Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

Clear filter
Poetry
Pater Gerardus M. Hopkins, S.J.
Ron Hansen
September’s end 1877,
Arts & CultureBooks
A Sacred Trust
Rose Zuzworsky
It is no secret that in the last 40 years there has been a steep decline in the number of clergy working in parishes as well as religious congregations staffing schools and other Catholic institutions In parishes the women and men filling the roles once performed exclusively by clergy and religiou
Katrina's Rainbow
Jeffrey J. Guhin
New Orleans was the first city that felt like family to me, and because I had moved so much growing up, family was the only thing I understood as home. A year after I graduated from Loyola University New Orleans, I was in New York City serving a volunteer year and planning to move back as soon as I
Editorials
A Culture of Life
The Editors
Our church and society stand in need of renewed and sustained discussion regarding an ethic of life. Serious conversation has largely devolved into sloganeering and sound bites. The prevailing metaphor, culture of life versus culture of death, has galvanized people’s imaginations and inspired
Healing Through Bankruptcy
Gerald F. Kicanas
A church purified and humbled, yet more resolved to carry on Christ’s work—that is how I would describe the Diocese of Tucson as it emerges from the process of Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy reorganization. The bankruptcy process, ending with a plan of reorganization confirmed by the judg
Reborn From Ashes
Moussa Faddoul
The cedars of Lebanon have experienced the axes of many civilizations upon their trunks over the centuries. Conquerors have repeatedly invaded the land, reigned over its inhabitants and reaped its fruits. Time and again, however, the Lebanese have managed to be reborn from the ashes. Today they rise
Letters
Letters

Name-Calling

After reading Of Many Things (8/29) by James Martin, S.J., about his trip to Spain, I laughed out loud at his ending. What a gift that the trip to Loyola was a confirmation of your Jesuit vocation. However, being called an idiot was truly a confirmation of your vocation to become a disciple of Christ! Jesus told us very clearly there would be name-calling for those who speak his truth. Thanks for the reminder.

Denise Anderson

News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Women Religious Call for Withdrawal From IraqThe Leadership Conference of Women Religious has called on the U.S. government to develop a responsible plan for the withdrawal of troops in Iraq and to redirect needed resources to meet human needs at home and in other parts of the world. In a statement
A Blueprint for Change
Thomas J. Healey
For two extraordinary days in the summer of 2004, 175 religious and lay leaders gathered in Philadelphia to wrestle with the future of the Catholic Church in this country. The site of the conference - the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania - could not have been more appropriate, given
Faith in Focus
Emotional Oology
Valerie Schultz
A woman is born with all of her eggs. Unlike male sperm, which are produced continually and by the millions throughout a man’s life, a woman’s immature eggs are contained in follicles in her newborn ovaries. Over the course of her reproductive years, 300 to 500 eggs will mature. Each mon
Arts & CultureBooks
Practical Spiritual Resources
Richard J. Hauser
These books are the first two titles in The Ignatian Impulse Series a new series offered by Ave Maria Press ldquo By providing brief readable and engaging books rdquo the publisher tells us the series ldquo presents the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola as a practical resource for spiritual
Flight From New Orleans
Thomas H. Stahel
Getting out of New Orleans has never been as easy as getting in. The city has too much magnetic charm. At least it used to. Expecting in this case, however, that getting back in might be harder than getting out, my Jesuit community and I had decided to ride out Hurricane Katrina at our downtown chur
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
"We spent our first day in New York City in a soup kitchen at St. Francis Xavier Church in Lower Manhattan,” said Sabiha Ahmad. “I felt the sadness of the hundreds of hungry people gathered there as I buttered stale bagels and sorted used clothing,” she added. A graduate stude
Arts & CultureBooks
What Separates and Unites
Edward Collins Vacek
ldquo But what if Scola becomes pope rdquo Such was my e-mail response to America rsquo s request that I do this book review John Paul II had just died Benedict XVI had yet to be elected And Angelo Cardinal Scola was on the papabile list Needless to say Scola the patriarch of Venice did not
Editorials
Loss and Gain
The Editors
As a new academic year begins, generalizations about American Catholic elementary and secondary education are risky, because there are signs both of losses and gains. Losses because with the closing of many financially strapped schools the system is smaller than it once was. Forty years ago, the pop
Why Don't Catholics Share Their Faith?
Martin Pable
In these pages in the spring of 2004, John C. Haughey, S.J., noted that many of his non-Catholic students are not shy about making personal faith statements, both in the classroom and outside. Catholic students, on the other hand, seldom do so (“Church-ianity and Christ-ianty,” 5/24/04).
Film
On the Rocks: March of the Penguins
Richard A. Blake
Can you find a connection between these three statements? 1. Hollywood complains that box-office is way down this summer. 2. When I was looking around for material for another film column that might interest America readers, I was driven to a month-old documentary about penguins. 3. Even with the ma
Arts & CultureBooks
It Worked With Woolf, but
Peter Heinegg
The novelist Michael Cunningham leapt into the spotlight with The Hours 1998 a meditative spinoff of Virginia Woolf rsquo s Mrs Dalloway Cunningham rsquo s book won the Pulitzer Prize and enjoyed a successful second run in a filmed version four years later Now he has written another trio of in
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
"We’ve lost everything, and I mean everything. We’ve lost contact with some family members." Kenneth Cain, a New Orleans construction worker, was describing the terrible effects of Hurricane Katrina to The Los Angeles Times. When I read about Mr. Cain, I thought of a friend I k
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources

Katrina Chronicle

Pope Benedict XVI has announced he will send Archbishop Paul Cordes to the United States to express solidarity with the victims of Hurricane Katrina which ravaged the Gulf Coast. Cordes is president of the Holy See’s global charities agency Cor Unum, which means one heart.

Pope Benedict, speaking at the midday Angelus on Sunday, Sept. 4, said in these days, we all feel saddened because of the disaster caused by the hurricane in the United States of America, especially in New Orleans.

The pope added that he is praying for the deceased and their relatives, for the injured and for the people who have lost their homes, for the sick, children and the elderly. He also extended his blessing to all those involved in the difficult operations of rescue and reconstruction.

Condolences and offers of help poured in from around the world. Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland, speaking on behalf of his country’s Catholics, extended to the American people our deepest sympathies at the terrible loss of life your country has experienced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Writing to Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop William O’Brien, president of the Canadian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, extended the sympathy of the Canadian bishops. Archbishop O’Brien recalled that much of the area affected was once part of the Diocese of Quebec and that many of our Acadian people found refuge in that area in time of their expulsion from their homeland in the mid-18th century.... For many Canadians, that part of your vast land evokes profound emotion.

In response to requests from the U.S. government for blankets, first aid kits, water trucks and food for the victims, Stavros Cimas, environment commissioner for the European Union, said the union was ready to contribute to U.S. efforts aimed at alleviating the humanitarian crisis caused by Katrina. In a press statement, NATO also announced it had received a similar U.S. request for emergency assistance, including a half million prepared meals.

Among other offers of assistance by foreign governments, Israel offered to send a field hospital and forensic experts, and it proposed Sabbath prayer for the victims. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dispatched a delegation of health and defense ministry officials to confer with their U.S. counterparts.

Out of recognition for the unprecedented cost of the disaster and the political burdens it places on President George W. Bush, the Israeli government had decided to postpone a formal request for development aid for the Negev and Galilee as part of the Gaza settlement withdrawal.

In Louisiana, Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes of New Orleans, gathering with other religious leaders and Governor Kathleen Blanco, offered prayers for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. We are so overwhelmed we do not know how to respond, Archbishop Hughes said. We know all things work together for good, the Times-Picayune reported the archbishop saying; If God is for us, who can be against us? The archbishop also visited evacuees housed in shelters in Baton Rouge, where he himself had to take refuge.

From Washington, D.C., Bishop Skylstad asked U.S. dioceses to take up a special collection for the victims of the hurricane. Most of the affected dioceses, Skylstad said, are Home Mission dioceses, which struggle to survive under the best of conditions.

Meanwhile Catholic Charities USA worked with Homeland Security and diocesan Catholic Charities agencies in the devastated area to move relief supplies and equipment. The mission of Catholic Charities USA, said a spokeswoman, Shelly Borysiewicz, is to rebuild lives: our niche is long-term disaster response. Typical C.C.U.S.A. disaster response programs include temporary housing or housing assistance and mental health counseling, she explained.

The U. S. bishops’ conference also announced that Catholic schools around the country were accepting students displaced by the massive storm.

Dioceses are offering tuition-free attendance, free books and backpacks and whatever else students need to begin their studies away from home. Relatives living thousands of miles away who are taking in nieces and nephews from the Gulf Coast area are finding their local Catholic schools have agreed to help the storm’s victims. Routine concerns about cost, paperwork and even class size have been put aside.

Sister Glenn Anne McPhee, the U.S. bishops’ secretary for education, said, Throughout the country there are efforts to bring stability to the students’ lives by providing them with educational opportunities so that their schooling will be as little interrupted as possible.

The National Religious Retirement Office announced it was attempting to help relocate elderly religious displaced by Katrina. Sister Janice Bader, coordinator of the effort, exlpained the office would serve as a clearinghouse to link religious in need of housing with communities offering hospitality for the displaced.

Readers wishing to learn more or to donate to the victims of Hurricane Katrina through Catholic Charities USA can do so on the World Wide Web at: www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/news/katrina.cfm.

America Extends Subscriptions Suspended by Katrina

Because of disruptions by Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Postal Service has suspended service for all offices in some zip codes until further notice. Subscribers in these areas will therefore not be receiving America by mail for an indefinite period. Access to America on the Web (www.americamagazine.org) is not affected by this. When service is restored, these mail subscriptions will be extended by the length of the suspension. The zip codes currently affected are:

365xx-366xx Mobile, AL