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FaithThe Word
The Mercies of the Lord Are New Every Morning
Dianne Bergant
What were once two feasts, Corpus Christi and Precious Blood, are now one celebration.
Editorials
Criminal Justice American Style
The Editors
The U.S. Department of Justice reported in April that the incarcerated population of the United States has topped two million—men, women and yes, children too. Drug offenses account for a large proportion of those currently behind bars. Even low-level drug offenders regularly receive long sent
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
My grandmother lived with us as I was growing up—a source of consolation who often shared her breakfast with me and who read to me when I was sick. Grandmothers not only play a supportive role in the lives of many children—in some cases they stand out as the single source of love amid ho
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Dioceses and Charities Hurt by Economic UncertaintyWhile Catholic Charities agencies are facing new demands for assistance, an April poll showed that nearly three-fourths of Catholics across the nation are hesitant to give more money to charity because of concerns about their own personal finances.
Books
Tensions in Balance
Doris Donnelly
By any yardstick Contemplatives in Action The Jesuit Way surpasses all expectations This book is a gem and is destined to be a classic introduction for all future reading about Jesuits and their way William A Barry S J and Robert G Doherty S J accomplish something rather remarkable in thi
The Jesuits of Baghdad: From May 26, 2003
Joseph MacDonnell
In These Pages: From May 26, 2003
FaithThe Word
What's Gotten Into You?
Dianne Bergant
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is such a simple statement, a statement that may no longer startle us!
Faith in Focus
Standing for the Unborn: A Statement of the Society of Jesus in the United States on Abortion
Published by the Office of SocialInternational Ministries of the Jesuit Conference
On this feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, we, the leadership of the Jesuits in the United States, fervently renew our opposition to abortion and our support for the unborn. In treating this delicate and controversial topic, we hope to provide our brother Jesuits, colleagues, parishioners and st
Columns
A Job Named Slop
Thomas J. McCarthy
The earliest and most enduring lesson the Jesuits taught me can be summarized in one word: slop. This may take a bit of explaining, but not as much as you might think. For it has to do with learning to find the sacred in the mundane. Other than paper routes, my first real job came in high school, wh
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Cardinal Restoring Nation’s First Catholic CathedralBy the time the Basilica of the Assumption, the nation’s oldest Catholic cathedral, turns 200 in 2006, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore wants it restored to its original magnificenceand more. The most notable feature of the basil
Books
Unconscious Theologian
Kathleen Feeley
Flannery O rsquo Connor downplayed the deep spirituality that infused her life and her works She is probably saying ldquo Haw haw haw rdquo in the southern backwoods accent that she sometimes affected as she views this new title in the Modern Spiritual Masters series The series introduces read
I Learned My Prayers in Basque
Begona Echeverria
When I was growing up, my nightly ritual was probably just like that of other kids in my C.C.D. class. After tucking me in, my mother would sit beside me on the bed and listen to me recite my prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed. But this litany was also very different. For first of all
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Not Polite

I have followed with fascination the exchanges about the Second Vatican Council between Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., and John W. O’Malley, S.J. (2/24). Equally fascinating have been the numerous informative and thought-provoking letters that America readers have written in response.

Two sentences by Cardinal Dulles keep haunting me. Stating that style should not eclipse substance and writing approvingly of Dominus Iesus, he said: At times the Roman authorities have found it necessary to speak more plainly and less diplomatically for the sake of truth and fidelity.... The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith seems to have learned from hard experience that when you couch unpopular teachings in polite’ language, people easily conclude that you don’t mean what you said.

I found myself asking, If the church is not to use polite language, then what language should it use? Some antonyms for polite are: impolite, rude, harsh, discourteous. How do we help people hear what the church is obliged to preach? Is it by being rude, disdainful and disrespectfulas many Catholics, Jews and Protestants found in the language of Dominus Iesus? Or is it by seeking to make our words more expressive of the attitudes enjoined upon us by Christ and St. Paulhumility, gentleness, meekness, patience, tenderheartedness, long-suffering, kindness and loving concern?

Because God is truth, we are tempted to respond to the world’s skepticism by speaking more sharply and shouting more vociferously. But because God is love, the world will not hear the truth about which we speak unless it is couched in a loving spirit. If not polite, then what?

Richard K. Taylor

Faith
The Classroom as Holy Ground
Kevin O'Brien
Every semester begins the same way. I walk to the door of the classroom and catch my breath. Like an actor walking on stage, the nervousness of a teacher on the first day—or any day—is natural.
Books
Spectacleand Silence
Rachelle Linner
Rosemary Mahoney is a good traveler and a good writerinterested interesting and strikingly unconventional in her perceptions In earlier books she has allowed us to listen to people in China The Early Arrival of Dreams and Ireland Whoredom in Kimmage a 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award f
The Word
In Between, but Not Alone!
Dianne Bergant
How does one go on when life seems to have been torn apart at the seams Loved ones die others turn away from us we are forced to assume responsibility we never chose We want things to be what they were before but we know that they never will be The world is just not the same and we are not su
Editorials
Roadblocks for the Road Map
The Editors
With the end of hostilities in Iraq, the Bush administration, along with the other three members of “the Quartet”—Russia, the European Union and the United Nations—has released its “road map” for peace in the Holy Land. The plan consists of a set of coordinated st
Politics & Society
The Jesuits of Baghdad
Joseph MacDonnell
The Jesuits certainly will return to Bagdad, because a place so important to Islam as well as to Christianity cannot be ignored for very long. What form the future mission will take we leave to the Holy Spirit, who took us there in the first place. But one thing is clear: the Jesuit mission to the Iraqis did not end in 1969.
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
For some years my mother has lamentedand this is not too strong a wordthe fact that I never studied Latin. Whenever she spies a phrase in Latin inscribed on a church facade, or comes across a quote in a book or article, or hears an unfamiliar Latin hymn during a Mass, and I am unable to translate it
A Campaign to Divide the Church in the Holy Land
Drew Christiansen
In Rome and Jerusalem, proposals have been made to divide the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and to establish alongside it a church jurisdiction for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel. This new jurisdiction would be directly dependent on Rome and independent of the local Latin (Roman Catholic) pat