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Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
Raised an Episcopalian, I initially knew of the Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus, but not as an object of devotion. Only on becoming Catholic as an adult did I turn to prayers like the Memorare, the rosary and the litanies that focus on the titles applied to Mary through the centuries and into our
Columns
No Questions, Please
Terry Golway
In language that would seem better suited to a ballpark than the White House, President Bush’s administration officials are making it clear that they will tolerate no questions about the president’s use of faulty intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. The president’s outgoin
Books
In Their Own Image
John B. Breslin
Margaret Atwood rsquo s last novel The Blind Assassin won the millennial Booker Prize for most writers a once-in-a-lifetime award Salman Rushdie notwithstanding Three years later she is back with a rather different kind of book more reminiscent of The Handmaid rsquo s Tale an earlier dystopia
Catholics and Protestants in Brazil
Maria Celi Scalon
The Vatican and the Latin American bishops have expressed great concern for but little sophisticated understanding of the success of Protestant denominations in Latin America. Who is being converted, and why, are questions that need to be answered by research, not by clerics who do not listen to the
Poetry
Divine Comedy
Tracy Alig Dowling

I am sure it rained there. But that is not what I remember.

FaithThe Word
To Whom Shall We Go?
Dianne Bergant
We must believe that our religious tradition can carry us into new situations, and that its values can continue to be vital despite the challenges we find there.
Editorials
Public Schools and the Pledge of Allegiance
The Editors
In June 2002 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in California, rocked the nation with a broad ruling against the constitutionality of including “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Last February, however, the same court rewrote and greatly narrowed its decision
Books
Freedom vs. Totalitarianism
John T. McGreevy
Why is there so little organized liberal opposition to the war The writer George Packer asked this question in the New York Times Magazine eight months ago before the occupation of Iraq dissolved into sniper attacks on American troops and rallies led by disgruntled clerics before American tanks r
O Happy Day!
Christopher Pramuk
I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not....
Apocalypse When?
David E. NantaisMichael Simone, S.J.
Our world is in turmoil. There is fighting in the Middle East, an outbreak of a strange new disease in East Asia, natural disasters and economic woes in the world’s richest country. Could the “end times” be near? If so, will you be among the “saved?” For some, these que
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Balanced Approach

The article by Drew Christiansen, S.J., (5/19) drew my immediate attention, because I had spent October 2001 to June 2002 in Jerusalem and on more than one occasion had met and listened to Patriarch Michel Sabbah speak or preach. I first met him in December 1987 in Rome, when he spent his days of preparation for his episcopal ordination in the house where I then lived, and I have followed his work, at a distance, since then. I have always found him to be very balanced in his approach and in his words.

I do agree with the general thrust of the article.

I was taken aback by the statement that George Cottier, O.P., the papal theologian, and other French churchmen supported the idea with vigorous attacks on Patriarch Michel Sabbah in the French Catholic press. Other than an article by Father Cottier in the periodical Nova et Vetera, I have found nothing and am unaware of anything in the French Catholic press. Thus my questions: who else? and where?

Considering where it originates, Switzerland, Proche-Orient Infoat least to me as a Canadiancan hardly be included in the French Catholic press. Further, was what was printed in Proche-Orient Info on Dec. 10, 2002, signed by Father Cottier, or was it a reprint from elsewhere? (I’m sorry, I don’t have access to back issues of Proche-Orient Info.)

Father Cottierand othersmay have done a grave injustice to Patriarch Sabbah, but there may also be a perceived injustice to the French Catholic press.

(Most Rev). John Stephen Knight

The Word
The Power of Words
Dianne Bergant
Children chant in sing-song the ditty ldquo Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me rdquo How erroneous this really is Broken bones mend but we do not always recover from cruel words Words can prevent us from becoming the best we might be and we often use them as w
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Vatican Says Same-Sex Unions Are Harmful to Society’Amid increasing worldwide initiatives to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions, the Vatican called on lawmakers to offer clear and emphatic opposition to such measures, which it said were contrary to human nature and ultimately harmful t
Books
Together in Spirit
Emilie Griffin
I came to this book with certain interior conflicts of my own I wound up loving the book and listening to my own heart better I agree with so many of Wendy Wright rsquo s insights her way of affirming the contemplative life in the midst of everything I appreciate her genuine authority and the
Justice, Law and War
Phillip J. Brown
For centuries Christians have quarreled about the relationship between law and Gospel. Some, relying on various passages in the Pauline letters, say that the concepts of law and Gospel are mutually exclusive, that the idea of law and the idea of Gospel contradict each other. Others, including member
Faith in Focus
He Who Has Eyes
Jens Söring
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 20 percent of America’s two million prison inmates are mentally ill. Take a moment to reflect upon that fact. In the land of the free and the home of compassionate conservatism, there are 400,000 men and women who are so obviously and unavoidably de
FaithThe Word
You Are Warmly Invited...
Dianne Bergant
Jesus offers us himself, his flesh for the life of the world. If we turn down his invitation, we would be more than fools. We would be rejecting life itself.
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Report Details Decades of Abuse, Failure of Leadership’ in BostonA 91-page report detailing the sexual abuse of at least 789 children by 250 priests or other workers of the Archdiocese of Boston since 1940 documents a massive, inexcusable failure of leadership in the archdiocese, Massachusetts
Jazz Goes Back to Church
Michael Sherwin
Dave Brubeck is recognized as a gifted jazz pianist and composer. His use of innovative techniques, like the unique time signatures showcased in the breakthrough album, Time Out (1959), made him a leading light of West Coast jazz. Indeed, the singular chemistry of his classic quartet established him
God and Caesar in the New Europe
John Coughlan
A draft constitution for the European Union was presented at a summit meeting in Greece on June 20. The debate over whether the constitution should include references to religion has raised fundamental questions about European identity. Despite the trans-Atlantic acrimony of recent months, the 105 m