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The Word
The Origin of Wars and Other Conflicts
Daniel J. Harrington
Today rsquo s reading from the Letter of James asks and answers a timely question Where do wars and conflicts come from All around us on the international scene there are wars and rumors of wars And there surely are conflicts in our country local communities churches and families Why James t
Editorials
The People's Schools
The Editors
Alma E. Miller was 102 years old when she died in 1994. For 78 of those years she had been a member of the religious congregation called the Society of the Sacred Heart. During much of that time, she was the mistress of studies, that is to say, the academic dean, in one or other of the schools for g
Editing Henri Nouwen
Robert Ellsberg
Henri Nouwen worked with many editors in his life. As it turned out, I was the last. I would not have foreseen this 10 years before, when I first brought him the news that I had been offered a job at Orbis Books. Well, he said, if someone were to ask me if you would be good for this job, I would say
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Wake Up

Terry Golway’s column A Nation of Idol-Worshipers (7/31) was right on target.

It’s sad to see so many young adults wasting their time and energy for such low standards, while there are so many challenges everywhere to benefit society. There are numerous fields of labor that can make one feel fulfilled. The sad part of this pop culture is that our children feed on it.

Wake up, America; there is work to be done by you!

Regina Licameli

Arts & CultureBooks
The Great Circle of Love
William J. Collinge
Next year will mark 50 years since John S Dunne C S C fresh from writing a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas under the direction of Bernard Lonergan S J at the Gregorian University in Rome joined the theology faculty at the University of Notre Dame In those five decades he has published 16 boo
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Drew Christiansen
Years ago the last editorial The Sunday New York Times ran each week was an essay on the changing seasons. As a boy I would page through the Week in Review section to read the weekly sketch of natural history. I identified with the writer’s fascination with the natural world, and read in the h
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Capuchins Elect Mountain Climber to Head OrderRepresentatives of the Capuchins overwhelmingly elected the Swiss provincial superior, Mauro Johri, to head the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin for the next six years. The 59-year-old friar replaces John Corriveau, O.F.M.Cap., a Canadian, who is leaving a
Finding the Quiet Center
Gerald S. Twomey
Henri Nouwen, a popular and prolific author and spiritual guide, died suddenly on Sept. 21, 1996, from the complications of two major heart attacks. En route to Russia, he was going to film a special for the BBC on Rembrandt’s famous painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” at th
Arts & CultureBooks
The Man Behind Unity
Peter J. Bernardi
Among the signal achievements of the Second Vatican Council is the Roman Catholic Church rsquo s irreversible commitment to the cause of Christian unity How did the church come to change its preconciliar triumphalist insistence on the ldquo return rdquo of ldquo schismatics and heretics rdquo
Current Comment
Current Comment
The Editors
Cuban Immigrants FavoredCubans stand apart in notable ways from other Hispanic groups in the United States, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center. What especially distinguishes them is that U.S. policy has been much more welcoming to Cubans than to immigrants from the Caribbean and Centra
Columns
What Vacation?
Terry Golway
If adults were required to compose essays chronicling what they did on their summer vacation, some of us would have no choice but to hand in a blank piece of paper. A recent article in The New York Times reported that about one in four private-sector workers in the U.S. receive no paid vacation time
Arts & CultureBooks
Beyond the Self
Emilie Griffin
I owe a great deal to Henri J M Nouwen His writing which I first discovered in the 1970 rsquo s helped clarify the spiritual life for me I continue to read and profit from his books and recommend them to others Oddly I felt a certain trepidation about this posthumous work on spiritual direct
Current Comment
Current Comment
The Editors
Defying the Rules of WarIn this issue, George A. Lopez argues that the war on terror has led us into a no man’s land of Dirty Harry ethics. The argument for a no-holds-barred approach to terrorism runs: We are in a dirty war, so we have to fight dirty. If they are nasty, we have to be nastier.
Columns
The Ethics of Risk
Maryann Cusimano Love
Three years ago, on a sunny September Tuesday at 9 in the morning, in Washington, D.C., our first child was born. We had not planned for a natural childbirth without medical attendance until the final moments, but that’s how it turned out, as the medical staff and anesthesiologist were diverte
The Ethical Legacy of Dirty Harry
George A. Lopez
Pundits have been busy since mid-summer speculating about “where we are” five years after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. But analysis of whether we are safer now, or if we are winning the global war on terror must be balanced by some reflection on the ethical climate of the hal
Faith in Focus
Life After Death Is Not a Red Herring
Stafford Betty
Karen Armstrong, the author of The Great Transformation (2005), A Short History of Myth (2005) and Spiral Staircase (2004), The Battle for God (2000) and A History of God (1994), among other books, has referred to the issue of an afterlife as a red herringsomething that distracts attention from more
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Agenda of Manipulation

FIRE, FIRE, HOUSE ON FIRE would have been a better title for your Current Comment Al Gore’s New Mission (7/17). You state that this documentary (I use the term loosely) An Inconvenient Truth, which deals with Gore’s version of global warming, is sobering stuff.

More sobering to me is your illustrious Jesuit magazine buying into the movie hook, line and sinker, and passing your gullibility off to your readers. An Inconvenient Truth is nothing more than an infomercial and propaganda blitz portraying Al Gore as so much more intelligent than us mere mortals.

If Al Gore were selling a product in this movie, the Federal Trade Commission could charge him with false and deceptive advertising. Maybe your magazine could have done some fact checking before presenting the movie to your readers as glowingly as you did, and bestowing on Al Gore the mantle of a genuinely dedicated public servant.

Unfortunately, America lost an opportunity to shed light on this important topic or add anything of substance to the conversation. You have only allowed the uninformed minority to frame the global warming discussion. How unfortunate.

Barbara Ann Mueller, O.P.

Arts & CultureBooks
War? Crime? Emergency?
Kimberly E. O'Leary
In his new book Before the Next Attack Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman takes a complex constitutional proposal directly to the American public and he does a terrific job explaining the what and why of his proposals as well as the history of emergency power in the United States I am sure my le
Editorials
Politics and Terror
The Editors
As the nation prepares to observe the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, national security is poised to become once again the central issue in the electoral season. The question is hardly academic, given the revelation in August of a foiled terrorist plot to blow up Americ
Columns
Touching the Tears
Margaret Silf
Lisa and Louise had never met until the morning of July 7, 2005, when they found themselves sitting next to each other on the top deck of a No. 30 bus in London’s commuter traffic. They would probably never have spoken to each other even then, given that legendary British reserve, but events w