Two provocative offerings in this week’s issue deserve particular attention, not only in light of their authorship, but also because of the importance of their message for the universal church. The first is this year’s John Courtney Murray lecture, delivered by Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.

I stepped gingerly into the room. It was only my third week volunteering at the nursing home, and I was still very unsure of myself. A curtain enclosed the bed, and a fan slowly moved its head back and forth, lazily stirring the air and muffling all sounds. I gently pushed aside the curtain and peek

quot To know Joan of Arc quot wrote Mark Twain in his fanciful yet earnest quot translation quot of her life in 1896 quot was to know one who was wholly noble pure truthful brave compassionate generous pious unselfish modest blameless as the very flowers in the fields nature fine an

Effective CompositionAs a retired art teacher, artist and curator, I find the America covers creative and thought-provoking. I especially liked the collage that graced the March 25 issue, on Anti-Catholicism in the United States.Each cover is a work of artcommunicating a message as well as being an

There are some things that you never forget. For me, it happened after a long day of school. I welcomed the peace and quiet of home, never realizing how ironic that sentiment soon would be. Shortly after arriving, I settled into the couch and snuggled under the increasingly warm blanket for what I t

With this accessible yet critically responsible examination Paula Fredriksen the Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University has made a significant contribution to the continuing debate concerning the historical Jesus Right from the start her book rsquo s several virtues ought gladly to

As an 11-year-old boy Thomas Berry probing the red hills of his home in North Carolina skipped across a creek and found himself in a meadow Seeing the white lilies cresting above the dense grass he listened to the crickets rsquo song drift toward the distant woods and the wisps of cloud in the

One night recently I was visiting with a group of friends and listening to the music of Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, John Coltrane and Ray Charles. Our conversation about African-American culture turned to a thought-provoking question: Why do more and more African-Americans reject the c

In December 1998 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published a remarkable document titled "Reflections on the Primacy of Peter" (hereafter "Reflections"; see Origins, 1/28/99). At the outset, "Reflections" states that popes should exercise their authority &

In the oppressive heat of the midday sun, the nun in full habit held two heavy shovels. She walked just behind the gravediggers, who tried to carry with some dignity a lifeless body wrapped in old hospital bedsheets. We had arrived here in India just a few weeks before this burial.

Of course, there were differences of opinion about "Jesus," the two-part movie shown on the CBS-TV network in mid-May. There were intense differences of opinion about the film's hero during his earthly lifetime, and there have been radical differences of opinion ever since he died on a

The past as one historian aptly put it has become a quot foreign country quot This is true even of our own Christian past Though much has remained the same much has at the same time changed in the landscape of our faith rendering the Christianity of the past a quot foreign country quot to

While playing with his little brother next to their home in Quang Tri province, Giang, five at the time, picked up an explosive device. It detonated. His three-year-old brother was killed instantaneously. Giang lost a hand and an eye and still has several pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body. He

More than 2,500 years ago the Greek historian Herodotus observed that if anyone were given the opportunity of choosing from among all the nations of the world the best set of beliefs, he would inevitably choose those of his own country. Herodotus further asserted that everyone believes his own nativ

If you have seen news articles or television reports on stem cells and the ethical puzzles they present, you may wonder what all the fuss is about. There are at least two things you can be sure of: There will be more wonder, and there will be more fuss. The wonder is related to their origin and thei

Visions of God's JusticeFelicitations on your education issue (5/20). Space being precious, I single out the article by James E. Hug, S.J., on education for justice--a candid, straightforward, courageous challenge to our Jesuit educational enterprise. It spells out for that ministry what several

Professors Rodney Stark and Roger Finke, who teach sociology at the University of Washington and Purdue University respectively, think the Catholic Church will suffer membership reverses characteristic of mainline Protestant denominations. The two professors offered the following observations on the