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

Fans of the monk writer Thomas Merton are often surprised to find how low in the esteem of other monks he was sometimes held In the fascinating memoir by Rembert Weakland OSB former Abbot Primate of the Benedictines and Archbishop of Milwaukee until his dramatic resignation in 2004 you find for

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp We read in the Gospel that Jesus cured a deaf and dumb man and Jesus responded by curing him nbsp The account of this healing continues Mark s intentional presentation of miracle after miracle nbsp As the powers of Jesus overwhelm the variety of evils human beings so of

There is a purity of purpose in the writing of James This Sunday rsquo s Second Reading James 2 1-5 gets to the heart of how the Christian message is meant to transform daily behavior and the always roiling issue of wealth and poverty It is worth reading in full My brothers and sisters show no

Cambridge MA This is the last of my five planned reflections on my trip to India this time about my research Thanks to everyone who has contacted me through our ldquo comments section rdquo and off-line nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp While I indicated at the start that this was not to be research

Missionary Intention Christians in Laos Cambodia and Myanmar That by placing their trust in the strength of the Holy Spirit Christians in Laos Cambodia and Myanmar who often confront great difficulties will not lose the courage to proclaim the Gospel to their brothers and sisters It is gene