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Arts & CultureBooks
ldquo A bright mulatto is stripped to a nude condition and a careful examination is made of all parts of the body by the Dr and she is pronounced by him to be sound The money is then paid and she is transferred to her new owner rdquo With this mid-19th-century description of the sale of a
The Word
During the Easter season a major concern in the Sunday Scripture readings was how the movement begun by the earthly Jesus might continue after his death resurrection and ascension These readings showed that we can have a personal relationship with the glorious risen Christ From that relationship
Of Many Things
You may not have noticed, but the listing of associate editors on the masthead of this journal is determined by seniority. When I returned from the Philippines in the Spring of 1972 to join the staff, my name was added at the end of a list of seven other Jesuits who had preceded me. Immediately ahea
Columns
Nearly 30 years have passed since I very innocently asked one of my parish priests, the Rev. Maurice Burke, why Northern Ireland was a killing zone. I was a young reporter at the time, assigned to write a story about this foreign place that, frankly, meant very little to me. I knew one of my grandparents had been born in Ireland, but beyond that, I knew nothing besides the story of St. Patrick and the snakes.
Poetry
I have just finished reading about 1,000 poems submitted for America’s annual Foley poetry contest. Garrison Keillor, of “Prairie Home Companion,” says he read 2,000 poems on the topic of spring to pick 15 for his radio show on April Fool’s weekend. Wearying as that is, we both seem to have enjoyed and been touched by the contact with so many lives and inner worlds and imaginations, to say nothing of personal losses and gains.
Welcome to the new and improved Web site for America magazine! Have a look around and tell us what you think. You can email us at webeditor@americamagazine.org or post a comment below. In addition to a sharp new look, America’s site is now home to America Connects, featuring all new web-only
Current Comment
ISLAMIC REFORM Skeptics often ask whether Muslims are capable of democratic self-government. Most often the implied supposition is that they could not possibly be. But two current political struggles suggest that Muslims, like any people, are capable of standing up for democracy. Pakistan has been r
The Word
One of the great themes in Luke rsquo s Gospel is forgiveness of sins As we return this Sunday to the Lectionary readings for Ordinary Time today rsquo s texts place before us three forgiven sinners David Paul and a ldquo sinful woman rdquo These three figures remind us of the horror of sin
A shoeless boy wearily weaves his way down the street, alone, in a limp pair of soiled shorts and a torn T-shirt. Heaps of trash pile up on vacant corners and in the grassy medians of the citys streets. Dogs of many breeds, some of them obviously sick with disease, listlessly amble around the neighb
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Arts & CultureBooks
Now two years into his papacy Pope Benedict XVI has published a work that is fast becoming a bestseller everywhere ldquo This book rdquo he stipulates ldquo is in no way an exercise rdquo of his official magisterium but ldquo solely rdquo a testimony to his ldquo personal search for the f
The Good Word
Wading into the deep waters of Trinitarian reflection is always risky especially for folks like me who don t know how to swim The problem of course is not God s it is our inability to take it all in But the Feast of the Holy Trinity invites us consider how much God desires that we rec
The Good Word
One of the many proofs that God has a sense of humor and a wicked one is that Jesuit ordinations and first masses in the United States often fall on the weekend of Trinity Sunday In my experience for the newly ordained Jesuit the Trinity is the theological equivalent of Charlie Brown s friend
The Good Word
This passage might be seen as a theological call to arms for the scholar of Paul justification faith and grace Sound the trumpet draw the battle lines let the weary warriors of the 16th century come forth By now we all know or ought to that we are all justified by faith in Christ and so sta
The Good Word
A number of readers have asked for access to past Word columns So every week on The Good Word we will post America s Word column for the upcoming Sunday in addition to past columns for the same cycle of readings Here are Fr Dan Harrington s reflections on Trinity Sunday Dianne Bergan
The Good Word
The first time I preached on the Feast of the Most Trinity was on my first appointment as a deacon at the parish of Kings Cross Kings Cross is the red light district of Sydney I was the luckiest deacon in Sydney because my 70 year old Irish Jesuit parish priest Fr Donal Taylor never directly sa
The Good Word
Fire air earth and water considered in the classical world to be the four elements essential to the composition of the cosmos surface in the Pentecost reading We see the fire in the descirption of the tongues of flame carried in by the rushing air resting above the heads of those gathered in
The recent report of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, Wasting the Best and the Brightest: Substance Abuse at America’s Colleges and Universities, reveals a disturbing ambiance of hedonistic self-indulgence and an alarming public health crisis on college campuses across this nation.