Johnny Morris the founder of Bass Pro shops is about as American as you can get Morris s rags-to-riches story of how he founded one of the nation s largest outdoor retailers with little more than old-fashioned pluck a U-Haul and eight feet of space in his dad s Missouri liquor store is often i

Displaying crucifixes in Italy s public schools does not violate anyone s religious freedom the European court in Strasburg ruled today in a judgement that will please the country s government and public opinion nbsp Ruling that there was no evidence that a crucifix hung in a classroom would inf

I think I might meander in a couple of directions today This is a busy time of year as we are coming to Spring Break at UST and I thought I might go back through our blog archives and re-post my last St Patrick s day blog post to save myself some time nbsp There was a minor problem I discovered

I came upon this article yesterday while exploring our archives Pretty serendipitous timing Happy St Patrick s Day to all Ireland s Right to Independence America June 17 1919 Tim Reidy nbsp

With Fr Jim Martin in California for this year s L A Religious Education Congress I m playing the role of culture editor this week So be sure to check out this week s online culture offering a review of two new documentaries of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire from Clayton Sinyai Clayton b

Check out the just-released website for a four-part conference called More Than a Monologue Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church The description More Than a Monologue Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church is an unprecedented collaboration mdash 2 Roman Catholic universities and 2 no

A final judgement is to be issued tomorrow by the European Court of Human Rights ECHR in a long-running case which could have long-term consequences for the relationship between faith and secularism in Europe nbsp Lautsi and others v Italy dates back to 2002 when the parent of a child in a publi

Taking a position that does not endear him to the larger American Jewish community is not something unknown to Rabbi Michael Lerner founding editor of Tikkun He s used to provoking the status quo and the heat that can generate He s not used to having his home and family threatened however becau

A thought-provoking post from Theo Hobson at The Guardian For quite a while now liberal Christianity has been strongly defined by the gay issue It is unhelpful to say let s move on as if the issue can be magicked away but there is a need to remember that liberal Christianity is bigger than

I suspect readers of The Good Word would enjoy this week s podcast an interview with Mario J Paredes of the American Bible Society As the Roman Catholic liaison for ABS Mr Paredes coordinates outreach to Catholic leaders throughout the country He has helped setup Bible summits featuring not

Cambridge MA It is sort of springtime in New England some sun rain snow flurries 30 degrees or 60 we are on spring break so as to watch Harvard lose in the NIT last night and it is a week into Lent Like many a reader of this blog I am sure I am still pondering how best to observe thes

Evelyn Waugh once wrote that New Yorkers suffer from a neurosis that they mistake for energy a kind of must-do-this-now-latest-thing drive that simultaneously gives life some meaning and robs it of value In that sense today I am a New Yorker I am in the midst of a major scramble to meet academic

For a small indication of what the people in Japan have been enduring take a gander at this chart of global seismic activity nbsp from the U S Geological Service You can find the nbsp 9 0 quake that rocked the nation on March 11 at 05 46

I recently wrote about my encounter with an Iraqi Christian refugee family in Lebanon during a press trip with the Catholic Near East Welfare Association in Nov 2010 During that trip I also spoke briefly with Issam Bishara the Vice President for the Pontifical Mission for the Middle East about t

Looking to learn more about a critical issue affecting millions here and abroad this Lent Check out Mobilizing Faith Fighting Poverty an initiative from Yale Divinity School The goal of the movement is to spark conversation and resolve among people of faith on issues of poverty and chal

If you ve been following the news of the weekend all I can say is Step back from the ledge Whew I can t remember when I have spent as much time on international news that was so unrelentingly brutal and depressing Even local news here in the NYC area was horrendous a horrific bus crash that

Who will protect the women of Congo?

Union Busting; Signs of Something Greater; A Dirty Word