Cambridge MA I have just returned from four weeks in India I love going to India have done so for nearly 40 years now and still always find Indians to be among the kindest and most gracious people on earth Visiting India is always a joy and it is hard to return to the USA after some weeks t

nbsp nbsp Some twenty-five years ago I wrote an essay entitled After Sainthood which appeared in the book Saints and Virtues edited by John Hawley and Mark Juegensmeyer University of California Press 1987 I contrasted what I termed nbsp archetypical saints the typical exemplars of

There is a letter circulating the web from the Family Research Council to their members and prospective donors that is being condemned by many for its hateful rhetoric indirectly targeted at children and young adults The letter posted in its entirety below uses the It Gets Better Campaign and

Earlier this month the Department of Health and Human Services HHS adopted new standards related to preventive services for women rsquo s health The Catholic reaction to the proposed standards--which are slated to go into effect sometime after the ongoing 60-day comment period--has been mixed O

From Our Sunday Visitor s story on unsettling findings from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate CARA A new survey conducted by the nbsp Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate nbsp CARA at Georgetown University indicates that more than three in four adult Catholics in the U

Texas Governor Rick Perry has surged in polls since he announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination and he has come under increased scrutiny especially with his shoot-from-the-hip verbal style Shortly before he announced Perry s Evangelicalism was widely examined when he hosted a massive pr

The investigation into unusual spikes in child deaths at Catholic institutions for the mentally disabled in the Netherlands during the mid-1950s now includes two facilities St Joseph s for boys where 34 residents died between 1952 and 55 and St Anna s for mentally disabled women and girls whe

Arriving in a turbulent Madrid before another major tanking of global markets Pope Benedict XVI shared some thoughts on the role of the economy which he suggested could benefit from some sound investment in ethics futures The economy doesn t function with market self-regulation but needs an ethi

Archbishop Dolan of New York has suggested that it would be a good thing to restore distinctive Catholic religious practices nbsp He praises the bishops of England who have reintroduced meatless Fridays a penitential practice which once set Catholics apart from other groups The argument is made

The BBC reports that otter have now been restored to every county in England No word yet on success of Mole Rat Toad and Badger programs

ldquo Can the Middle Class Be Saved rdquo mdash Don Peck rsquo s thought-provoking article in the latest September issue of the Atlantic mdash does more than raise the question and supply the history and patterns that caused him to formulate it in the first place It is no secret that for 30 ye

In ldquo Crashing the Tea Party rdquo an Op Ed piece in the New York Times 8 16 David E Campbell and Robert D Putnam present data they have culled from their own repeated interviews since 2006 Their primary finding is that the Tea Party has become increasingly unpopular with the American pu

Did you think the international child abuse crisis couldn t get any worse Apparently it could The Wall Street Journal reports Dutch authorities said Tuesday they were investigating possible murders at a Catholic institution for psychiatrically ill boys during the 1950s nbsp A total of 34 childr

I was reading Esquire on the flight home to visit friends and family last week when I came across this bit of insight from the actress Helen Mirren The hardest period in life is one s twenties It s a shame because you re your most gorgeous and you re physically in peak condition But it s actually

Michael Rossmann SJ a Jesuit scholastic from the Wisconsin Province is with the millions of young people at World Youth Day in Madrid after having participated with many of his Jesuit brothers in the Magis Program of Ignatian spirituality in Loyola Spain nbsp nbsp Michael is also reportin

In our August 1-8 issue America ran a current comment A New Tone in Rome about how Archbishop Jo atilde o Br aacute z de Aviz as the new head of the Roman congregation that oversees religious life has begun to address the mistrust and confrontational attitudes that accompanied the recent stud

It is amazing how as history rushes by American culture fixated on the ldquo now rdquo can be cut off from its roots nbsp Just as college professors meet recent generations who can not tell World War I from World War II more and more can not tell Franklin D Roosevelt from Franklin Pierce

Forbes released its list of the top 100 colleges in the U S earlier this month eight Catholic schools made the list four of them Jesuit institutions Notre Dame ranked highest among Catholic schools at 18 Below nbsp are the Catholic higher education institutions that made the top 100 along wit

Today is the solemnity of Assumption of nbsp the Blessed Virgin Mary You can find the readings for today here and a video reflection at the USCCB website here Richard Leonard S J s thoughts on the Feast of the Assumption from 2008 on the America Good Word site nbsp are well-worth considering

On my first day as a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania in August of 1978 aka the Dark Ages I was somewhat confused nbsp To say the least nbsp While I had pored over the voluminous information about dormitory life that Penn had helpfully sent in a thick envelope yes you rsquo ll be s