Okay okay I know that this is somewhat inside-baseball but I also know that there are several readers who are interested in things Jesuit and also not a few Jesuits who read this blog and even more who read the mag In any event as the General Congregation winds down here is something t

Word has come from an anonymous but reliable source that on Tuesday of this Holy Week the corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets in Louisville familiar to any fan of Thomas Merton will be named Merton Square It was there that Merton in 1958 stopping in town for a visit to his physician s

Do you read The Anchoress That s the nom de blog of one of the more literate and more lively Catholic writers scribbling in the blogosphere Sure she may not be what some of our St Louis Jesuit-loving F J-friendly Catholic Worker Jesuit-educated readers might be used to from our ma

One of the first ethical lessons we learn as children is to play by the rules All of us can remember a playground bully wagging his finger when the game was slipping from his grasp trying to bend the rules so that he could win That was all that mattered him winning The solipsism of the play

In a German television news segment just before Christmas it was reported that the portion of the German population who called themselves religious stood at 70 Another 18 within that considered themselves deeply religious a definite highpoint within the last twenty-five years 1 Only the

Long before the telephone radio television and the Internet folklorists claim a joke still traveled at roughly the speed of light For some reason call it human nature jokes rank high on the list of topics for social communication Societies prize a good comedian which can be seen from the

The plunging of an adult or an infant into the baptismal font three times is the most important moment in the baptismal ceremony and meant to be the most moving one as well Most of us understand that this action is associated with the Trinity It is But the more ancient association is with the th

John McCain faces a well nigh impossible challenge over the next few weeks How to consolidate the conservative base which still broke for Mike Huckabee Tuesday in Texas without forfeiting his reputation as a maverick and his appeal to Independent voters Hillary Clinton s wins in Ohio and Texas

Walter M Abbott S J the New England province Jesuit and former associate editor of America probably best known for his work in editing The Documents of Vatican II a book that for many years remained the standard compilation of the writings of the Council died this morning He had lived f

Pope Benedict will visit the USA from April 16-20 He will of course meet numerous leaders and give a series of addresses including celebrating Masses in stadiums in DC and NYC Here is an invitation What do you think the Pope should say to American Catholics and thus also to the American publ

For Democrats the worst possible scenario has suddenly emerged as a likely scenario There is almost no way for Hillary Clinton to overtake Barack Obama s lead in pledged delegates But as the primary season winds down she may have the wind at her back and he might look like damaged goods Supe

Just when you thought the Texas prima-caucus system could not get any more complicated Anecdotal evidence and some early exit polls indicate that large numbers of Republicans are voting in the Democratic primary in Texas today presumably for Obama This mixes things up quite a bit because anyone w

I was musing about the day now almost five years ago the War in Iraq began I had already determined that it was not--as a pre-emptive war and a war where the inspection of the UN inspectors was not uncovering any evidence of weapons of mass destruction--a just war No war which ended up being cal

Many Democrats are worried that if Hillary Clinton wins both Ohio and Texas tonight the race for the nomination could go on all the way until the final caucuses in Puerto Rico on June 7 where the last of the 67 pledged delegates will be awarded Well I just got back from a week in Puerto Rico an

A common trope of professorial reportage is the moment of illumination about the shape of undergraduate life today the classroom surprise that at best can become a theophany for future teaching I had such an experience last week in my introductory course on Christianity While reaching for exa

Here are the things I m reminded of every year at the LA Religious Education Congress--which ended today with a lively Mass celebrated by Roger Cardinal Mahony--and which I sometimes forget during the rest of the year First The Catholic church is alive because the People of God are alive with

If you haven t seen it already here s Fr Jim Martin s oped in today s New York Times praising the Vatican s recent directive calling for greater rigor in its own saint-making process Among Fr Jim s recommendations for a further tightening up of the process Officials could re

Cambridge MA Cycle A in the Sunday Lectionary brings us some wonderful Lenten Gospels In addition to the temptations of Jesus in the desert and the Transfiguration we are given several of the great scenes from the Gospel of John Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well the healing of the

Here at America we have been talking about the central role white ethnic Catholics will play in the election for over a year They are the quintessential swing voters pulled towards the Democrats on economic issues pulled towards the GOP on social issues The fastest growing demographic in the