Today s Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a good day to link to Fred Clark s brilliant explanation of why vampires can t abide crosses Most vampires don t believe in the cross but that hardly matters It s the idea of the thing that gives them fits The cross confronts vampires with th

There have been no peace outcomes from Pope Benedict XVI s visit to the Holy Land in May according to the Patriarch of Jerusalem ldquo The Pope came as a man of dialogue he called for peace But until now we haven rsquo t seen any fruit from this visit Archbishop Fouad Twal told The Tablet o

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp This Gospel passage has for quite awhile now been recognized by scholars as a key nbsp pivotal moment nbsp of the entire Marcan Gospel nbsp The first 8 chapters have given all the indications to justify the estimates you are a prophet you are Elijah you are John the Ba

Incivility hurts the pro-life cause posts John Allen referring to how some activists act so shrill so angry and judgmental that fair-minded people simply tune out the pro-life message He refers to the extraordinary fury -- not to mention the nastiness and loopiness -- of the attacks generat

Yesterday afternoon I attended a most unique retirement celebration for a professor who has been a mentor in theologically engaging culture for me and for thousands of others Dr Harvey Cox Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School retired in his own style with an event that featu

We re delighted to be able to offer you this online review of one of my favorite new movies of the summer the marvelous 500 Days of Summer nbsp In several interviews the actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as well as the director nbsp Marc Webb nbsp made it clear that they wan

The line in the President rsquo s speech that made Congressman Joe Wilson shout You lie was an assertion that illegal immigrants would not be covered by the health care reform proposals making their way through Congress The President was correct and the Congressman was wrong There is explicit l

While a lot of the national focus has turned to the health care squabble a minor distraction to these eyes the ongoing scandal of government-sponsored interference with free market enterprise continues to disturb We speak of course of municipal fire departments and a pernicious reliance on govern

Okay I know it s not going to convince any hardcore atheists or maybe even to wavering agnostics nbsp But it s hard to look at these photos from the newly restored Hubble telescope and not wonder how nbsp someone can still nbsp doubt God s hand in something nbsp like this nbsp nbsp Random this

If eloquence was the only measure that mattered in assessing political speeches President Obama hit a home run last night But the President does not wish to be remembered for giving an outstanding speech to a joint session of Congress He wants to be remembered as the President who finally achiev

All I know of the Bishop of Palencia in northern Spain Jose Ignacio Munilla is what I ve raked from Google which isn t much But he s mentioned because I was struck by an answer he gives in an interview to a question about the Spanish Church s failure to prevent the Spanish government s further l

These readings emerge from our tradition and liturgy into a world that is filled with violence war torture rape with the devastations of the drug culture and consumerism poverty crime sexism racism lies accusations insults powerfully negative constructions of each other nbsp Our need t

I spied recently a notice for a new journal being inaugurated this fall The International Journal of Illich Studies Especially with the health care debate swirling around us it might be worthwhile to revisit the ex-Monsignor and radical social critic Ivan Illich I had occasion this summer to

In his speech to Congress tonight President Obama has to juggle many objectives some of them seemingly contradictory For example he must continue to reach out to Republicans cite one or two of the ideas they brought to the table that he is endorsing himself and hold out the hope that the event

This week school begins for many The beginning of the school year is a scramble whether you are a student or a teacher preparing to return to the classroom And no matter how old the students are or at what level the teacher instructs it often feels chaotic a little out of control and sometimes

Nervous church authorities are preventing Napolitans from kissing the phial containing the blood of San Gennaro during his festival later this month because of swine flu fears Reuters has the story In one of Italy s best-known festivals Saint Gennaro s dried blood is said to liquefy twice a yea

A report from today s New York Times offers a reminder and I think one may have been necessary that there remain far worse things in the world to worry about than our own many problems in the United States Distracted as we are by deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan how the nation is going to

Really I did The service is offered by the Roman parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia where Fr Ludovico Barbangelo has created a web page that enables people to post a prayer alongside a virtual candelina And yes the flames flicker The idea has been ldquo well received by the faithfu

Sadly this weekend brought more evidence that there are some people in this great nation of ours who have lost their faith in democracy The furor over President Obama rsquo s speech to schoolchildren is ridiculous of course But it is more pernicious than that too The chairman of the Republica

There is serious talk of forming a new centre-right Catholic party in the wake of the clash between the Church and the philandering Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi according to this interesting report by the Times in London At the centre of the attempt to create a new Christian Democrat bloc is