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News
Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Display of Ten CommandmentsIn two cases argued on March 2 over displays of the Ten Commandments on government property, U.S. Supreme Court justices raised questions about the motives of government authorities who ordered the displays, about the difference between ver
Culture
Modern biblical study is not only a literary and theological enterprise but also a historical discipline. The term “history,” however, is hardly univocal. The six books covered here illustrate some of the approaches involved in writing about the Bible and history. They show that in the c
The Word
The Gospel for today which recounts the passion and death of Jesus includes elements of intrigue betrayal and murder A careful reading shows that the victim was not ignorant of the plots devised against him Even before the horrendous onslaught began Jesus announced ldquo My appointed time dr
Of Many Things
We get lots of stuff at America: press releases from Catholic colleges, books from Catholic publishers and, of course, letters from subscribers both pleased and angry at what we publish. Mostly the letters are friendly, charitable and pleasant. Only rarely are they vituperative. Still, even nasty le
Arts & CultureBooks
At the Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in Manhattan between mid-summer of 1896 and June of the following year the seven Jesuit priests who resided there heard nearly 80 000 confessions all but 2 000 of them particular - that is listing the penitents rsquo sins since their last con
What drew you to work for Gospel-based nonviolence? Even before joining the Society of Jesus in 1982, I was influenced by the antiwar stance of two Jesuits, Richard McSorley and Daniel Berrigan—and also by the work of Horace McKenna, another Jesuit, who spent his life working on beh
FaithFaith in Focus
My father performed the most powerful act of Christian charity I have ever personally witnessed: forgiving the young man who killed my brother.
FaithThe Word
Just what is it that we are called to believe? Is it that a broken nation will be reconstituted? Is it that one who has died will be resuscitated?
Arts & CultureBooks
It is rare that the author of one extraordinary book should follow it a decade later with another of almost equal power And yet this is what Helen Prejean C S J has done in The Death of Innocents An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions Already an acclaimed author for her Dead Man Walking
Editorials
The United States today can be likened to a party of travelers in danger - in the path of a forest fire, for instance, or tossed about in a stormy sea. To survive they must make the right moves -find a road that leads out of the woods or discover a harbor that provides shelter. That means they must
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is brown. Outside and inside the bricks are varying shades of brown, the color of impurity and ruin. The whole atmosphere is messy, anarchic brown. The church reeks of decay and neglect. The walls have been blackened by centuries of candles, the floor stones are unev
Letters
On the Reservations
The article Looking Into the Heart, by Peter A. Clark, S.J. (2/21), is a joy. It is another expression of seeing God in all things that was exemplified in his article and one more clear example of the gift of America. There continue to be innumerable articles, stories, reflections that give more and more expressions of lives lived in the midst of seeing God in all things. Thank you.
The article again evidences the power of the written word to draw us ever nearer to the God who loves us so and the power of action in the name of the Lord to remember that God is with us. Perhaps more important, from my own experience it seems ever clear that the action and events described are evidence of a God who is merciful to the Navajos, their guests and all of us.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all seized this moment to experience the mercy of God and reach out to freely grant this mercy to others we meet on the reservations we have created in our lives?
Thomas Ludlum
Arts & CultureBooks
This book applies a singular approach to the study of the Gospel By searching out and using the questions Jesus asked during his ministry the author provides readers with topics for Scripture study contemplation and also perhaps action Father Dear arranges these questions under 19 general them
My youngest daughter is two weeks shy of 13. In two weeks, she will leave her childhood behind her and take off on the exhilarating jet of adolescence, although in reality she is already at cruising altitude. She has grown an inch a month over the summer, and the expression of disdain on her face ri
"I must have heard my grandmother tell my grandfather a thousand times, Get behind me, Satan,’ but I thought she made up that phrase. I didn’t know it was in the Bible! I thought it said somewhere that Jesus died when he was 33 years old. Where is that? Where’s the part where
News
Audit Finds Nearly Total Compliance With Bishops’ Policies on Sexual AbuseAn independent audit released on Feb. 18 in Washington, D.C., reported that as of Dec. 31, 2004, 96 percent of the 195 U.S. Catholic dioceses and Eastern-rite eparchies were implementing every applicable article of the U
The Word
Key concepts in today rsquo s Gospel reflect how many of us still face difficult issues Like the disciples some of us maintain that misfortune is indeed a punishment for sin Like the man rsquo s parents we too may be loathe to stand in support of another if we fear our own status may be in jeopa
Editorials
As the search for housing by poor people grows more desperate year by year, the phrase lack of affordable housing has assumed a mantra-like quality. The title of a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach, in itself tells the story: the cost of rental housing is indee
Arts & CultureBooks
You have to warm to a man who spent the night reading The Old Man and the Sea after he received word that he was to be made a bishop The account of the future John Paul II reading Hemingway on a train as he returned after being informed that he was to be made a bishop to a group of young people wi
The recent hospitalization of Pope John Paul II has revived interest in numerous questions about what happens to the church when a pope is sick and what would happen if he became disabled.What happens to the church when a pope becomes ill? If the pope becomes sick, he can delegate some of his a