Top Vatican Diplomat Says U.S. Military Response JustifiedNearly a week into a U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan, a top Vatican diplomat said America’s military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was justified but must avoid taking civilian lives. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the V

This past summer for once, the talk of taxes around the country was not just about how high they are. It was about how to spend the $300 or $600 in rebates mailed out by the Internal Revenue Service with compliments from President George W. Bush, who signed a trillion-dollar-plus tax bill in early J

From 2001, a warning that the war on terrorism would not be won with bullets alone

Even without the worries related to Sept. 11, we are a people under stress—pressured by the daily grind. How we cope, and to what extent we succeed, is an individual mater. Job security, economic stability, family and health matters usually top the list of stress inducers. No wonder health and

You Americans I was once reprimanded in Paris have little spirituality todayyou have only psychology Americans should not dismiss this scolding too quickly Kevin Gillespie rsquo s informal history of American Catholics and their embrace of psychology helps to put this issue in some perspective O

In the Gospel of John (20:19-23) Jesus appeared to his fearful disciples after the resurrection and uttered the words “Peace be with you.” He then showed the disciples his hands and his side. In this account of the resurrection, Jesus connected the experience of peace or shalom with an a

Absolute PacifismStephen T. Krupa, S.J., is right to emphasize Dorothy Day’s absolute pacifism, to which she held even during World War II (“Celebrating Dorothy Day,” 8/27). But I’m not sure that the pacifism of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. also deserve that char

I was worried about associating with the Catholics, confides a woman at our monthly community meal. But this pasta is good! She asks me to wrap up a plate to go, for her friend next door. She leaves with a box of groceries, two blankets and a stylish red winter jacket.We are here each month to offer

According to Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith it may be heretical to hold that church teaching can learn from experience If so this collection of essays is filled with heresy In the Vatican approach one begins with Catholic teaching Exper

This past June, the U.S. bishops tightened up the ethical guidelines that govern the operation of Catholic health facilities around the country. The revised guidelines require Catholic hospitals to place greater distance between themselves and the affiliate organizations offering sterilization servi

The monstrous terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have prodded the nation to reexamine itself. As America races to combat agents of global terrorism, particularly fundamentalist Islamic extremists, decision makers should proceed prudently so as to build the requisite broad coalition at home and abroad. A

Gail Buckley rsquo s synopsis of African American involvement in the armed forces adopts as its thesis Harriet Beecher Stowe rsquo s declaration in 1855 that blacks have always fought magnanimously and heroically for their country despite its violations of their civil rights To demonstrate Stowe rs

We’ve had two new grandchildren born in the space of a month. Round, rosy bundles of health, they are welcome additions to our growing family. We are blessed and humbled by the gift of their little lives. Initially, the grandma gig was a frightening possibility, not unlike parenting the first

Leaving prison and re-entering the community pose difficulties for both men and women. Women, however, tend to face even more daunting barriers than their male counterparts in making the difficult transition back to freedom. The barriers, moreover, have been raised several notches over the past few

Many in the religious community, including the Catholic community, have called attention to two dimensions of the background for the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11: the economic and the political. Their voices need to be listened to carefully if we are to avoid misguided responses to those tragic eve

It’s almost a matter of pride among today’s journalists to show contempt for theology. When The Times’s Thomas Friedman wants to ridicule some proposal as ideological, captious or absurd, he refers to it as driven by “theology.” In contrast, cultural critics like Louis

Empire Statesman begins appropriately enough by evoking the 1928 September night when a flaming cross greeted Alfred E Smith then governor of New York as his presidential campaign train entered Oklahoma When Smith is remembered today if at all it is for the virulent nativist outburst encount

Cardinals Give Measured Support to Retaliatory AttacksAmerican cardinals, speaking separately, have given measured support for the retaliatory strikes launched by American and British forces against military targets and suspected terrorist camps in Afghanistan. This is a just war, declared Cardinal