Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is in his sixth hour of a true filibuster not the fake procedural variety that Republican Senators have used for years to tie up Democratic legislation in a gesture against the tax deal worked out between Republican leaders and President Obama House Democrats turned

Little late on this but I hope you ll check out our multiple features on the legacy of Cardinal Avery Dulles First in the November 29 issue Jeffrey Gros reviewed the new biography of Cardinal Dulles by Patrick W Carey We have also reprinted several articles Cardinal Dulles wrote for America A

The church has approved as worthy of belief for the first time a Marian apparition in the United States after a two-year investigation by the local bishop nbsp Bishop David L Ricken of Green Bay has approved the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as seen by Adele Brise in Champion Wis

Horror movie camp classic wannabe nbsp or balletomane s dream nbsp Check out Tim Reidy s entirely enjoyable review of Darren Aronofsky s provocative and somewhat controversial new film Black Swan for some answers nbsp Is ldquo Black Swan rdquo a ballet film Though dancers occupy almost eve

John Allen s has a lengthy revealing and surprising nbsp interview with Archbishop Joseph Tobin Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life the Vatican office running the apostolic visitation of nbsp women s religious communities in the Unite

The past few months I ve been impressed with the coverage of New York Times writer Robert Pear in his coverage of how legislation and politics are affecting health care His articles are highly detailed and he shows he has done a great deal of homework in preparing them Underlying his reports I f

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception we have a new video nbsp meditation on the readings for the day nbsp on our homepage and here as well on our Youtube channel nbsp Thanks to Kerry Weber for producing such a beautiful video nbsp The Anchoress aka Elizabeth Scalia also has a lovely m

Last year I posted on the readings for The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary which caused a stir I did not expect when I argued that the biblical readings alone do not lead necessarily to the Church s teaching on the Immaculate Conception of Mary but that Tradition is essential for this u

Further evidence that Benedict XVI s comments on condoms were deliberate clear premeditated and designed to correct misrepresentations of church teaching appears today in an Our Sunday Visitor interview with Fr Martin Rhonheimer the moral philosopher close to the Pope s inner circle whose 2004 ar

We are in the midst of Hanukkah the Jewish Festival of Lights which is celebrated beginning on the 25th of the Jewish month of Chislev for eight days This year the Festival which falls in late November to late December in our calendar is celebrated from December 1-9 This festival commemorates

Washington s Cardinal Donald Wuerl published a column in his archdiocese s newspaper on the importance of truth and love in Christian discourse Speaking to the importance of presenting truth through a lens of charity in all our discourse the newly elevated Cardinal writes We are called to a

Will this put an end to those who say that the pope a doesn t know what he s talking about when he s talking about condoms and AIDS b should be ignored when he talks about condoms and AIDS c couldn t possibly mean what he meant when he was talking about condoms and AIDS or d is in no way

Dotcommonweal has the surprising story about the vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and his response to the sex abuse crisis Last week Fr James Connell vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee stood on the steps of the Cathedral of St John the Baptist and called on his bis

Regular readers will recall that America published a special issue on the Bishops Synod on the Middle East in October Here we offer a reflection from one of the bishops who took part in the meeting Gregory Mansour Eparch of the Eparchy of Saint Maron The task before him was great but only Pete

The DREAM Act for the Development Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act nbsp has raised hackles on the right though it once enjoyed modest bipartisan support The measure never a sure thing appears poised to become a new casualty in the nation s backlash against undocumented immigrants n

The Argentinian Catholic magazine Criterio looks at the success of the country s same-sex marriage law and what it means for the church s approach to the culture We must therefore ask ourselves why is it that the Catholic doctrine despite its depth and richness has ceased to be in general terms

This is part of a series of reflections on How to Succeed in College Click on the author s name for previous entries Two weeks ago I suggested that college students as well as the rest of us should go to Mass regularly mdash seven daily mdash because it gets us out of ourselves Some reade

Who better than Eamon Duffy to review John Cornwell s new book on Blessed John Henry Newman Newman s Unquiet Grave nbsp The title refers to the beatified cardinal s exhumation from the grave that he shared with Fr Ambrose St John nbsp No one can beat Duffy for clarity of writing about the E

Religion, science and the desire to be good