Africans preparing for the October 2009 Special Assembly are emphasizing the need to find ways to address poverty, justice and reconciliation.

The "Catholic Climate Covenant" asks Catholics to pray and reflect on the duty to care for Gods creation.

A spiritual challenge for tough economic times

'New Orleans' inimitable civic spirit has been revived.'

Massimo Franco a distinguished columnist for the Corriere della Sera of Milan presents an interesting thesis in this book which he states in the introduction ldquo In probing the relationship between these two extremities of Western civilization mdash the United States at one end and the papacy

The fifth in a series for Lent

Essays, slideshows and art reviews marking the celebration of Holy Week

A recent book on baseball umpires reviewed positively is entitled ldquo As They See lsquo Em rdquo nbsp That reminded me of nbsp a comment in the New Yorker many years ago about nbsp hree umpires explaining how they called lsquo em -- The first umpire said ldquo Some rsquo s balls and so

Remember the atheist bus advertising campaign I posted on here and here It s since spread from the UK to other countries encountering opposition from advertising regulators and a variety of church responses It s a way of taking the temperature of how faith and culture sit together around the

President Obama is headed to South Bend to deliver the Commencement Address later this spring and already the howls have begun A website that is the brainchild of the Cardinal Newman Society has been launched www notredamescandal com Of course the fringe on the right hates Notre Dame as much as

In his homily at yesterday rsquo s stadium mass in Yaound egrave Cameroon Pope Benedict XVI poignantly achieved something I have often struggled to do in undergraduate courses I teach on Catholic social thought or religion and politics he also accomplished something the American media seems to s

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp This Gospel reading pleads that we be assured that we are loved by God He has given us eternal life by having his Son raised on the cross on our behalf nbsp Only love of us could move God to have his Son die for us nbsp How can we ever say ldquo God does not love me r

Playa del Rey trying to make it back to the glory days This story in today s Los Angeles Times is an interesting look at the neighborhood in Los Angeles which was developed in large part by Fritz B Burns about whom prepare for unfortunate self-promotion I wrote a book before I entered the Soc

This is not Washington rsquo s finest hour The blame shifting and finger pointing about the AIG bonuses are not especially heroic Worst of all the intellectual quality of the debate is pathetic especially among conservatives Charles Krauthammer indicates this morning what he thinks of the entir

The second reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is from Ephesians 2 4-10 This passage is often used by both evangelicals and Catholics in apologetic contexts Ephesians 2 8-9 is cited by evangelical Christians to fortify a position that salvation is by faith alone and not by works Aha say Catho

The Obama Administration appears a bit schizophrenic these days In California the President sounded like the pitch perfect voice of populist anger at the AIG bonuses and using ndash finally ndash a key word in diagnosing our economic ills culture But Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner

nbsp In our own pages Fr Michael Czerny S J director of the African Jesuits AIDS Network has spoken in similar terms about the crisis of AIDS in Africa nbsp We learn as we go along that AIDS is very complex H I V is a virus that reduces and destroys the immune system But it rsquo s al

Yesterday in a conversation with the press the Pope was widely cited as having said that the distribution of condoms would increase the problem of AIDS nbsp This has met with expected backlash agencies ranging from the World Health Organization and the New York Times to the French government