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The Word
You Can Tell They Are Christians by What?
John R. Donahue
Vatican City Jan 25 2059 mdash The recently elected pope Victor IV the former archbishop of Lusaka Charles Tilyenji who took the name of the first pope from Africa St Victor 189-98 celebrated the traditional Mass for the Curia in St Paul rsquo s Outside the Walls It also marked the cen
Books
Who Really Cares?
John A. Coleman
This is a crucially important book I wanted almost immediately to send a copy to my congresswoman and to my nieces who like so many American women aged 35 to 42 are caught in the double-bind of caregiving for young children and aging parents Heymann rsquo s careful data would confirm what the
Letters
Letters
Our readers

God-Sent

I was just at your Web site and found you now have search capabilities by topic. I hoped someday it would be done. My prayers have been answered. Thank you. Now my growing shelf of saved hard-copy issues can more easily be accessed during discussions with friends and family. Please tell your print readers about this new service. It is a godsend.

Paul Schmid

Faith in Focus
Waiting in Silence and Light
Colin Ellis
When I was little, Saturday nights were often spent sleeping over at Grandmom’s house. I loved these Saturday nights; she was the perfect grandmom, bubbly and doting and willing to spoil us with Lucky Charms cereal until we were sick. She was also a devout Roman Catholic, so Sunday mornings al
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
David S. Toolan
Back in December of 1994, when John Salvi opened fire at two abortion clinics in the Boston area, killing two and wounding five others, both Gov. William F. Weld and Cardinal Bernard Law called for talks between the two sides of the abortion debate in order to deescalate the rhetoric. But given the
Euthanizing Life
John F. Kavanaugh
About 10 years ago, a home video of a young Dutch woman named Maria appeared in a PBS presentation called Choosing Death. Weighing 42 pounds, she was backed against a stark white wall, her sunken eyes searching, darting. She was 25 years old. For 14 of those years she had been suffering from anorexi
Editorials
A Federal Execution
The Editors
The execution of Timothy J. McVeigh, scheduled for the morning of May 16, will be the first federal execution in almost four decades. This fact alone should occasion some soul searching, because it underscores the fact that our government firmly maintains its commitment to capital punishment. We the
Why Close St. Ben's?
George B. Wilson
Saint Benevolens parish just got the dreaded word. As of next June, St. Ben’s will cease to be a parish. To appreciate this situation, there are some things you should know. St. Ben’s parishionersit’s a real placehave had three pastors in the past four years. They have survived a s
Books
In Form and Expression
John F. Baldovin
This is not the first book on the liturgy from Joseph Ratzinger a German Catholic theologian cardinal prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and former archbishop of Munich He has also written A New Song for the Lord as well as an important introduction to Klaus Gamber
Parish and Small Church Communities
Robert K. Moriarty
Like little green shoots, small church communities are emerging all over the Catholic parish landscape. They are one of the more promising pastoral initiatives at work in U.S. parishes today. In an individualistic and consumerist culture, whose spirit in some respects infects the very way we do pari
Rating the Clergy
Andrew M. Greeley
The first ratings of clerical performance by the laity occurred almost a half century ago in a study by Catholic Digest, which was in fact the first sample survey ever of American religion. At that time 40 percent of Americans, whether Protestant or Catholic, rated their clergy as “excellent&r
Identity Crisis
Marian E. Crowe
WARNING: In this essay I use the terms conservative and liberal that no one likes. I don’t like those labels! everyone says, implying (whether intentionally or not) that their own position is too complex and nuanced to be captured by something so simplistic as a one-word label. I use those lab
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
James Martin, S.J.
Sometimes it seems that it takes a layperson to understand religious life. Recently I had the chance to read a superb new book entitled For the Love of God: The Faith and Future of the American Nun, written by, of all people, a senior writer at GQ magazine, who was raised with no religious training
Letters
Letters
Our readers

Reasonable Expectations

While I found Bernard M. Daly’s article The Coming Synod of Bishops (4/2) interesting and challenging, it occurred to me that the synod of bishops he describes is not that set forth in Canons 342-48 of the Code of Canon Law. It is important, I think, that the synod of bishops, a sort of new institute since the Second Vatican Council, be clearly described so that its true functions can be understood and reasonable expectations be entertained for its work.

It seems to me that Bernard Daly might perhaps miss the mark when he appears to describe the synod of bishops as a mini-council. That it clearly is not. And it should be noted that it is a synod only by analogy with the synod as that institute has existed in church law.

The synod of bishops is to promote the close relationship between the Roman Pontiff and the bishops. These bishops, by their counsel, assist the Roman Pontiff in the defense and development of faith and morals and of the preservation and strengthening of ecclesiastical discipline. They also consider questions concerning the mission of the church in the world (No. 342). The function of the synod of bishops is to discuss the matters proposed to it and set forth recommendations. (No. 343).

(Most Rev.) Thomas G. Doran

News
Teaching Authentically
Thomas J. Gumbleton
Gerald Coleman’s article provides one more example of how far we must go before our church truly lives up to its teaching about homosexual persons. In their pastoral letter Always Our Children (1997), the U.S. Catholic bishops say: All in all, it is essential to recall one basic truth. God lov
The Word
Choose Life
John R. Donahue
On this Sunday traditionally called Good Shepherd Sunday the Gospel for each Lectionary cycle is an excerpt from Jn 10 1-30 Proclamation and prayer require reflection on the complex of motifs found throughout This year the Gospel also provides a fine linkage with last week rsquo s shepherding m
Books
The Mother Tongue
Paul Mariani
From the archives: Paul Mariani on the poetry of Seamus Heaney
News
Responses to Coming Out'
Evelyn Eaton Whitehead
Gerald Coleman is a nuanced thinker, a faithful churchman and a sensitive pastoral guide. His writing on sexuality is widely respected and justifiably influential in Catholic circles, especially among people involved in the church’s ministry with and for lesbian and gay persons and their famil
Television
The Coolest Show on TV
James Martin, S.J.
Currently, the best show on television may not be The West Wing, E.R., Sex in the City or even The Sopranos, a series that The New York Times, in an uncharacteristic burst of critical hyperbole, called the most significant work of popular culture in the last 25 years. No, the most satisfying show on
FaithFaith and Reason
Walter Kasper: On the church
Walter Kasper
Cardinal Walter Kasper on the relationship between the universal church and local churches.