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With Her People
Michael E. Engh
Life in the barrio changed me as a Jesuit. Part of my heart remains snagged on the razor wire surrounding Central Juvenile Hall; a portion of my soul is entwined with people whose language I speak so poorly. What began as a sabbatical from Loyola Marymount University quickly became a crash course in
The Word
Did You Call?
Dianne Bergant
Nowadays we seem to be dissatisfied if we are considered ordinary We seek to be the first or the best or at least to belong to the group that is first or best Yet most of us are really quite ordinary people living ordinary lives Despite this there need be nothing ordinary about being ordinary W
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
George M. Anderson
Good news from Africa may seem a rarity, but some did come our way when two visitors from Tanzania visited New York in September. One was the vice chancellor of St. Augustine University near Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria—the Rev. Deogratias Rweyongeza, who handles the day-to-day runni
Books
The Divine Shines Through
Joseph J. Feeney
The title is brave God and the Imagination The book is even braver for in 22 essays the prizewinning biographer and poet Paul Mariani probes himself modern American poetry and the poetic imagination His goal is to link together the making of a poem the worldview of a poet and the shining of Go
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Reliable Course

One could not but be touched by the sincerity of Kevin O’Brien, S.J. and Peter Clark, S.J. in their article Drug Companies and AIDS in Africa (11/25). Unfortunately, they touch on only one aspect of the AIDS plague in that continent. Simply put, the greatest contributor to the spread of the disease is promiscuity and subsequent infection of sexual partner(s). One has only to read of the incidence of the disease among truck drivers and the prostitutes they frequent along the main highways in Central Africa to see that this is the case. This aspect of the spread of this plague is clearly in the hands of the Africans themselves. A second contributor to the spread is the reuse of needles, not only by corner-injectors who provide vitamin and antibacterial injections to anyone who can pay, but also by hospitals and clinics that persist in this type of reuse. Given that the hospital and clinic contribution to the spread of the disease is now put at between 5 percent and 20 percent, might it not be advisable to put some of the vast funds suggested by your authors into a program for supplying single-use needles? Finally, as good as the best of the current treatment regimens are, they are no more than a stopgap, and a poor one at that. The vast bulk of treated patients will succumb to the disease either through resistance development or through noncompliance. Let us not kid ourselves. Throwing money at this disaster will only delay the outcome. A radical change in behavior is the only reliable recourse.

Sean O’Connor

Editorials
The Old Year and the New
The Editors
Even in a nation that is for the moment the richest and most powerful on earth there are many who must be glad to see the year 2002 go. Only an inattentive chronicler could fail to record that this was not a good year for the U.S. Catholic bishops, the managers of the Democratic Party, the frustrate
Poetry
What, then?
Kelly Cherry

"Do unto others as you’d be done unto."

News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Cardinal Law Resigns After Year of Growing ScandalCardinal Bernard F. Law’s resignation as archbishop of Boston on Dec. 13 came at the end of a year in which the burgeoning clergy sexual abuse scandal practically paralyzed his archdiocese and exploded into a national crisis that consumed the e
House of God
Terrence Murray
Driving on the A1 expressway to Charles de Gaulle Airport, one sees, gradually emerging, the town of St. Denis with its rows of low-income housing. Until recently St. Denis stood out for its urban sprawl, massive soccer stadium and royal burial plot. Then, in early August, hundreds of immigrants sto
Five Moral Crises
John F. Kavanaugh
Just as a daily examination of conscience reviews the past 24 hours and, at the same time, illuminates the next, so also a moral review of the past year reveals the challenges of the next. Perhaps this is more evident this year than ever, because the dominant ethical issues of 2002 are certain to re
Faith
A New Apostolic Era in Vietnam
George M. Anderson
After nine years in Communist prisons and labor camps in Vietnam, Joseph Nguyen Doan emerged with his faith not only intact but deepened, and with a determination to continue serving his people in his native land. A Jesuit, he is now the episcopal vicar for religious in the archdiocese of Ho Chi Min
The Word
Through the Waters to New Life
Dianne Bergant
The Christmas season closes with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord This is not the end of things but rather the beginning The readings remind us that the one born of our flesh is the servant of God mdash the very Son of God mdash who brings a promise of justice and hope to a world in desperate
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Broader Context

Thanks for your forthright editorial regarding Ordaining Gay Men (11/11). In the broader context of today’s church, I would add married men to your conclusion. Preventing the ordination of gay and married men would deprive the church of many productive, hard-working and dedicated ministers and would, moreover, ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who has called these men to holy orders.

Lee P. Kaspari

Books
All in the Family
John B. Breslin
Sebastian Barry first made his mark as a writer with The Steward of Christendom a play about his grandfather who rose from the ranks to become a superintendent of the Irish police force in Dublin under British rule but quickly fell into disrepute and dejection with its passing It made the rounds
Living Stones of the Holy Land
Drew Christiansen
Beatitude, the al-Aqsa intifada has gone on now for more than two years. In September you declared it has been “a catastrophe” for the Palestinian people. What did you mean? The conditions of life imposed by the Israeli military are simply inhuman. The whole population, more than th
The Word
Amazing Tales
Dianne Bergant
Is it over yet Are the carols gone from the air waves Have the stores dismantled their decorations Has Christmas been put away to make room for Valentine rsquo s Day It always happens so fast We waited and waited for Christmas and then it came and went in a flash But it did not happen like th
News
Signs of the Times
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Review Board to Interview Bishops on Scope of ScandalA subcommittee of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board on clergy sexual abuse will begin interviewing bishops, archbishops and cardinals in an effort to understand the scope of the abuse scandal. A statement on Dec. 6 from the attorney Ro
Columns
An S.U.V. on Steroids
Terry Golway
Have you seen the nation’s latest status symbol on wheels? You may have, but you perhaps didn’t recognize its significance. You simply may have thought, as I did, how odd it is to see a military vehicle painted yellow, operated by a civilian and patrolling your local mall’s parking
Poetry
Shadow of the Father
Paul Mariani

How shall I approach you, Joseph, you, the shadow

The Word
More Light, Please
Dianne Bergant
Although darkness can be very soothing and romantic as well it can also be very frightening We lose our way in the dark we bump into things we cannot perceive what or who might threaten our safety The phrase ldquo under the cover of darkness rdquo suggests some manner of deception In our vu