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Letters
Letters

A Fifth Conclusion

Bishop Emil A. Wcela is right, in A Dangerous Common Enemy (2/21), that consumerism and its accompanying expressive individualism are at the core of many affluent Catholics’ decision to stay away from most forms of community. He mentions four conclusions about the practice of the faith todayparish involvement, a strong family, greater emphasis on spiritual education of the laity and the need to be part of a larger Catholic communitythat are all very important to maintain a sense of the common good.

I would add the preferential option for the poor that is central to Catholic living. The Faith in Focus article Looking Into the Heart, by Peter A. Clark, S.J., illustrates this. A relatively affluent family spends a week on a Navajo reservation and are transformed in the processespecially the children, who realize that poor families in the canyons are truly wonderful Christians even without all the trappings of modern living.

This idea of volunteer vacations makes sense. Maybe affluent Catholic families from Long Island could spend some time with poor families to see how the other half lives. We even have some of these poor communities here!

Edward J. Thompson

News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
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
The Bible and History
Daniel J. Harrington
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
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
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
Make No Mistake About It
George M. Anderson
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
Working for Peace: An Interview with John Dear, S.J.
John Dear
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
The Father of Mercies
Matt Malone, S.J.
My father performed the most powerful act of Christian charity I have ever personally witnessed: forgiving the young man who killed my brother.
Arts & CultureBooks
What Are You Looking For?'
Ellen Lucey Prozeller
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
Editorials
Jail Without End
The Editors
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 Tomb of Christ
Jerry Ryan
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
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
How We Express Faith
Claire Hoertz Badaracco
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
Faith Like a Seed
Valerie Schultz
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
Meeting Jesus Again
Ann Naffziger
"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
FaithThe Word
I Believe; Help My Unbelief!
Dianne Bergant
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?
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
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
Books
Stuck on Symbols
Robert F. Walch
In the wake of the Industrial Revolution an excess of consumer goods flooded the marketplace As it became clear that there was a surplus of interchangeable suppliers a way was needed to differentiate a given product from its competition Out of necessity branding was created as a way of doing ju
Editorials
More Homeless, Less Housing
The Editors
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
How a Pope's Illness Affects the Church
Thomas J. Reese
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
Letters
Letters

Message Getting Through

This letter has been a long time coming. I’ve often wanted to write to you, having read America for over 40 years. The Word column has been an integral part of my preparation for Sunday Mass. At times I’ve known the authors personally. Of all the authors in the intervening years, Sister Dianne Bergant’s words have most resonated with me. My wife, Louise, and I appreciate her work more than words can convey. I’ve read every word since the first installment; they have been an inspiration for my desire to learn how to pray.

The culminating incentive to write is to share with you a story that any writer would like to hear. We are cafeteria Catholics who seek out the best liturgy and preaching. Our favorite homilist on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time began his sermon with a question: Can you hear me now? (1/17). He began with the advertisement and proceeded to make the sermon his own. The other church we attend is staffed by Dominican priests. A prayer group I’m in at that church closed the meeting on the following Wednesday with the leader quoting the beginning of that pastor’s sermon for the previous Sunday: Can you hear me now? Sister Dianne, regrettably, may not be allowed to preach officially in a Catholic church, but her message is sure getting through in other ways.

Ray Terry