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Joseph A. OHare
In the decades leading up to the publication of Ex Corde Ecclesiae in 1990, the Land O’Lakes statement was routinely denounced by critics like the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and the late George Kelly (The Battle for the American Church) as a surrender of the historic mission of Catholic c
Poetry
Brian Doyle

So here’s a war story.

Arts & CultureBooks
John T. McGreevy
In a few months we will reach the 70th anniversary of the publication of Gilbert Garraghan 8217 s three-volume history of the Jesuits in the 19th-century Midwest Don 8217 t have a copy beside your night table Join the club I teach American history for a living I write about the history of Catho
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
http://americamagazine.org/internal/magazine/article.cfm?article_id=5440&issueID=613
News
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Vatican Calls for Durable Solutions’ for RefugeesThe international community must do more to welcome and support the thousands of refugees daily fleeing the horrific violence in Iraq, said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative to U.N. and other international organizatio
George M. Anderson

It seems an unlikely place to start a school with a strong faith tradition—the formerly Communist Czech Republic. Yet as Josef Horehled, a priest of the Czech Province of the Society of Jesus, explains it, “This is what we need, a Nativity-type middle school in the Christian tradition, one that reaches out to the children of poor minority families who remain on the margins of society.”

Letters

Syndicated Columnist

Reading the tongue-in-cheek-but-with-a-punch column by Jim McDermott, S.J., (4/9) had me laughing out loud, as it resurrected a personal memory of my beginning writing days back in 1952.

I had written something, long forgotten from my memory, and sent it to Sign magazine, a respected Catholic publication. I do remember, though, that I included a note telling the editors something like I was a beginning writer and weren’t they lucky to get one of my first pieces. Practically by return mail, the article came back to me with a rejection slip. On the back of it an editor, no name, wrote bluntly to the point: Professional writing requires much practice.

I patched up my wounds, but somehow I knew that was the best advice I would ever be given. It is now 55 years and I’d guess about 10 million words later, published because of much practice thanks to that unknown editor. Could his name possibly have been Brother Mortimer F. X. Snerd? Thanks for the memory, Father McDermott!

Antoinette Bosco

Arts & CultureBooks
John W. O’Malley
Most people find few aspects of Jesuit history more fascinating than the mission of the Jesuits to China Matteo Ricci invariably depicted wearing Mandarin dress has assumed legendary status as a precocious herald of cultural accommodation He was succeeded by such other Jesuits of heroic stature
The Word
In the final weeks of the Easter season the Gospel readings for the Sundays and weekdays are taken almost entirely from Jesus rsquo farewell discourse in John 13 ndash 17 In saying goodbye to his disciples Jesus reflects on what their lives will be like when he will no longer be with them as he
Current Comment
The Editors
The Court RulesThe latest U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the prohibition on partial-birth abortion is a healthy correction of an earlier court’s overreach in establishing a legal right to abortion. In his opinion for the majority in Gonzales v. Carhart, Justice Anthony Kennedy argued th
Columns
Terry Golway
As most parents know all too well, financing a college education today is not for the faint of heart. The cost of a degree from an elite private or Catholic college long ago crossed the six-figure mark for tuition, room and board, and will soon break $200,000, if it hasn’t already.
Jim McDermott

Graduation from college brings many questions: Who am I? What do I want to do? What kind of person do I want to be? How do I get there? Finding worthwhile answers is not easy.

Theater
Leo J. ODonovan
The first stage picture of "Voyage," the initial play in Tom Stoppard’s thrilling trilogy The Coast of Utopia, must rank among the most memorable ever seen on a stage. Out of the darkness, in midair, a man appears sitting in a slowly revolving chair, absorbed in thought as the chair
Arts & CultureBooks
Robert P. Imbelli
In his encyclical Deus Caritas Est Pope Benedict XVI explored the relationship between eros and agape desire and self-gift with pastoral sensitivity and theological depth A few days before publishing the encyclical the pope himself gave an important indication of his intent He sought he said
Editorials
The Editors
Civil commitment is a sanitized term for statutes that keep sex offenders behind bars long after they have served their prison sentences. Indefinite commitment laws of this kind have been rapidly increasing around the country, and thousands of people are being held far beyond their actual terms. As
Arts & CultureBooks
Daniel J. Harrington
The words ldquo messiah rdquo and ldquo messianism rdquo are often used loosely not only in popular culture but also in religious discourse even in biblical scholarship This magisterial study of these terms in the Bible and related ancient sources by a premier biblical scholar of our time brin
Arts & CultureBooks
John A. Coleman
Stephen Prothero a historian of American religion and the author of a much acclaimed earlier volume American Jesus takes his cue for his title from E D Hirsch rsquo s 1987 volume Cultural Literacy What Every American Needs to Know Prothero addresses a huge paradox America is very religious b
Editorials
The Editors
The promise of a new era of peace in Northern Ireland will be realized on May 8, when the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly meet and elect a 12-member administration. It is to be led by Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest Protestant party in Northern Irel
The Word
Daniel J. Harrington
There are two great questions in the Easter season How could the community formed by the earthly Jesus carry on without his physical presence And what can the church of the 21st century learn from the earliest Christian communities Last Sunday rsquo s reading from John rsquo s Gospel suggested th