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

Conscience and Information Two newspapers in Malaysia were recently closed down for specified periods as a punitive measure after their editors published controversial cartoons. In both cases the press could be seen as an equal opportunity offender, since one cartoon pictured the prophet Muhammad an

Just after the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept 11 2001 White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer warned Americans at a press conference that we are now living in an era in which 8220 we have to watch what we say 8221 Since that declaration I have been searching for a book de

The cloudy future of suburban Catholic schools

Remembering Father Pedro Arrupe on the centennial of his birth.

Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta (Doubleday, $22.95) is a disturbing book, one that has become a lightning rod for commentators of every stripe, from believers to unbelievers. Can it also be read as a consoling book? I believe so, though the consolation is not “c

Roman Catholics can be spotted with eyes raised to heaven overheard to give thanks that we are not like certain others fundamentalists and such When I was once engaging in that self-congratulatory behavior I was helpfully challenged by John R Donahue S J familiar to readers of America who s

One of the happier aspects of the fall season in the northern hemisphere is the sudden urge we get to plant bulbs. Having just moved into a new home, with a tiny garden that is bravely trying to survive on a layer of builders’ rubble, I have to admit that this urge was accompanied by considera

Aided by the moral teaching of the church, U.S. Catholics should carefully form their consciences in order to participate in public life, according to a draft document on faith and citizenship prepared by the Administrative Committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and made available to A

Larry and Donna Smith had it good. He worked as an engineer, she as a newspaper editor. They had a happy family and their health—the middle-class American dream. Then Donna was diagnosed with cancer; and Larry had a heart attack, and then another, and another. And the real nightmare began. Alt

'Mexican-American Catholics,' reviewed

Margaret Atwood has published over a dozen volumes of poetry While she might be more widely known as a novelist it is in her poetry that the issues dealt with in her novels are first tried out and sharpened The Door provides a foundation for many of the themes symbols and conflicts that erupt in

More Light Than Heat The public forum on the Iraq war sponsored by The New Yorker magazine on Oct. 5 at Manhattan’s Town Hall theater was first-rate. Credit goes to moderator George Packer (author of Assassin’s Gate) and to the participants: Jon Lee Anderson (Fall of Baghdad); Phebe Marr

Indian-American Convert Elected Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s Republican governor-elect, will not only be the nation’s youngest governor when he is sworn into office in January. He will be the first Indian-American governor and the first who is a convert from Hinduism to Catholicism

During the 2004 election campaigns, the U.S. bishops’ statement on political responsibility, Faithful Citizenship, came in for considerable criticism among a vocal segment of conservative Catholics. They believed that the document diluted the pro-life message of the church by not emphasizing i

Financial Priorities In It Starts in Mexico (10/15), Tim Padgetts apology to his fellow Catholics for criticizing poor Mexicans choice to build ostentatious churches with their remittance monies is a nice touch, especially when such profligacy is equated with purchasing flashy trucks and wide-screen