For all the great things the Church of yesteryear achieved it also did some terrible things One of the worst demands it made was that a Catholic who marries a person who is not a Catholic do so at a side altar oratory or in the sacristy of the Church How humiliating this directive was For how l

Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia has a long post on the new translation of the Sacramentary which had been discussed at the latest meeting of the U S Conference of Catholic Bishops which oddly received almost zero coverage in the national media The media was either poped out after Be

Just when it looked like the forced departures of the Reverends Jeremiah Wright and John Hagee from the political stage would usher in a modicum of sane religious discussions in the campaign the Reverend James Dobson took to the airwaves yesterday to re-introduce an unhealthy dose of zealotry to th

This past Thursday a few friends and I went to an adult rock climbing class at the field house at Chelsea Piers Growing up in the Bronx rock climbing is not one of the extracurricular activities with which I was raised So naturally there is something unnatural about allowing myself to be strap

The news from Jerusalem where 280 orthodox Anglican bishops are meeting before the Lambeth Conference is something of a non-story There are no plans after all for a split or schism Given that the Global Anglican Future conference Gafcon started with just such a prospect on the horizon

The birth of John was miraculous Luke tells us his parents were beyond the age of having children Elizabeth John s mother was sterile Still miraculously John leaped in his mother s womb at the presence of Jesus in the womb of Mary That John is mentioned in the Gospels at all is miraculou

Thanks to Cathy Kaveny at Dotcommonweal for noticing this The great church historian Henry Chadwick author of the beautifully written study The Early Church has died at age 87 in Oxford England The obituary from The New York Times is here My favorite passage from that fascinating book

One of Sen John McCain s chief advisers is in hot water over remarks he made to a magazine reporter Charles R Black Jr told Fortune magazine that a new terrorist attack on American soil certainly would be a big advantage to him McCain McCain quickly distanced himself from the remarks and

As George Bush s poll numbers sink lower than did Nixon s in the middle of the Watergate investigations it is no surprise that most Americans can t wait for next January 20th when either John McCain or Barack Obama will be sworn in as our next president But Americans are not alone The enti

Political excommunication and partisan priests

'The preacher is a problem for himself.'

It's about more than immigration.

John was a victim of a Nebraska shooting spree.

The poetry of Robert Creeley 1926-2005 is less a poetry of song and narrative than an artistry of language and thought syntax and consciousness syllable and word Benjamin Friedlander rsquo s edition the first ldquo selected rdquo poems since Creeley rsquo s death brings together verse from

Catholic human rights groups part ways with Amnesty International.

The latest Indiana Jones film provides comfort food for the imagination

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The Second Chance Act is an important first step to prison reform.