I beheld cried the prophet Jeremiah and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens had fled 4 25 KJV One part of the Bible that has gained in heft thanks to the technological horrors of modernity is the apocalyptic genre When visionaries in either testament describe a global catac

The 2008 election could be an historic turning point for the U.S.

Women Foundation Heads Meet With Vatican OfficialsA group of U.S. and European Catholic lay women representing their family foundations traveled to Rome last month to discuss the role of women in the church with leading Vatican officials. Representatives of the Amaturo Family Foundation, the Mary J.

Gulnora Huseinova was in trouble. When she got divorced a few years ago, she was left to care for her child, which is no easy matter for a single woman in Khujand, Tajikistan. She decided to start her own business at the local market, but she needed $800 to purchase grain. The problem was that she h

Intellectual Nourishment The editorial Jaw, Jaw, Not War, War (10/15) was a well-argued analysis of this most frightening situation. It is too bad that such essays in America do not receive wider dissemination in either the secular or religious press. A conversation among like-minded persons is fine

A new books looks at the sacred Scripture of three religious traditions

Happily the media did a decent job in its coverage of the revelations about Mother Teresa s dark night contained in the bestselling book Mother Teresa Come Be My Light More representative of the overall coverage were thoughtful articles like David Van Biema s piece in Time which was somet

Last summer New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about a book he picked up in a New Hampshire bookstore The Autobiography of an Elderly Woman The elderly woman describes what she calls living in a different dimension where her sons no longer seek her advice but rather carefully shield her

I just got around to reading Jeffrey Sachs 2007 BBC Reith Lectures entitled Bursting at the Seams Many may have read if not do so Sachs stirring and important 2005 book The End of Poverty Economic Possibilities for Our Time Sachs an economist has been the principal adviser to the

I found myself wondering how 2 Thessalonians 3 7-12 fit with Malachi 3 19-20a often 4 1-2a in English translations and Luke 21 5-19 Apart from thematic fit I wondered how appealing Paul s call for diligence in daily tasks could have been and I am assuming Pauline authorship of 2 Thessaloni

The Sadducees and Resurrection from the Dead Luke 20 27-39 This blog is written for the person who wants to enter more thoroughly into the meaning of this conflict story Sadducees against Jesus than a brief homily can provide 1 The first reading today from the Book of Maccabees shows that

R 233 mi Brague has had two previous books translated into English The Wisdom of the World The Human Experience of the World in Western Thought 2003 French original 1999 traces the ways in which people have related human action to cosmological realities that serve as models for judging right

I graduated from journalism school in 2000, a heady time when newspapers were still hiring young people with enthusiasm but little experience. With a little help from a friend, I got a job at The Hartford Courant, a reputable midsize newspaper. During my three years at the Courant, management introd

Conscientious Objector to Nazis Beatified in Austria A Vatican cardinal beatified Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer who was beheaded in 1943 after he refused to fight in Hitler’s army. Presiding over the beatification Mass in Linz, Austria, Oct. 26, Cardinal José Saraiva Ma

Three former general assistants consider Father Arrupe's legacy.

We thought we knew him, with that searching unsettling gaze of his, the man with a peasant face who became the master of light and shadow, saturated color and probing psychology. The guises in which he presented himself varied greatly: here as a soldier, there as a prince, now as a beggar or as a ki

Weve Got Issues Regarding Bishops on Citizenship (11/5), what about the other moral issues that face voters today? Once again, matters of conscience are reduced to bioethical issues. There is no denying that abortion, euthanasia, stem cell and cloning are significant, but so are the other life and j