So here I am nbsp in Cape May New Jersey at a Jesuit vacation house ready to go to the beach yes even Jesuits need occasional breaks Gentle Reader nbsp when I duck into a small computer room check my email nbsp and then log onto nbsp Google News type in the word Vatican and find the ab

Memo to those who missed this week rsquo s Sotomayor hearings Imagine a cocktail conversation between Hume and Aquinas or Karl Marx and Adam Smith or maybe even Jack Webb and Cheech Marin and you get some idea of what this rigmarole sounded like two people Sotomayor and her G O P interlocutors

I met my first Swami the other day at a panel discussion in my suburban Hudson river town library no less nbsp A new local group had been formed to explore questions of spirituality in action with a special focus on science and the professions The seminar was titled ldquo Coping with Crisis

It has been a week since the Holy Father received President Obama in audience The following day the Washington Posr carried a picture of the meeting front page and above the fold but only gave the meeting two paragraphs at the ends of a story about the G-8 summit A mere ten days ago Pope Benedi

Confirmation hearings are painful to watch or listen to Ever since Robert Bork rsquo s nomination the aim of the nominee has been to be non-controversial at all costs and the aim of his or her opponents have been to try and find a way to trip the nominee up The entire thing sheds little or no lig

In light of yesterday s decision by the U S House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church to permit the ordination those in active same-sex relationships is schism within the Anglican Communion inevitable nbsp The Anglican bishop of Durham England not NC and Scripture scholar N T Tom Wright thin

The second reading for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time continues with the reflections of Paul or a superb facsimile of Paul on human unity in and through Christ The reading for this Sunday is Ephesians 2 13-18 but I think it is worth drawing in the two verses just prior to this passage S

Yesterday we set down a marker for the Democrats about not including abortion services in any federal health insurance option Today let rsquo s applaud House Democrats for figuring out a way to finance the health care reform by taxing the super-rich The tax plan only hits families making more th

I know very few people these days who work from 9 00am to 5 00pm The eight-hour day seems to be a thing of the past Where priests regularly encounter these new work patterns is when we see young people who are preparing for marriage in the Church Sometimes to arrange a meeting we have to resort t

Two related points about this week s readings First it is difficult for me as a woman religious to hear Ezekiel rsquo s description of nbsp ldquo bad shepherds rdquo behavior without thinking of recent acts of power by authorities in the Catholic Church Whether pondering the abuse of childre

The U S Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions turned down an amendment that would have prevented any government health insurance plan from paying for abortion services It is unclear yet whether this is part of a legislative strategy but it is time for Catholic Democrats to lay

Many America magazine and blog readers may remember the controversy surrounding Irish rock pop singer Sinead O Connor following her 1992 performance on Saturday Night Live This was a matter of great interest to many Catholics I have put up a post inviting a reconsideration of O Connor over at Roc

The New Yorker as a rule is nbsp not nbsp anti-Catholic nbsp I say this as a longtime reader and avid fan nbsp And I say it nbsp despite the fact that the magazine nbsp featured a painting of a crucified Easter bunny during Holy Week in 1995 despite the fact that last year the estimable liter

Jake Martin SJ nbsp has another terrific piece on a movie you may not have seen or even heard of but should according to Martin see right away nbsp Here s his opening nbsp Adrian Brody has the face of Buster Keaton and the bearing of Raskolnikov He belongs to a time of grainy celluloid a

One of the things I remember from my days as a theology student at Catholic University is that if the Rev Joseph Komonchak tells me I am wrong about anything having to do with Vatican II I can only plead guilty as charged The same holds for Father Komonchak rsquo s comment on my earlier post in

Fr Joseph Komonchak at Dotcommonweal has picked up nbsp the Vatican journalist Sandro Magister s nbsp interview on Chiesaexpressonline with Fr Thomas Berg a former Legionary of Christ who is described in Magister s article as follows Father Berg is a member of the Legionaries of Christ since 1

The U S Senate rsquo s Judiciary Committee begins its confirmation hearings today for nominee Sonya Sotomayor The Post had a great piece yesterday from her collegiate mentor at Princeton that shows her to be precisely the kind of hard-working fair-minded and deeply read person we want on the Cou

Sometimes we post on things that have nothing to do with religion nbsp Or as Homer Simpson would say do they For some time since the birth of my two young nephews I ve been thinking about how much nbsp childhood has altered since I was a boy nbsp Yes I know blah blah blah O tempora nb

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp To quote the sportscaster Al Michaels at the end of the U S hockey team s victory during the 1980 Olympics Do you believe in miracles nbsp You have to shout this nbsp if you want to quote him accurately nbsp I do but there are nbsp