The gradual decline of the neighborhood has left residents without a safety net that served important purposes.

Readers respond to William J. Byron's 'On Their Way Out'

Hit the Road Ginny Daly’s “Cycles of Life” (1/31) on bike riding is great. I too can attest to the value of bike riding. Several years ago and several tens of pounds overweight and approaching diabetes caused by obesity, I got back on the bike. Now, many tens of pounds lighter and

ldquo Of Gods and Men rdquo is the greatest nbsp film on faith I rsquo ve ever seen nbsp It surpasses even some of my longtime favorite movies on the spiritual life like ldquo Romero rdquo ldquo Diary of a Country Priest rdquo ldquo A Man for All Seasons rdquo The Mission and ldquo

Back in August I posted about Newt Gingrich his conversion to Catholicism and his pontificating on various moral issues of the day even as he battles questions about his own moral failings The New York Times yestrday offered a profile on Gingrich s faith and politicking which is receiving renew

Don rsquo t worry be happy Is this at the heart of Jesus rsquo teaching in Matthew 6 24-34 in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount Did Bobby McFerrin sum it all up in his 1988 hit It seems to me that McFerrin rsquo s feel good song shares some of the joy and delight in daily life that Jesus

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp I heard Cardinal Waltar Kaspar deliver on Feb 21 the 31st annual Paul Wattson Lecture sponsored by the Friars of the Atonement and the University of San Francisco His topic was Hope for the Future of Ecumenism Kaspar recently retired as the long-time Pre

Sergeant Jeremy Mendenhall of the Ohio State Highway Patrol is really mad He is the president of The Ohio Troopers rsquo Association and is busy working to defeat Republican-sponsored legislation that he says would gut Ohio rsquo s collective bargaining arrangements and seriously enfeeble the po

The Rev George W Hunt, S.J., editor in chief of America magazine from 1984-1998, died this morning at the Fordham University Jesuit community in New York.

From Ciudad Nueva via Mirada Global a report on crime in Brazils infamous favelas and what can be done about them The successful experience of the Police Pacifying Units UPP in Portuguese confirm the need to invest in training The results achieved in the favelas where they have been plac

A contemporary religious film lavishly praised by America magazine our reviewer John Anderson called it vaguely miraculous and The New York Times nbsp which today called it beatiful somber and rigorously intelligent nbsp Need you any more encouragement to see the award-winning Of Gods and

Imagine a hard-working college history professor John Brayne alone in his study at home late at night He is hunched over his desk pushing his way through a pile of sophomore three-page papers on the Civil War depressed because five out of the 20 failed to hand their papers in and three tr

Today the US Conference of Catholic Bishops nbsp added its voice to those supporting the union rights of Wisconsin s public employees Supporting the nbsp clear stand of the Wisconsin Catholic Conference nbsp a letter by Bishop Stephen Blaire in his capacity as Chairman of the Bishops Committee

I attended last night a private screening in London of The Way a film starring Martin Sheen and written and directed by his son Emilio Estevez which opens September 30 in the U S Both Sheen and Estevez were on hand afterwards for a Q amp A with a largely Christian and highly appreciative audien

Cambridge MA Readers who have been patient enough to follow this blog series from the start one two three four five will not be surprised to learn that for Swami Prabhavananda in The Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta has a straightforward reading of the first part of the Gospel for

Our latest online Culture piece sees associate editor Kevin Clarke considering the implications terrible serious probable likely funny of Watson the IBM supercomputer trouncing two Jeopardy champions at their own game nbsp Whither nbsp the relationship between humans and computers nbs

Fr Raymond Schroth points out in Why Johnny Can t Write some saddening observations about the lack of writing assignments in college classes particularly among education and business majors Today my very own education and psychology students will be reading here and I hope they click the link