What kind of moral stance, what course of action can you take, when you seem to face a dreaded in-evitability? I have encountered this quandary with respect to individuals heading off an ethical cliff. I see it in the absolute refusal to acknowledge that Americans might have to cut back on consumpti

What I learned from my uncle, the monk

This book has convinced me that just about any country on earth can have nuclear weapons if it wants them My conclusion from reading The Atomic Bazaar is that it is still possible to stop or impede any particular program but the general process of nuclear proliferation is now so advanced that it i

Saints are tests of our willingness to be thoroughly converted.

It was both upsetting and perplexing to learn that Amnesty International has decided to support a right to abortion as part of its worldwide campaign to stop violence against women. How can an organization dedicated to the protection of human rights oppose the right to life of unborn children? The V

Recent court rulings have undermined the church's promise of confidentiality.

“I wasn’t raised religious and I don’t know anything about religion,” he said in 2004.

In an essay in Foreign Affairs January February 2007 Tony Blair argued not unpersuasively that in the war against global extremism w e chose values instead of security as our battleground By values he meant democratic values W henever countries are in the process of democratic development

If you d like to read my earlier posts on this subject simply click on my name above The most substantial arguments against Pauline authorship are concerned with issues of increased institutionalization in the Church and questions regarding supposed differences in theology from Paul s genuin

This Sunday s gospel 30th OT continues Jesus teaching on prayer in the eighteenth chapter of Luke s gospel Jesus proposes another parable that invites us to reflect on the proper attitude and manner of prayer and on what is improper Jesus briefly describes two figures who enter the t

Many people who are committed to social justice may still overlook what has come to be called ecojustice They do not realize that living in harmony with the natural world is fundamental to living in harmony with other people It is very clear that most of the wars fought are over land and or contro

Morris West in his memoirs reminds us of the words he puts into the mouth of Giordano Bruno in his play The Heretic Ever since the Greeks we have been drunk with language We have made a cage of words And shoved our God inside as boys confine A cricket or a locust to make him sing A private s

Two strangers bring home the pain of war.

A year ago this month in a one-room schoolhouse in the small Amish community called Nickel Mines Lancaster County Pa an otherwise peaceful and idyllic setting was pierced with the ring of gunfire The shooter the father of three was allegedly angry with God over the death of his newborn fi

The war on drugs is driving the U.S. prison systems enormous growth. Over the past quarter century drug arrests have tripled, and almost half a million men and women are behind bars for drug-related offenses. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which in many cases focus on drug offenses, have had a d

George, Ive been standing here for the last 45 minutes, praying to God you were going to call on me. This was Representative Dennis Kucinichs answer to a question posed by George Stephanopoulos in a debate on ABC News this summer in Iowa, asking the candidates whether they believed prayer can alter