Fresh Canadian AirThe Canadian Religious Conference, which represents more than 200 orders of men and women, in January presented to the bishops of Canada an exhaustive analysis of the situation of the church in that country. They outlined points of satisfaction and regret, and provided a wish-list
The Editors
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Measuring Catholic Identity
The publication in 1990 of the apostolic constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae has been the inspiration for continuing conversation within the Catholic higher education community in the United States. The leadership of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and its member institutions have
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Silver Medal Losers?How to explain the disappointing performance of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in the television ratings, the lowest since 1968? Perhaps this year’s Olympic hopefuls were simply too hyped. When everyone is touted as a future gold medalist, anything less is seen as a loss. Or
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Reckless Improvisation
The announcement on March 3 that President George W. Bush had concluded a nuclear-supply agreement with the government of India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was alarming news. What remains of the nuclear nonproliferation regime was already under severe stress from North Korea and Iran. The
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Intelligence and Policy
The world has always been a dangerous place, and each generation has had to confront its own set of challenges. During the years of the cold war, when the Soviet Union and the United States were locked in a nuclear standoff, the very survival of the international community was at stake. The danger w
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Continuing EmbarrassmentThe Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba has increasingly become an embarrassment for the United States. In mid-February, a team of five inspectors from the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva issued a lengthy report documenting human rights violations alleged to be ta
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The Meanest Cities
Cities vary in their responses to the needs of their homeless populations. Some are very mean indeed as the numbers of homeless people continue to rise. Take Sarasota, Fla. After state courts overturned two successive anti-lodging laws as applied to public spaces, the city persisted and this past su
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Culture Clash
The chasm between the Muslim world and the West yawns still wider as a result of the furor over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Some of the protest, particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, was government instigated; some was fomented by radicals keen to whip up animosity against the West.
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Toward a More Civil Debate
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 31, President Bush called for greater civility in our public debates about national policy. Our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger, he said. While it may prove to be an elusive goal, a restoration of civility in our public debate could have i
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A More Excellent Way
As a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger made clear his desire for the church to find a way to convey to the world the joy at the heart of the Gospel. Now as Pope Benedict XVI, he has, with his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), taken a decisive step in that direction. What is fresh about the