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Television
In light of the events of Sept. 11, television seemsif this is possibleeven more banal than before. Despite the estimable Walter Cronkite's pronouncement at the much-delayed 2001 Emmy Awards that television helps to unite us and heal us and blah, blah, blah, it's hard not to look on the majo
Books
Whether one agrees with the specific conclusions of the author or not one has to admit that the book delivers on the promise of its subtitle In readable dispassionate language which is itself highly unusual for a book on this topic the author takes the reader through the major issues of the c
Of Many Things
As the church looks for new ways to respond to the needs of poor immigrants in urban areas like New York City, are there lessons we can learn from efforts to help earlier arrivals? Although The Godfather might lead us to believe that joining the Corleone family was the dream of every young Italian i
Editorials
Military tribunals have been around for a long time in the United States, and they have often been controversial. The very idea of such courts is now provoking dissent both here and abroad. On Nov. 13 President Bush signed an executive order permitting individuals who are accused of terrorism and ar
News
Outcry on Cloning and Prenatal SelectionThe Vatican condemned the cloning of human embryos by U.S. scientists, rejecting claims that the research produced simple cells and not human individuals. Despite the scientists’ stated humanitarian aims, the research represents a new form of discriminat
The world has changed forever. This now familiar mantra rang truest for me in the wake of the first allied retaliatory strike in Afghanistan. I knew it was coming; I just did not know what the it would be. Speaking before the press corps in the wounded Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfe
Faith in Focus
It is Friday, 9:15 p.m. Bruce backs the outreach van out of the parking area of Boston’s Pine Street Inn. It’s well packed with blankets, various articles of clothing, sandwiches, hot and cold water, instant hot chocolate and soup packets, some crackers and a case of oranges. Sean and I
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the ensuing war between a global coalition led by the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan have made many wonder about the relationship between religion and terrorism. The United States and its allies have been at p
Books
It began innocently enough An anxious evangelical graduate student trying to reconcile Christian humility with intellectual pride through the study of C S Lewis A kindly professor devising an independent reading course which turned into a seminar then a large class finally a slender book Wesl
The Word
Echoing through the readings today are messages of hopefor people almost three millennia ago for people at the beginning of the first millennium and for people today Amid the turmoil of internal injustice and invasion by the Assyrians Isaiah proclaims Be strong fear not Here is your God he c
As the American memory of Thanksgiving fades and the pace quickens before Christmas, I hold before me a large postcard collage crafted by the Shalom network of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Two compelling imagesa plume of smoke bulging from the World Trade Center, and a woman, apparently Afghan,
Editorials
The pastoral message Living With Faith and Hope After September 11, which the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued during its meeting in mid-November in Washington, D.C., promises to be a landmark document. It certainly provides inspiring material for preaching in the months ahead, as
Letters
Nonviolent Tradition
While America and Catholic leaders across the world scramble to determine whether U.S. military action against terrorism meets just war criteria and how indeed we might satisfy those criteria, I am disturbed by the insistence on linking just war principles to Catholic tradition. They are Catholic in the sense that the Crusades were Catholic and the Inquisition was Catholic, but they can hardly be described as Christianif what we mean by Christian is fidelity to the teachings of Christ.
A so-called just war is more humane (in intent, if not in effect) than were the recent terrorist bombings, but please don’t imply that Christ in any way or under any circumstances condoned violence as a response to violence. As Gandhi once remarked, The only people on earth who do not see Christ and his teachings as nonviolent are Christians.
Nan Runde
Film
Even by the generous criteria generally applied to summer films, last summer was a particularly disappointing season. Vacation movies target young audiences with young themes, and, as a result, they emerge half-baked from the minds of young, or wannabe young, filmmakers. Okay, I plead nolo contender
Columns
Advent beckons, and still the mourning continues in and around New York. The news brings stories of battlefield successes in Afghanistan and heartening reports of men and women celebrating their liberation from the Taliban. But the war news brings little cheer to many homes in the New York area. The
Faith in Focus
Kathleen and I make all the arrangements mothers have to make to spend a day away from their childrenbefore-school care, after-school care, instructions and emergency information. Everything is in order for us to be gone from early morning to late afternoon. We have 100 miles to go each way. She ins
Books
In the summer of 1961 I asked the proprietor of a Catholic bookstore in Paris whether he had a copy of Yves Congar rsquo s True and False Reform in the Church After looking around he took me into a back office and from a bottom drawer pulled out a copy of the book Only later did I learn the moti
Of Many Things
In the summer of 1219, Francis of Assisi traveled to Egypt with the hope of converting the Saracens from Islam to Christianity. He stayed with some crusaders, who told him his mission was impossible and could easily cost him his life. Francis ignored the warnings and managed to secure an audience wi
Books
I began writing my review of John Updike rsquo s new collection of poems Americana during the week of Sept 11 and froze unable to inch forward as the ironies in a book that begins with 15 poems about seeing America from the air compounded and screamed back at me Poems with titles like ldquo C