ght now the data from the U S Census Bureau are about to become obsolete a new report is expected at the end of this month It will provide information for 2008 What we have currently is information for 2007 and it rsquo s the best we have I haven rsquo t read the entire report but I have loo

Oh boy nbsp My friend The Anchoress is sure to get nbsp deluged with comments about this post on a fellow blogger who has decided to receive Communion without having been received in the Catholic church Rick at Brutally Honest for whom I have a deal of affection and he rsquo s been a a provo

To build on Michael Sean Winter s post immediately below here is David Gibson on what he calls Obama s Altar Call for Health Care Reform nbsp on PoliticsDaily Obama was clearly ramping up his rhetoric in an effort to counter the strident attacks He punctuated each claim from opponents -- about

An alliance of faith-based groups held a hugely successful conference call with President Obama last night to discuss health care reform 140 000 people participated in the call which featured a variety of lay and clerical leaders many with personal stories of the consequences of the lack of unive

I consider myself a rather conservative scholar on matters of interpretation though honestly I do not think labels such as conservative or liberal ought to be applied to interpretation of the Scriptures The real issue in interpreting the Scriptures the major dividing line is whether one

Bishop Edward Slattery of Tulsa Oklahoma has decreed that all Masses he celebrates in the cathedral will henceforth nbsp be ad orientem facing East back to the people facing the high altar nbsp H t to David Gibson at Commonweal nbsp For those of you a few years ago that thought that Pope

Few taxpayers express rage against the government for requiring owners of motor vehicles to carry collision insurance known in the industry as liability insurance And I m aware of no exceptions to this law Given the risks and damage from a collision the requirement sounds like common sense F

I wouldn t put it that way but Alan Dershowitz the Harvard Law professor makes an interesting point about the Justice s comments on Monday and how they square with Catholic teaching and Christian morality nbsp Here s Dershowitz on nbsp The Daily Beast nbsp nbsp I never thought I would live

In politics there is a place for reasoned debate There is also a time for the exercise of political power These two times can coincide and at the moment they do so precisely The President needs to step up to the plate stop the mixed-messaging coming from his staff bring together the members of

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp No that s not the title of the latest book about Hogwarts nbsp nbsp A hearty H T to Celia Wren at Dotcommonweal for pointing out this terrific piece by Michael Paulson who got unfairly lambasted for using the wo

The day did not officially begin in the office of Congressman Marty Meehan whom I serfed for in the early 90s without a discussion of that day rsquo s political report from Rowland and Novak Two of the last of the great postwar generation of determined shoe-leather reporters Rowland and Novak h

Sunday evening I received a text message from a number I did not recognize It read Ur book sucked btw u measly little faggot f--- ed the original used the full vulgar nbsp word that we prefer not to reprint I despise u and all that u stand for VOMIT Having just returned from seeing Jul

Why did Newt Gingrich nbsp conver to nbsp Catholicism nbsp Here s the answer or nbsp at least part of it nbsp according to Time in an article entitled um Why Newt Gingrich Converted to Catholicism nbsp H T to Deacon s Bench Gingrich describes the appeal of Catholicism for him in just these

As I ve mentioned our Culture section will frequently feature Web only articles particularly for timely features--like this fine review by Leo J O Donovan SJ president emeritus of Georgetown University on a show at New York s Metropolitan Museum of Art on the art of Oceania and Africa nbsp T

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious at their annual meeting have requested that the Vatican alter some of the methods being employed for the Apostolic Visitation nbsp nbsp Among the expressed concerns are a lack of full disclosure about the motivation and funding sources for the stu

One of the principal points of confusion or dishonesty in the debate about health care reform has been the existence of multiple bills coming out of Congress When someone denounces Obama rsquo s reform it is not clear what they might be referring to seeing as the White House has let the Congres

It should not surprise us that the superhero genre has shaped our culture's understanding of Jesus.

Introducing our new culture editor, sans ascot and monocle

The importance of getting health care reform right