It rsquo s the diplomatic strategic and fiscal boondoggle that keeps well taking I guess The war of choice in Iraq has already cost the United States a great many lives and vast sums that obviously could have been better spent say preparing for deep water oil mishaps developing an alternative

In for a penny in for a pound goes the old saying In the contemporary Washington fiscal universe perhaps the amounts should be revised In for a billion in for a trillion The point of the saying is that sometimes moderation is not the best strategy that once a plan has been adopted one c

It wasn t anything new exactly and a lot less than I had speculated he might do but Pope Benedict s heartfelt words this morning before a sea of 15 000 priests in white albs in St Peter s Square was still pretty powerful stuff Speaking at the close of the Year of Priests on the 150th anniversar

Politico is reporting that Democratic operatives have crafted a new get tough no empathy approach to discussing comprehensive immigration reform sounding more like Republicans if they want to pass the reforms The new approach is the result of extensive polling by Democratic firms according to P

Just posted to our Web site an assessment of the controversial excommunication of Sister Margaret Mary McBride from the respected Dominican ethicist Kevin O Rourke As both a Catholic ethicist and an expert on Canon Law Father O Rourke offers a unique perspective Yet questions remain Did the bis

The Jesuit Conference which represents the Jesuits in the United States has written the following letter to President Barack Obama and to the members of Congress June 4 2010 We the Provincials of the Society of Jesus in the United States write to ask that you take immediate action to effect co

nbsp THE EDINBURGH MISSIONARY CONFERENCE nbsp - Centenary Celebration nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp From June 14-23 in nbsp 1910 over 1 200 Christians mainly from the English-speaking world gathered in Edinburgh Scotland nbsp as representatives of a wide variety of Protestant mission agencies They e

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp A bright ray of sunlight shone in May when ldquo Crime in the United States rdquo a preliminary annual report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation was released for 2009 A series of tables

Our next print issue will be posted to the Web site on Monday June 14 but as promised we will keep adding Web-only content to the site during our summer biweekly schedule This week we have expanded Signs of the Times to include a report on the future of agriculture in Haiti and a summary of the

Tomorrow we mark the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus nbsp nbsp Permit me a meditation on the Sacred Heart and believe it or not the way that this traditional devotion nbsp often derided as outmoded and old-fashioned nbsp can help the Catholic church address some of the factors behind the s

As anti-incumbent fervor continues to shape the election landscape the 24 hours after Tuesday rsquo s primaries reminded us that there is something to be said for experience As much as people like to hate politicians the gaffes the newcomers make and the distraction from the real issues the gaff

At first glance these first and Gospel readings seem well-matched even easy David and Simon have mis-stepped seriously in terms of what they supposed sincerely or not was acceptable behavior specifically here in the treatment of women Each is admonished strongly by a powerful prophet-like spe

The clock read 1 35 I slipped out the car door ambled past farm buildings and sodium lights opened a door that weighed more than 300 pounds and entered the Abbey of the Genesee Words like massive or mammoth understate the feeling of the space I entered The walls of granite were extraordinarily

My cover story in the Tablet about the excommunication of Sister Margaret McBride earned me two friendly rebukes from thoughtful commentators whose opinions I value one from the right and one from the left Interestingly both took issue with the exact same sentence in a 1 400 word essay I wrote

More than 10 000 priests from 91 countries will gather in Rome today through Friday in what is thought to be the largest ever meeting of Catholic clergy The three-day program of events -- mostly eucharistic as you d expect -- marks the close of the Year of Priests declared by Pope Benedict XVI w

For the past many years as each summer begins and I have the privilege of sitting quietly with the summer ahead of me and imagining what should be accomplished when but all the while able to float these accomplishings in the balmy soup of summer relaxation and then I remember that this is a

From NCR When Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix declared that Mercy Sr Margaret McBride had committed a violation of church law deserving of excommunication he did so with a swiftness and certainty that left no possibility for doubt or nuance Since that declaration was released in May however th

The role of the Catholic press is a complicated one as newspapers and magazines work to balance the desire to spread the Good News with the responsibility to report truthfully on the not-so-good news in which our church sometimes finds itself involved To address this complex role the annual Catho

I know that the New York Times Ross Douthat has many fans among our commenters and though I don t always agree with him he is quickly becoming a must read Last month s column on abortion in America was nuanced and provocative and sparked an interesting if predictable response from readers La