James Martin, S.J.

As part of nbsp our nbsp promise vow to keep you up to date on movies over the Christmas and Epiphany and Baptism season here s Jake Martin s review of Crazy Heart which is winning plaudits for Jeff Bridges s performance as a country crooner looking up from the bottom of nbsp a whiskey bot

Says William Doino who writes for Inside the Vatican and contributed to The Pius War nbsp in a lengthy piece in the London Times today nbsp It s one of the most concise and well-documented nbsp defenses of the pope that you will find In the Autumn of 1987 during one of his many meetings with

Nowhere in the New York Times in 1990 writes Peter Steinfels in his last Beliefs column today ldquo was there a regular treatment of religion for readers with a special interest in the topic as there was obviously for business and sports but also for science art architecture and many other

nbsp In case you saw the recent New York Times story that was headlined Catholic Groups Suports Senate on Abortion Aid and started out with this graf In an apparent split with Roman Catholic bishops over the abortion-financing provisions of the proposed health care overhaul the nation rsquo s

US Catholic is devoting almost their entire current issue on the Vatican s apostolic visitation of women s religious communities including an extensive survey and an article entitled The Sisters of Mercy Are Not McDonalds nbsp And be sure to check out our piece by Francine Cardman in our issue

Here s an article I wrote for Slate com for Christmas Eve this year You may have more in common with the Mother of God than you think If nbsp card manufacturers still think of Mary as a fair-skinned beauty queen many Christians especially Catholics don t even think of her as human Mary exist

No that is not a fake headline nbsp Here s the story from the Associated Press in which the official Vatican newspaper praises Homer Marge Bart Lisa Little Maggie et al on the occasion of the show s 20th anniversary nbsp nbsp NB the praise of laughter L Osservatore Romano on Tuesday cong

As promised while the magazine nbsp moves into its biweekly schedule over the holidays i e Christmas and New Year s just so you don t think we re succumbing to creeping secularism we are offering you a surfeit of items in our online Culture section nbsp And since moviegoing is a popular pas

From the London Times The Vatican has defended its moves towards beatifying Pope Pius XII saying that they reflected the piety of the wartime pontiff and not his ldquo historical importance rdquo nbsp Pope Benedict XVI sparked anger among Jewish groups on Saturday by bestowing the title ldquo

Exciting news Archeologists have discovered nbsp the remains of nbsp first-century house in Nazareth from the time of Jesus s boyhood nbsp While there s no way of telling whether it s Jesus s Home as The New York Post with its typical ridiculousness reported today the find will help