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Of Many Things
Pilgrimage has rarely been easy. Storms and shipwrecks, robbery and kidnaping, wars and illness were endured, not to mention the self-imposed disciplines: walking barefoot, fasting, begging for hospitality or passage. In his day, after enduring three and a half months of storm-tossed travel while re
No matter what one may think of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, one thing seems uncontested. It has caused quite a stir. Has any movie ever generated such debate, even among atheists, over the real meaning of Jesus’ life and ministry? Initially, the film was considered too much o
Members of the assembly always seem to pay greater attention to some elements of the liturgical celebration than to others. Conventional wisdom among parish leaders has long held that Sunday worshipers go home talking mainly about two aspects of the Sunday liturgythe homily and the music.The importa
Faith in Focus
"We are going to have a French teacher!" I grabbed Rui Yins arm excitedly and whispered as I sat down. It was her turn to wait and fight for the few precious library seats. She was sturdily built and could usually push through the crowd of students waiting for the library door to open at 7
Books
Recently I received an e-mail from a Jesuit newly arrived in El Salvador to do some pastoral work He remarked on how his eyes had been opened by the reactions of ordinary Salvadorans to Gospel stories He wrote I rsquo m struck by how differently they hear the Scriptures as a result of having been
Editorials
In Bach’s oratorio The Saint John Passion, a bass aria begins: “Eilt—Hurry, hurry you suffering souls.” In an urgent whisper, the chorus responds: “Wohin—where to?” The soloist replies, “Nach Golgotha—to Calvary.” That chorus represents the
This is a difficult time for Roman Catholics in the United States. Our church, which stood so tall and proud after the Second World War and the election of the first Catholic as president, has been dealt some grievous blows in recent times. There seems no end to the tide of stories about the sexual
Why? That is a question I have been asked frequently lately. Why did Mike O’Grady, S.J., a member of our Claver Jesuit Community in Cincinnati, climb over the front gate at Fort Benning on Nov. 23, 2003, knowing that he would be arrested? People know that Mike was performing an act of civil di
Books
The most dramatic event of the 21st century thus far has been the destruction of the twin towers at the World Trade Center for many the symbol of the capitalist Christian or post-Christian West in New York City on Sept 11 2001 This act was perpetrated by men who identified themselves as Muslim
News
Vatican Asks Bishops to Focus on Wider IssuesTop Vatican officials are urging U.S. bishops to move beyond the sexual abuse crisis and restore their focus to the wider range of pastoral and international issues. That is the main message emerging from a series of encounters in late March between heads
Arts & Culture
The paintings on the walls of the Brancacci Chapel in Florence show Masaccio (1401-28) at his artistic and spiritual best, least in the way he links Adam and Eve with Christ. Driven from the Garden of Eden, our first parents are in despair.
Two thousand years ago, three young men—a revolutionary and two thieves—were executed by the governing civil authority of the Roman province of Palestine. One of those three condemned convicts turned out to be the Son of God, much to everyone’s embarrassment. Naturally, we would al
Letters
Center of Our Lives
I am writing concerning Presiding at the Liturgy of the Eucharist, by Keith F. Pecklers, S.J. (3/15). I do not find an abundance of words in our reformed liturgy. I like to hear the work of human hands to recall my gift of life. I want to hear that the Spirit is changing these gifts into the body of Christ. We no longer have copies of the text in our hands, so we need to hear the words being said in our name.
I realize that it is not the intent of this article to speak about the role of the assembly. But I would love to see the Mass viewed from the perspective of the person in the pew, written for us the assembly. I believe it is different from that of the presider. Thank God, we are one in so many ways.
I appreciated Sacrifice: the Way to Enter the Paschal Mystery (5/12/03) and Running to Communion (10/27/03). We need more essays like them to bring the Mass to the center of our lives, where it truly belongs.
Jane Day, S.S.J.
Books
The day Christopher S Wren retired from The New York Times newsroom he made a statement about how he planned to live the rest of his life Rather than just sit passively back and let retirement wash over him the former foreign correspondent strapped on a backpack slipped into his hiking boots and
Editorials
For nearly a generation, conventional wisdom held that high-tech would be the wave of the future. Job seekers were advised to train in electrical engineering, software design and information technology. Now, as the jobless economic recovery sputters on, there are cries of alarm that high-tech jobs a
Books
Priests who like being priests are among the happiest men in the world This sentence in Fr Andrew Greeley rsquo s review of The First Five Years of Priesthood by Dean R Hoge lifted me out of my chair when I read it in these pages Am 9 30 02 I sent him an e-mail message You rsquo re right I
Bishops across the country have spoken publicly about the movie The Passion of the Christ, warning that whatever one thinks of the movie, Catholics should not leave the film believing that all Jews, then or now, are guilty of the death of Jesus. Catholics, say the bishops, also need to bear in mind
If we think of Sunday Mass as a sacred drama with two or three acts, several scenes, numerous props and a cast composed of presider, deacon, assembly, servers, lectors, eucharistic ministers, hospitality ministers and a choir, it is easy to see the reason for the rise and spread of parish liturgy co
Books
Lawrence S Cunningham rsquo s small study of St Francis demonstrates the value of sound critical judgment and solid theology for grounding healthy devotion to the saints and deepening the faith in the Christian realities to which they dedicated themselves In A Modest Foreword Cunningham sets out