The departure of a White House staff member, even one who is said to be a president’s alter-ego, rarely inspires a raft of cultural commentary. But when Karen Hughes, President George W. Bush’s top advisor, announced in late April that she would be returning to her home state of Texas wi

I can hear someone who reads my article “Does God Communicate With Me?” (Am., 12/3/01) asking, perhaps with some pique: “You tell me to pay attention to my experience as the privileged place where God communicates with me. But how do I know it is God who is communicating with me? C

This is the first book I ever reviewed which I have not only read but prayed overand listened to on a CD the book comes with a CD spoken by the actor Martin Sheen Kennedy a gifted even charismatic pastor and longtime chaplain in jails had earlier done specialized training in the practice of s

Autobiographies of people who have struggled with life’s adversities have long been among my favorite kinds of reading. This is especially true of those with a religious dimension that underscores the author’s reliance on God. One such account I recently re-read was the autobiography of

The World Health Organization has reported that every year, 14 million people die of treatable infectious diseases. Most of these deaths occur in the developing world, and most have one primary causelack of the drugs needed to cure these illnesses, which are common to the poorest nations. The drugs

Robert King a retired philosophy and religion professor and academic dean, discovered only late in his academic career the contemplative dimension of Christianity

This new edition of the fascinating account by a medieval Franciscan friar Odoric of Pordenone of his journeys through the Middle and Far East modern-day Turkey Iran Iraq India Sri Lanka Sumatra Java Borneo Vietnam and China comes at an appropriate moment in our national life Since Sept

Many Catholics believe that unless the priesthood is opened up to women or married men, the church will soon lack enough priests to provide Mass. According to most Catholic social scientists, the growing number of Catholics and shrinking number of priests are inexorably moving the church toward a si

A Goodwill thrift store was at one end of the Maryland town where I grew up, and my first bike came from therea sturdy model that my mother repainted in dark blue. Even as an adult, I used to stop by on trips home, drawn by the store’s amazingly varied contents. I still use a thrift shop alarm

Christ promised that the underworld would never overpower his church, but he did not say this community of his followers would be immune from troubles. Nor has it been. From its first days in Jerusalem, the church has often been violently shaken by forces both within and without.From a multitude of

Cities often express their unique character through the particular buildings with which they are associated In the United States for example New York City is linked with either the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building not to mention the recently disappeared twin towers of the World Tra

177 Priests Resigned or Removed From Ministry Since JanuaryThe Associated Press reported that at least 177 priests have resigned or been removed from their posts across the country since the scandal over sexual abuse of minors by priests erupted in Boston in January. Meanwhile, many prosecutors are

Are you somebody’s mother? the little girl asked. I paused from cutting pizza slices in the school cafeteria, where I was volunteering for the afternoon. Not really, I said, and the child looked a little crestfallen and wandered away. There wasn’t time to explain that I had fervently pon

When democracies like the United States go to war it is up to the leaders of these duly elected governments to protect the life liberty and property of its citizens Military conflicts have presented a special challenge to democratic ideals and principles as the laws of the land can be severely t

Welcome to the club! The bishop in a Midwestern diocese offered these words of greeting as he exchanged the sign of peace with each new priest during the ordination ceremony. The year was 1965. The story was told among a group of newly ordained priests, who struck me as both embarrassed and tickled

In Lake Wobegon land, where I teach, ecumenism is largely a Lutheran-Catholic affair, cemented by the shared sacraments of beer and ice-fishing. My students are not much concerned with the subtleties of the recent joint declaration on justification or with the difference between transubstantiation a