In ancient Israel, a jubilee year was a time to build the kinds of social relationships expected of God’s people. It was the season to liberate slaves who lost their freedom through debt and return land to those who had sold it to pay off debts. It was a year to erase debts altogether. So it i

I like to tell folks that I have a little black nun inside of me. She’s my muse, my spiritual guru, my inspiration. She’s a patron saint who leads me and guides me when I call on her to lend me a hand. She’s the late Sister Thea Bowman (1937-90). Now I never met Thea in the flesh,

Concordats are treaties between states and the Holy See regulating the civil status of the church Because the Holy See represents not only political interests but moral ones as well concordats unlike most treaties tend to be confused in the popular mind with the notion that the Holy See approves

Of all the commentary about George W. Bush and his now-famous appearance at Bob Jones University, the most interesting came from Bishop Thomas V. Dailey of Brooklyn. Speaking to the press, the bishop expressed measured concernbut not about the topic at hand. He was not so much concerned about the Te

Could a pope resign? Would a retired pope still be infallible? If a pope resigns and another is elected, are there in effect two popes?

Country Held HostageYour editorial Send the Boy Home to Cuba (3/11) has many inaccuracies:1) The title makes Elián look like a parcel or inanimate object that could be easily shipped to Cuba. He is a young human being, whose feelings must be taken into account. After almost four months in the Unite

Learn a new language at the advanced age of 60? Surely madness even to try. But having come to New York in 1994 to work for America, I moved after my first year of living at America House to a Jesuit parish on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Knowing that Nativity Parish is primarily Hispanic, and

Cardinal Says Boff’s Ideas Still Alive 15 Years After SilencingFifteen years after the Vatican silenced a Brazilian theologian for holding that the one true church can exist outside the Catholic Church, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said the idea continues to circulate. The cardinal, who is prefec

The fanfare with which Amtrak announced its new train, called Acela (Speed and Excellence), was somewhat diminished by delays in the start of service. Designed to ply the routes along the Northeast corridor, the $2-billion, 150-m.p.h. train system was scheduled to start late last year. Now, maybe it

During the last three days of January, after an 18-month exploration of the topic, The Kansas City Star published a series of articles on cases of AIDS among Catholic priests. Propelled by the assertion that "priests are dying of AIDS at a rate at least four times that of the general U.S. popul

Bob Chase, president of the country’s largest teachers’ union, the 2.3 million-member National Education Association, has nothing good to say about school vouchers.Mr. Chase occasionally writes brief essays that the N.E.A. inserts as paid advertisements in selected newspapers. In one tha

The Reform of the Papacy is an important book one certain to be controversial within and without the Roman Catholic Church above all controversial within the episcopacy in the United States and abroad To recognize its importance and likely impact requires but a brief consideration of the topic an

Chorus of WhinersFirst, it’s the American theologians who are whining over Ex Corde Ecclesiae. Now it’s the turn of the liturgical translators to whine over the intervention of the Congregation for Divine Worship. I’m tired of all this whining against the Vatican, which has become

In what may signal a crack in the wall of support for the death penalty, a number of states have begun to question whether it can ever be fairly applied. Illinois provides the most dramatic example. Since 1977, 13 men have been released from its death row. One, Anthony Porter, came within two days o

Should public high school students be permitted to engage in a public opening prayer before the game of their football team? That question will be resolved in a case accepted by the United States Supreme Court on Nov. 15, 1999 [see editorial, "Public Schools and Religion," 1/15.] The facts

Only last year pundits were pronouncing the sitcom on its last legs. After all, "Seinfeld" and "Home Improvement" were gone, and even popular shows like "Frasier" seemed increasingly tired. (How often can you watch Niles pursue Daphne, Frasier avoid Lilith and Eddie act

During the last tense years of South Africa rsquo s apartheid regime the University of Notre Dame awarded a number of fellowships to members of the South African clergy to study at the university During their stay they boarded at Moreau Seminary and the halls rang with their laughter Their laug

I’ve seen two movies in recent days that I can’t shake. Both are late-1960’s films about a stranger in a hostile and unfamiliar place who, through an unlikely relationship, discovers unknown darkness and lightin himself and in others. My emotional response to each movie was contrad