Would you support water-boarding terror suspects under certain circumstances Fox News Chris Wallace asked those gathered on a stage in South Carolina last week at an event billed as the first Republican presidential primary Raising their hands to signify that they would support water-boarding wer

Christian minorities have endured brutal treatment in Egypt and Vietnam over the last few days Events in Egypt where an ultra-conservative Islamic group mdash emboldened by the new freedom delivered by the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak mdash has lashed out at Egypt s Coptic minority have been

Our apologies good friendsfor the fracture of good order the burning of paperinstead of children the angering of the orderliesin the front parlor of the charnel houseWe could not so help us God do otherwiseFor we are sick at heart our heartsgive us no rest for thinking of the Land of Burning Childr

This is the first in a series of blog posts called Readings As a subscriber to 15 periodicals I will share what I discover and maybe introduce you to a new author There s a news media phenomenon I call the ldquo give-it-a-week syndrome rdquo The story on Sunday may become a very different

There will be a story on Fox 9 news the local Fox affiliate in the Twin Cities on recent disasters claims that the end will occur on May 21 2011 with the final end on October 11 2011 and apocalyptic thought in relation to these events and claims The reporter on the story Tom Lyden intervi

The quote that jumped off the page for me in this lovely article about two friends who have taught for many decades in Catholic schools was this one comparing their experience to those of some of their public-school colleagues They love what they do and are offended by politicians who call themse

In the readings for the Third Sunday of Easter the promise of life beyond this one is explained and offered It is the very nature of loss in life which draws us to the hope and promise of the world to come There is an ache that yearns for more life is good and so we want more of it especially t

Frank Brennan SJ is one of most well known Australian Catholics nbsp The Australian Jesuit priest and lawyer has been in the forefront of human-rights work and has spent much of his time working on behalf of the Aboriginal peoples in his country nbsp On his Facebook page he has weighed in on t

In their ongoing campaign to make a recent editorial from America completely irrelevant thanks USCCB the bishops have issued another caution on the upcoming budget debtates Also see Circle Drawn Around Social Services in U S Budget Bishops Call on Senate to Protect Poor and Vulnerable P

It s proved difficult to get another Catholic as president into the White House but it seems we are locking down the position of House Chaplain Eleven years ago after some controversial missteps Chicago s Father Dan Coughlin became the 59th chaplain of the House of Representatives and the fir

From the New York Times House Speaker John A Boehner will nominate the Rev Patrick J Conroy a Jesuit priest and former Georgetown University chaplain to become the 60th House chaplain ldquo We are honored that Father Conroy has agreed to serve as House chaplain rdquo Mr Boehner said in a s

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is very annoying He says the thing that really ought not to be said at the moment when nobody wants to hear it and says it what is more with gentle force causing people to stop in their tracks and reconsider It is a very unpopular thing to do esp

The local diocesan newspaper here in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis The Catholic Spirit nbsp has a short piece on some comments the Pope sent to the Pontifical Biblical Commission whose members were meeting from May2-6 to discuss Inspiration and Truth in the Bible The Pope accordi

After a bishop pleaded guilty today in an Ottowa court of possessing child pornography -- 588 images 60 videos -- the Vatican said it will be following canonical procedures against him resulting in the appropriate disciplinary or penal measures Given that Raymond Lahey stood down as head of t

In the midst of all the important things going on in the church and the world is there room for another word on Lady Gaga If influential theories of popular culture are correct there is more reason than ever because popular media culture -- for better and for worse -- contributes to creating an

Sarah Palin possesses an uncanny ability to make even a somewhat reasonable position on any given issue sound extremist offensive condescending and ignorant at the same time And as the star s shine fades fast her statements - if 140 characters can be called that - become more desperate Conside

In case you ve not been following the dramatic saga of William Morris the Australian bishop of the Diocese of Toowoomba removed by the Vatican after an apostolic visitation led by Archbishop Charles Chaput and brought on by Morris s comments on women s ordination in 2006 here s nbsp one of the

Judging by their thrilled tweets in many languages the first ever Vatican-hosted bloggers conference yesterday was a great success Quite what it will lead to nobody seems to know but the verdict was that building a bridge between Rome and the Catho-blogosphere will bear much future fruit and th

Editorial misadventure of the century award lt This story was corrected in the seventh paragraph to say commandos were prepared to capture bin Laden alive not Obama gt U S commandos knew bin Laden likely would die By Mark Hosenball ndash Mon May 2 11 47 pm ET WASHINGTON Reuters ndash U