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

Clear filter
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
Snapshots play a part in the lives of many of ussmall pictures of family groups, children, friends, co-workers. You find them not just at home, but in the workplace too, as well as in wallets and purses. On my way to work on the subway, or going home in the evening, I sometimes see passengers sharin
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Thomas J. Reese
Pope John Paul II has surprised everyone by announcing an extraordinary consistory for May 21-24. This will be the sixth extraordinary consistory since John Paul resurrected this governmental structure in 1979. In an extraordinary consistory, the pope invites all of the cardinals (even those over 80
Changing Catholic Models of Marriage
Michael G. Lawler
Marriage is in the news these days, but for mostly negative reasons. The first type of union for the majority of couples is now not marriage but cohabitation; young people are delaying both marriage and, when married, parenthood; the divorce rate hovers around its all-time high; and the birth of chi
Books
Mad for God
John B. Breslin
Reading Mark Salzman rsquo s spare astringent novella about the struggles of a cloistered Carmelite nun inevitably reminds one of Ron Hansen rsquo s contemporary masterpiece Mariette in Ecstasy Sister John of the Cross is decades older than Hansen rsquo s teenage novice and has lived in the conv
Editorials
Government and Charities
The Editors
It was with great joy, President Bush said on Jan. 29, that he was announcing his plan to encourage private charitable agencies, both religious and secular. His basic policy is not new, but his applications of it are. Collaboration has been going on for generations between private social work agenci
Film
Hollow Men: Pollock
Richard A. Blake
Art is a blood sport. Really. Someone, something must be sacrificed during the game, while heartless spectators stare in fascination at the suffering orchestrated for their amusement. Just think how many of the world’s greatest artists made a demolition derby of their lives, systematically wre
Columns
A Trio of Love Notes
Lorraine V. Murray
I was a melancholy child. The photo albums show a toddler with a woebegone expression peeking at the world through the bars of a playpen. My earliest memory is trailing my mom around the house as she vacuumed and asking her over and over, Do you love me? Silencing the roaring machine momentarily, sh
Books
A Free Spirit
George M. Anderson
In The Soul Knows No Bars Drew Ledera professor of Eastern and Western philosophy at Loyola College in Marylanddescribes his experience as a teacher at the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore Others involved in prison education have also written of their on-site work but this is a very different t
The Amoral University
Willard F. Jabusch
The young man was clearly uneasy. Most people would insist that he had no cause for worry. After all, he would soon receive his M.B.A. from a very prestigious business school, had already been offered a contract by a large investment banking firm and, if he accepts it, would have a starting salary o
Coming Out as a Catholic School Teacher
Gerald D. Coleman
In an article about maturity they contributed to Robert Nugent’s book A Challenge to Love (1983), the psychologists James and Evelyn Whitehead use the metaphor of journey or passage to explain the loss and gain or peril and possibility that accompany significant moments in life. At the death o
The Word
The Pardoner's Tale
John R. Donahue
Today rsquo s readings are the second of the three Sundays before Holy Week all of which stress the summons to return to God repentance Paul states the theme crisply ldquo The old things have passed away behold new things have come And all this is from God who has reconciled us to himself t
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Pope Names Cardinal Kasper Head of Christian Unity CouncilPope John Paul II has named Cardinal Walter Kasper from Germany, an internationally known theologian and ecumenist, to be president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Kasper, who had been secretary of the counci
Letters
Letters
Our readers

From the President of Bethlehem University

I read with great interest your editorial Saying No to Israel (3/5). It is not clear that such enormous amounts of aid to Israel benefit the security of anyone in the areaPalestinians or Israelis. A just and honorable peace is the only real security. I find myself thinking that the investment of the $5.5 billion referred to in your editorial in the Palestinian Territories for infrastructure development, economic development, social services and education would be a remarkable step toward peace, stability and safety for all. When there is real hope that one can live free of occupation, with a decent job and a reasonable life for one’s family, there is a strong basis for peace.

I have read polls demonstrating that the vast majority of Palestinians and Israelis support a peace with justice. The situation here cries out for an honorable solution. The energy for peace is here. I see it every day in the faculty, staff and students of Bethlehem University. But I also see the extreme frustration that results from endless peace talks while the economy declines, freedom of movement is restricted, and unemployment and underemployment increase. The status quo continues the suffering of Palestinians, whose standard of living is about one-tenth that of Israelis. No one denies that Palestinian society faces problems as it struggles toward statehood. Some of the problems are caused by the restrictions the years of occupation placed on the freedom of Palestinians to organize themselves and their lives.

Our 2,000 students, with faculty and staff, make tremendous sacrifices to participate in the excellent educational programs of Bethlehem University. Newly barricaded roads, new check points, closures and severe economic hardships present great challenges. Some students travel two hours in each direction every day at a transportation cost that, because of road closures, is higher than the tuition itself. Members of the university community have had their houses destroyed, and their children live in fear of the Israeli tank, rocket and high-caliber machine gun fire on Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.

On March 2, 2001, Cardinal Francis Arinze, the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, spoke at Bethlehem University, encouraging our efforts to live together and to engage in dialogue between Muslims and Christians. He noted that politicians at times attempt, for their own purposes, to promote tensions or disharmony between the two religious groups. Sadly, this negative dimension can also be found in the work of some journalists.

Come and see for yourselves, if you can. Read accounts in the English language Palestinian weekly Jerusalem Times and the English edition of the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. (The latter is available on the Internet.) Don’t stereotype us. Don’t accept facile slogans blaming the Palestinians for being under occupation. I hope you and your readers will stay informed about our situation and support us as much as possible in the quest for peace and normal life.

Vincent Malham, F.S.C.

Books
Recasting the Christian Story
Michael McGarry
During his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land Pope John Paul II enacted three iconic moments that symbolized to the world the new relationship between Catholicismalso Christianityand Judaism and the Jewish people These were 1 his shaking hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak which symbo
The Peace of Jerusalem
Anthony Egan, S.J.
Nine years ago, amid higher levels of political violence than had ever occurred before, white South Africans went to the polls. This was not an election but a referendum: should the negotiation process initiated in February 1990 continue? The result was an overwhelming yes. Somehow we realized that
Poland Today
Stanislaw Obirek
The re-election in October of a former Communist, Aleksander Kwasniewski, to a five-year term as president of Poland should be a lesson to the Polish church, according to Stanislaw Obirek, S.J., editor of the Polish review of spirituality, Zycie Duchowe. For me and others, Father Obirek said, that w
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Theologian Calls Vatican Investigation a ‘Great Suffering’Though ultimately cleared of doctrinal error, a Belgian theologian, Jacques Dupuis, S.J., said a two-and-and-a-half-year Vatican investigation of his book on non-Christian religions had been “a very great suffering.” T
The Word
Spring Gardening
John R. Donahue
Shortly before Christmas 1997 a much beloved Jesuit died Harry Corcoran charter member of the Catholic Theological Society of America and first dean of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley but above all a shining person who walked constantly in God rsquo s presence Once Harry was talking
Compassion in Action
Thomas J. Massaro
To: The Honorable George W. Bush
Editorials
The Bush Tax Cuts
The Editors
President George W. Bush has remained remarkably constant in pushing his $1.6 trillion tax cut, although the reasons he has given for supporting it have varied with the political winds. During the presidential campaign, the tax cut was pushed as a way of reducing government: if Uncle Sam does not ha