The government's response created a most unnatural disaster

The world stands out on either side/No wider than the heart is wide.   —“Renascence” Edna St. Vincent Millay Recently, a friend of mine, a professional woman, sent me an e-mail message that she was going to Spain for vacation. Knowing that Spain was almost contiguous to Afric

Meeting the Food Crisis Greater support for the world’s small farmers would enable them to produce more food in a sustainable manner and help address chronic hunger and malnutrition around the globe, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations said during a meeting of the worl

How a small-town mayor implemented Catholic social teaching

An exhibit of the Danish artist Olafur Eliassons work is now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan and will soon be traveling to Dallas, Chicago and Sydney, Australia. Fr. Leo ODonovan reviews the exhibit in the June 9-16 issue of America. View a slideshow of images from the Eliasson e

A look back at America's 2008 poetry contest

Barriers or Bridges? The Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall, the Berlin Wall, the Iron Curtain, the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Now we have the 670-mile-long concrete fence between Mexico and the United States, the ever-expanding, 436-mile-long West Bank Barrier intended to protect Israelis fr

One of the least reported stories of the Iraq war is the story of the humanitarian crisis it has spawned. While the media have covered the military debates, the fighting, the lives of soldiers and the politics surrounding the war, they have left largely untold the stories of close to five million di

The challenges of living a long life

Here at the annual convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America this weekend the theme has been Generations For me it has been an exhilarating weekend of hearing much theology renewing many friendships and again allowing gratitude for my colleagues and our shared vocation to make

In November 2006 in our Of Many Things column I wrote a short column on the remarkable success of Uwem Akpan a Nigerian Jesuit and astonishingly gifted writer who had been included in The New Yorker s Debut Fiction issue in the summer of 2005 Part of my delight in Uwem s success was

Yesterday the mastermind of the 9 11 terrorist attacks on the United States Khalid Sheik Mohammed told a military court in Guantanamo Bay that he wanted to be executed Yes this is what I wish I have looking to be a martyr from long time I will God willing have this by you I understand ve

To spend any time with Jesus teachings is to be amazed by the depth of the simplicity I have sometimes asked students in class to write parables in order to see how difficult it is to tell a simple story that has power meaning force and a moral that does not seem sappy contrived or sentiment

I am so happy that Fathers Leonard and Kilgallen have blogged recently on Ordinary time and especially its connection in the Northern hemisphere to the coming of Spring and Summer and the blossoming of plant life of all sorts I have been looking for a scriptural and liturgical entr e into the worl

Jesus words I came to call sinners are a compendium of Gospel themes They acknowledge that we are sinners they reveal the divine intent on finding what was lost and giving life to what was dead But these words are cited by Gospel writers for still another purpose The society in whic

Between now and November the single most important decision that Barack Obama will make is his vice-presidential pick The decision itself is of little consequence Although recent vice presidents have played prominent roles and Dick Cheney has been enormously influential usually vice presidents

After 16 Sundays celebrating Lent Holy Week Eastertide and then the four great feast days of Ascension Pentecost Trinity and the Body and Blood of the Lord last week we returned to Sundays in Ordinary Time I like Ordinary Time It s the moment in the church s year coming as it does out of

Readers of the work of literary critic and novelist James Wood will know that he is God-haunted The title of his first novel was after all The Book against God Wood s preoccupation with God specifically the problem of evil is addressed head-on this week s New Yorker in which he cons