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An ossuary is a stone box used in ancient Judea in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. to store the bones of a person who had died and whose flesh had decomposed. It served as a second burial. Hundreds of ossuaries have been recovered in the last century. Many of them are preserved in Israeli museums
Portfolio
When I first saw prints from Louis Glanzman’s paintings of 12 women of the New Testament, something happened inside me. It was as if I suddenly recognized beloved sisters whom I had never seen before but knew in my heart. The paintings had a life of their own--unique, powerful and as real as a
News
Revised Norms Support KeyElements of U.S. Bishops’ PolicyRevisions to the U.S. bishops’ norms for dealing with cases of sexual abuse by clergy reflect two overriding concerns on the part of the Vatican: revulsion at clerical sexual abuse of minors and apprehension over the possibility of
Books
Michael Lawler is the director of the Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University in Omaha Neb and for the past 30 years has taught courses on marriage to Catholic students His publications on marriage and family span decades and include several books on marriage all informed by a c
Editorials
When the bishops gather in Washington, D.C., for their annual November meeting, their agenda will include voting on a revised version of their 1992 pastoral letter, “When I Called for Help: A Pastoral Response to Domestic Violence Against Women.” Although the updated version makes use of
The Word
Seventy-five years ago Nov 23 1927 Miguel Pro S J shouted ldquo Long live Christ the King rdquo moments before he was executed by a firing squad in Mexico City At age 37 and only two years ordained he was condemned for ministering to people despite a government ban on the Catholic Church
According to analysts and diplomats concerned with the Middle East, anti-American hostility—at all levels of society, but especially among the educated—is at an unparalleled high across the Arab world. The main cause of Arab anger, apparently, is the Bush administration’s obvious e
Letters
Most Respected
Avery Dulles, S.J., as the only American theologian ever to be raised to the College of Cardinals, is arguably, at least in the eyes of the Vatican, the most respected theologian in the country. Yet when he submits an article to your magazine on the important question of evangelization (10/21), you not only submit it to others for a comment to be published in the same issue, but print a response that is longer than his original article. It would seem to me America’s editors should swallow their bias and treat a brother Jesuit with greater respect.
Lou Baldwin
Books
From this evil-smelling spring of indifferentism flows the erroneous and absurd opinionor rather deliriumthat freedom of conscience must be asserted and vindicated for everyone Pope Gregory XVI rsquo s condemnation of religious liberty in the encyclical Mirari Vos 1832 was still official Catholic
Faith in Focus
November is the month for remembering the dead, and with cold weather rendering the lives of homeless people even more difficult, my own remembrance of the dead focuses on a Catholic Worker named Michael Kirwan. The third anniversary of his death from cancer was Nov. 12. I met Michael two dec
Of Many Things
Spending three decades as a married couple in the same difficult apostolate—prison reform—represents no small achievement. Charlie and Pauline Sullivan are co-founders of CURE, a grassroots organization that is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year (www.curenational.org). My first e
Letters
Truth and Feeling
I’d like to commend Gerard Quigley’s lovely, evocative illustration for Some Basics About Celibacy (10/28). It is a beautiful example of how symbols communicate both truth and feeling.
William J. O’Malley, S.J.
Editorials
In the wake of the sexual abuse scandals and numerous reports of priests abusing boys and adolescent males, some Catholics have expressed grave concerns over the ordination to the priesthood of gay men. The question arises: should the church continue ordaining gay priests, that is, homosexual men co
Something that was unimaginable 10 or 20 years ago has been happening in the philosophy department of Saint Louis University. While still a department with strong historical, ethical and medieval offerings by professors and with students from a variety of religious and philosophical stances, it has
Books
In The New Faithful Colleen Carroll a young journalist from St Louis offers a breezy tour through the lives of today rsquo s Protestant and Catholic young adults who practice a traditionalist form of faith They clamor for pre-Vatican II pieties embrace condemnations of abortion homosexuality
Books
This book like Richard Schoenherr rsquo s Full Pews and Empty Altars 1993 will be controversial His earlier work was a demographic study that identified the magnitude of the priest shortage and made projections about future trends Since the news was not good some criticized his findings and o
The fundamental imperatives of the Christian vocation are two in number: love God with all your heart and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. The twofold commandment involves loving in three distinct directions: love of God, love of neighbor and love of self. Any Christian spiritu
The Word
Sister Norice our sixth-grade teacher called me out of class and said that the pastor wanted to see me In fear and trembling I went over to the church only to find that a server was needed for an unexpected funeral After Mass Monsignor Nelligan gave me 2 a huge sum in 1943 Going home on the
Faith in Focus
Just after I leave the church and step into the sparkling sunlight on the way to my car, a woman I hadn’t noticed before comes up to me. A recent widow, she speaks, at first hesitantly, about her faith not helping her when she needs it most. It has been a year since her husband died, and she f