Nefas literally ldquo unspeakable rdquo is a Latin word for evil It is a heavy word weightier than malum the term for a garden-variety moral wrongdoing It is an offense against the sacred a sacrilege in the sense of a ritual violation but even more in the sense of a violation of the divine
Drew Christiansen
Drew Christiansen, S.J., served as the editor in chief of America from 2005 to 2012. He was a Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development at Georgetown University and a senior fellow with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He was co-editor with Carole Sargent of A World Free from Nuclear Weapons: The Vatican Conference on Disarmament (Georgetown, 2020).
Posted inOf Many Things
Of Many Things
Jonathan Haidt’s book The Righteous Mind is addressed to our national discontent.
Posted inIn All Things
Changing the Church: Benedict’s Chrism Mass Homily
In coverage of Pope Benedict s Chrism Mass homily on Holy Thursday See below most of the media have focused on his addressing the Austrian Pfarrer Priest movement which has called for priestly disobedience in the name of church reform particularly on issues of ordination nbsp nbsp nbsp nb
Posted inIn All Things
Holy Thursday: Agreement over the Cenacle?
On Holy Thursday Christians recall the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist It is a day when a story about the Cenacle the Upper Room where Jesus took his last meal with the disciples is a natural choice for news editors The room is on every pilgrim s itinerary but title for the sp
Posted inIn All Things
Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Righteous Mind’
Jonathan Haidt rsquo s The Righteous Mind Pantheon is a book addressed to our national discontent A study in moral psychology it aims to explain why Americans are so polarized over politics and religion Haidt rsquo s explanation ldquo the righteous mind rdquo not only the human capacity to
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Engaging the Spirituals: The secular challenge to the New Evangelization
The secular challenge to the New Evangelization
Posted inOf Many Things
Of Many Things
The ecumenism initiated by Vatican II is alive and well in the Eternal City.
Posted inFrom Our Archives
Vatican II at 50
Fifty years ago this last Christmas Day (Dec. 25, 1961), with the Apostolic Constitution “Humanae Salutis,” Blessed John XXIII formally convoked the Second Vatican Council in the hope that renewal of the church would give hope to the world. “I know how helpful for the good of souls