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Letters
Letters
Our readers

Affirmation

The parish of St. Mary Church and Catholic Campus Ministry in Oxford, Ohio, includes Miami University. The city is small and the school large, so not surprisingly the majority of the catechumens and candidates in our adult initiation program are college students. Each week our R.C.I.A. session includes a “faith sharing” presentation, and while this is occasionally by an Oxford resident, most are made by students. As a former catechumen and now a member of the initiation team, I’ve heard many college students speak openly and comfortably about their faith. I can’t explain the experience recounted by John C. Haughey, S.J., (5/24) of students who “are not shy in talking about their moral convictions” but tend to be nonvocal about “a personal relationship with Jesus.” The students I have seen and heard have spoken with joy and conviction of their awareness of a close, personal relationship with our Lord. They are comfortable describing their awareness of God in their lives, relating how they turn to him in thanks and in need, and sharing the value of their prayer life. I don’t have an explanation for this difference. I only know how grateful I am for the affirmation these students so readily give.

Susan M. Frazier

The Word
Let Us Pray
Dianne Bergant
I have a distinct memory of my mother teaching me how to pray the rosary I knew the prayers I just did not know which ones were said on which beads I also have memories of my father sitting on our bed with my sister and me at each of his knees saying our night prayers I have no idea why I rememb
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
When I was a boy, my favorite day of the year was a toss-up between Christmas and the first day of school. In high school and college, it was definitely the last day of school. While toiling in the business world, it was the first day of vacation. Since becoming a Jesuit, I have a new favorite day:
Catholic Consciences
John F. Kavanaugh
I have never before encountered, either in correspondence, after Sunday liturgies or just in casual conversations, such intense concern and confusion over faith and politics as I do nowadays. The issue is abortion. Unlike most of the moral imperatives that Jesus articulates in the Gospel, unlike the
Faith in Focus
Living With My Sisters
Jeffrey J. Guhin
I decided while Iwas living with nuns that I wanted to be a priest. I live with two of them, Pat and Ellenrita, and a fellow my own age, Mark, who’s also serving a Dominican Volunteer year in the Bronx. The nuns are pretty easy to live with, once you learn to clean up the shower, make sure nob
Lesson From Evangelicals: An Interview With Manuel Flores
Manuel Flores
You have come to Pasadena, Calif., the cradle of Pentecostalism, to study at the school of theology most associated with that movement, Fuller Theological Seminary. Why? In the Philippines, I studied theology between 1984 and 1988, and afterward taught in a seminary. By 1991, the year of the Se
Books
For Those in Need
Paul Wilkes
First of all the answers to two questions burning at the back of many of our minds concerning the highly charged issue of faith-based initiatives Yes absolutely faith-based organizations do a better job rendering social services than public or government-funded agencies and no absolutely they
The Word
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
Dianne Bergant
At first glance this well known saying from the first chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes sounds very pessimistic Some might say that the rest of the book gets even worse However such an evaluation is a misreading of a very sobering yet genuine perspective on life pursuits but not on life itsel
Editorials
Never Again
The Editors
For years the hypothetical case of the “ticking time-bomb” has served as a test for moralists probing the limits of absolute prohibitions: Are authorities permitted, by way of exception, to torture a captive who probably has information about a hidden time-bomb that could kill large numb
Does Father Have an Accent?
Jose-Luis S. Salazar
I read “Father Has An Accent,” by the Rev. Willard F. Jabusch (2/16), with some measure of astonishment, followed by a genuine feeling of humility. I am not, strictly speaking, an “imported priest,” but I do consider myself a “foreign missionary.” I did my first f
Poetry
Blue Hydrangeas
Karen Zealand
In five weeks, three husbands shot their wives
Books
In Our Own Image
John A. Coleman
Reading American Jesus I longed to teach again a course I regularly used to offer on American culture and religion This would definitely be a required text It is a spritely sometimes ironic truly illuminating overview of Jesus as a national icon within and outside the organized churches Steph
Countless Small Victories
Randy Young
At a time of great turmoil within the U.S. Catholic Church, a determined group of people has carved out an enviable record of achievement in some of the most challenged regions of the world. Maryknoll Lay Missioners - 131 people in 17 countriesis the church’s largest and fastest-growing lay mi
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Bishops Approve 2004 Abuse Policy AuditsThe U.S. bishops have approved on-site audits this year of all U.S. dioceses to monitor compliance with policies to prevent sexual abuse of children. The vote was 207 to 14 in favor with one abstention, according to a news release issued in Denver on June 15 b
Fading Faith in Free Trade
Robert A. Senser
In a Presidential election year that has evoked controversy about trade, it is especially tempting to cast the opinions about the issues into pro-free trade versus anti-free trade molds. But that dichotomy obscures the real issues and muddles public discussion and decision-making.A little-noticed po
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Reasonable Reply

Your article Celebrating Good Liturgy, by Nathan D. Mitchell, (5/10) reminded me of a Mass I attended in Costa Rica years ago. During the Mass a barefoot man played My Old Kentucky Home on his violin. I thought it was a strange selection for a Mass.

My brother Neil, military attach at the U.S. Embassy, asked the violinist why he chose that song. He answered that he played that song better than any other song he knew and therefore was the one he wanted to play for God. The reply seemed reasonable to me.

Joseph N. Sweeney

Books
From Dutch to Diverse
Joyce D. Goodfriend
Russell Shorto fires a powerful salvo in the war of words over America rsquo s origins Forcefully contesting the ingrained notion that English settlements set the mold for American values he mounts a convincing case for an alternative scenario in which the Dutch-sponsored colony of New Netherland
A Fish Out of Water
Valerie Schultz
My grandmother did not pass on to the afterlife without leaving me something. After a life that spanned nearly a century, three generations were on hand to send her off to her Maker. Her funeral was simple and heartfelt, if a bit unorganized. The priest asked my aunt, just before the procession bega
Servant Leadership
Carl Koch
After the terrorist attacks in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, Southwest Airlines was the only airline that made a profit, kept all its workers on the job and actually adhered to its full flight schedule. The next year, while other airlines cut thousands of jobs, Southwest hired thousands and f
The Word
I Just Love...
Dianne Bergant
Have you ever noticed how often we hear the phrase ldquo I just love rdquo ldquo I just love to watch the sun set over the lake I just love the smell of the grease and the hum of the engines I just love the feeling of being in lsquo the zone rsquo I just love that dress on you