Is there a reason beyond obligation for going to church For Timothy Radcliffe O P former master general of the Dominican order we go to church to receive a gift mdash a share in God rsquo s life through faith hope and love and to be sent forth to live by what we have received The major thesi

What can the U.S. do to address an arms buildup on the subcontinent?

Short days and cold nights make prayer easier

I must come clean about something though I could plead guilty to a lot more and it has to do with the modern study of the Bible At times I have criticized the study of the Bible as practiced since the Enlightenment even to those who are not of the guild of Biblical scholars That is I have betr

Paul Elie s superb Atlantic Monthly essay on the Archbishop of Canterbury includes an anecdote about Dr Williams joking that he should have worn a T-shirt with the words GRAVELY DEFICIENT on it to visit the then head of the Vatican s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith CDF Cardinal Rat

Vinita Hampton Wright is one of my favorite spiritual writers nbsp And full disclosure she was also the copyeditor--and a fantastic one--for my book My Life with the Saints nbsp A few weeks ago I received a copy of her new book Days of Deepening Friendship For the Woman Who Wants Authen

This week L Osservatore Romano highlighted a study nbsp just in time for Lent nbsp on the sinful tendencies of the sexes nbsp The report according to the BBC nbsp was based on a study of confessions carried out by nbsp Roberto Busa S J a 95-year-old Jesuit scholar nbsp The Pope s pe

Cambridge One of the nice things about having a blog with America is that in my bi-weekly piece I can write about anything I want mdash including less talked about topics such as what I a professor actually teach We devote a lot of time energy and thought to our courses and hope that studen

Events are moving quickly in Israel where President Shimon Peres has tapped Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu to form a coalition government It is expected that the process of deal-making and power-brokering may take some weeks America has a backgrounder on the Israeli elections in our Signs

Sen Roland Burris should resign There is no evidence that he engaged in a direct pay-to-play scheme with former Governor Rod Blagojevich People in Burris rsquo s position ndash he served thirty years in public office ndash are asked to raise money by other politicians all the time And perhap

The internet has certainly democratized publishing Anyone with an opinion can find an outlet if not with a formal blog entry then by posting a comment to someone else rsquo s entry The readers of America do this all the time and I look forward to comments from some of the regular readers especia

February is a month when hearts appear everywhere thanks to the Hallmark honoring of St Valentine Love is in the very air we breathe and so I thought this might be a good moment to reflect a little on my life with cab drivers and why I can honestly say I love them My mode of transportation to

It is time for Deal Hudson to change the name of his site from InsideCatholic com to InsideRepublican com His partisan attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi who was received today by Pope Benedict XVI puts him in an odd place Hudson is now officially more Catholic than the Pope Hudson who has long

Bishop Fellay the superior of the Society of St Pius nbsp X said that nbsp it would be difficult to reach doctrinal consensus with the pope reports nbsp AP nbsp nbsp nbsp One gets the impression that Fellay feels that nbsp church will soon be brought to greater doctrinal clarity and Benedict

Adolfo Nicolas the superior general of the Society of Jesus recently visited the Jesuits California Province on the occasion of its 100th anniversary nbsp He spoke to a wide variety of groups--9 days 11 cities and 30 different sites--and had an extensive press conference for representative

The pope s choice for auxiliary bishop of Linz Austria has withdrawn his name from consideration after a firestorm erupted after nbsp the priest s nbsp comments about Hurricane Katrina which he said was God s punishment on the people of New Orleans for their sins and homosexuality which

At least he rsquo s not saying that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene that Opus Dei murders people and that the Va tican has misled believers about Christ for 2 000 years nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp Here rsquo s a trailer and behind-the-scenes look at the new Ron How

An essay by two former Reagan and Bush 41 officials in this morning rsquo s Washington Post highlights the dangers of any investigation of criminal activities by the Bush 43 administration especially regarding the conduct of the war on terror Two such proposals have already been introduced in th