Though the title might lead one to dismiss this book as just another in the swarm of apocalyptic writings like those by Tim LaHaye Jerry Falwell and Grant R Jeffrey preying on public anxiety over the end of the world and predicting Armageddon and cosmic meltdown this work by a professor of polit

Art of TranslationBishop Trautman, in his article, Rome and ICEL (3/4), makes no mention of the widespread dissatisfaction expressed by so many with the quality of ICEL’s work, which is no doubt the reason underlying Rome’s intervention. I think the trouble is that ICEL, from the very ou

The shooting of a 6-year old girl by a 6-year-old classmate in Flint, Mich., was followed a few weeks later by a 12-year-old’s holding his class hostage with a loaded semiautomatic pistol in Lisbon, Ohio. Events like these, coming so soon after the massacre and suicides at the Columbine High S

Channel surfing a few months ago, I was mildly astonished to come across a rerun of Davey and Goliath, the Eisenhower-era claymation series produced, as I recall, under the auspices of the Lutheran Church. For those of you who weren’t TV-addicted children in the 1960’s, Davey and Goliath

Isaias crossed the small parking lot next to the church and approached the rectory. On an open door was written, "Proyecto Guadalupano: a Program of the Proyecto Pastoral at Dolores Mission." In the small office, he sat down opposite Arturo López, the program director, and began to tell h

After World War I the victorious powers cobbled together a new kingdoma constitutional monarchyout of the collapsed Austro-Hungarian Empire It would later be known as Yugoslavia or Land of the South Slavs The new polity was a multi-ethnic state made up of subnational units of Serbs Croats and S

The Mystic Heart is as an excellent survey and overview of the present state of interfaith or multifaith spirituality at the end of the 20th century Wayne Teasdale the author of several books and many articles on interreligious topics and co-editor with George F Cairns of the recent The Communit

Thousands Form Human Chain Around Capitol Against DebtThousands of Americans formed a human chain around the U.S. Capitol on April 9 to urge debt relief for the world’s poorest nations. Sign-bearing union workers, nuns and studentsmany wearing cloth or paper chains to symbolize the enslaving c

Despite the strong economy that has been a boon for millions of Americans, many others remain locked in a poverty that includes hunger. All but ignored in the current political debate, this dark reality served as the background of a three-day conference held in Washington, D.C., in late February. Ca

A woman is hidden behind the white shower curtain. Judging by the sounds, I assume she’s soaping herself. Today is my first day volunteering at the Gift of Grace, a home where Mother Teresa’s nuns and volunteers care for poor women with AIDS. When I arrived earlier this morning, I asked

Lex Orandi, Lex CredendiAlong with many Catholics I was proud of Pope John Paul II’s act of courage and humility in confessing the sins of the church and asking forgiveness. Such an acknowledgment was particularly appropriate in this Lenten season, when the Passion accounts candidly acknowledg

St. Augustine was probably not the first, and he was certainly not the last to remark that even pagans believe that Jesus died. It is only Christians who believe that after death he rose to a new life. The joy that is awakened by this belief in the Resurrection is not supposed to be just a seasonal

The most challenging, the most distressing and yet the most strangely consoling book I have read this year is Annie Dillard’s For the Time Being. It is many things: a string of knotty episodes, a litany of loss, a catalogue of catastrophe, a cry for meaning. Crisscrossing the stories of wise r

Raymond Maloney S J a professor of systematic theology at the Milltown Institute Dublin accomplishes much in this short book on a vexing issue in the history of theology the kind of knowledge that Christ possessed and what that knowledge says about the way God became a human being The issue of

In Puerto Rico these days, religion is on the rise. Just when the populace seems fed up with partisan politics and turned off by the endless stream of scandals coming from indicted public officials, the churches and church leaders seem to have found the right formula for inspiring Puerto Ricans. Thi

In his historic visit to the Holy Land, Pope John Paul II once again captured the imagination of the world. The stooped figure in white with shaking hands somehow projected a strength beyond reason, a spiritual strength that came from an absolute faith in his mission to proclaim God’s love and

Oakland Diocesan Service Offers Apology for Clergy Sex AbusePain, anger and healing surged through an Oakland gathering as Bishop John S. Cummins and other leaders of the Diocese of Oakland publicly apologized to victims of clergy sexual abuse. More than 130 people, including survivors, their famili