'Ut Unum Sint' and the prospects of uniting the Eastern and Western churches

Cambridge MA It is mid-summer mdash exactly half way between the end of the spring semester and the start of the fall semester ndash and so a precious quiet time in academe The Center for the Study of World Religions occupies several of my hours each day but here too there is a summer lull

Again nbsp That makes at least three masterpieces found in Jesuit residences including a Caravaggio in Ireland and a Tintoretto in Pennsylvania nbsp We really have to start paying more attention nbsp Here s the story from the BBC A lost painting by Renaissance artist Michelangelo has been

Today brings the second installment 8th film of the seventh Harry Potter book Harry Potter and nbsp The Deathly Hallows to the big screen Millions of devoted Potter fans will line up for one last time mdash bringing their enthusiasm and garish costumes mdash as the epic film series comes to a c

My first Corpus Christi procession nbsp Surprise I went to the 9 00 a m mass instead of the 12 00 and found out our parish was having a Corpus Christi procession through the town nbsp After fifty plus years as a Catholic convert this was a first for me although I have participated in the Pax

Surprise I went to the 9 00 a m mass instead of the 12 00 and found out our parish was having a Corpus Christi procession through the town nbsp After fifty plus years as a Catholic convert this was a first for me although I have participated in the Pax Christi Good Friday stations of the cross

As James Keane S J pointed out in a recent issue of our magazine this year marks the 100th anniversary of Maryknoll And given the order s long history of service to the church and to countries around the world it certainly has reason to celebrate Dozens of events have been planned and the la

The state of California now has a law that requires social studies classes to cover the contribution of gay and lesbian citizens to the state s and nation s history California s governor Democrat Jerry Brown said that the law revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and e

I m rather in awe of this widget above from my publisher which announces the availability of the audiobook version of The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything read by me over a space of four long 9 to 5 days at a studio in Carnegie Hall nbsp Check out the widget--which inclu

Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong interrupted his tour of North American Chinese communities long enough to speak this morning in New York about renewed tensions between Beijing and the Vatican This morning in Shantou city in southern Guangdong province China s state-sanctioned Catholic church ordai

I was wondering how long it would take this shoe to drop With all those Aussie editors scattered to the far corners of the Murdoch empire did anyone really think questionable practices to put it most kindly would be limited to the U K and a couple of royalty-mad tabloids CNN is reporting that t

Joshua Green of The Atlantic Monthly quotes the omnipresent Bill Donohue in his piece regarding Michele Bachmann s church affiliation Obama had to answer for Wright McCain had to answer for Rev John Hagee and this is something that Bachmann has to answer for nbsp Indeed Ms Bachmann is ob

The recent legislative endorsement of same-sex marriage here in New York and the tension between the official Catholic opposition to it and what appears to be fairly strong support for it by lay Catholics has me thinking about what it takes to do theology from non-normative if you will perspecti

I grew up in suburban Philadelphia and as a kid in Catholic school Eucharistic adoration was a regular feature of our observance of the liturgical year especially during Lent As a practice adoration has deep historical roots in the church in Philadelphia roots that extend at least as far back a

Ireland s Cloyne Report was released today and it offers another spit-take inducing portrait of a hierarchy in dysfunction well after it could offer any reasonable excuse to be regarding sexual abuse committed by clerics In fact The context of this report differs significantly from the context

You may think Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair s decision to prohibit fundraising for breast cancer-fighting Komen Foundation to be foolish overkill or sound pastoral groundskeeping I don t know But I do find myself wondering what sort of bias is being nurtured over at the Toledo Blade when I stumbled

LONDON There s nothing quite like real news -- a story that sprints out in all directions leaving history gasping to catch up That s true of the scandal unfolding this past week turning on revelations about the Murdoch-owned news empire the illegal and immoral activities of some of its journali

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an academic in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a book And that doesn rsquo t mean a Kindle or an iPad We need books whose pages we can fold whose lines we can mark in whose margins we can correct the author with our own quips That rs

Polygamy next Prominent churchmen have worried that legalizing same sex marriage will lead to accepting polygamy in the future To my mind they are underestimating the unique and innate drive for pair bonding that contributes to equality and unity in a marital relationship nbsp Such mutuality is