellent avenues f

Fr Thomas J Reese former editor in chief of America and veteran Vaticanologist sent us this analysis of the new College of Cardinals in light of the Holy Father s naming of new cardinals this morning Winners and Losers in the College of Cardinals With the latest papal appointments to the Colle

Included among the names of cardinal-designates this morning in the Vatican s press release are some expected names including Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York nbsp But there is a surprise Fr Karl Joseph Becker SJ nbsp Fr Becker is a German Jesuit priest and professor emeritus of dogmati

It should come as no surprise least of all to his campaign staff that Rick Santorum elevated to contender in the GOP race is now getting a level of scrutiny previously reserved for and let s see if I get the order right Gingrich Paul sorta Cain Perry and Bachman Now taking his turn as a

The Kansas State Capitol Building is the prettiest in the nation especially when the petunias are in bloom Most Kansas school children visit it my class was no exception The French Renaissance architecture of the exterior is memorable but the John Steuart Curry murals within depicting Kansas h