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
James Martin, S.J.
The Rev. James Martin, S.J., is a Jesuit priest, author, editor at large at America and founder of Outreach.
Posted inOf Many Things
Of Many Things
An older Jesuit once told me he felt that priests have a much harder life than laypeople. We’re always "on call," he explained, and have so many responsibilitiescelebrating Masses, hearing confessions, living in community, preparing homilies and the like. Laypeople can set their own
Posted inTelevision
A Wasteland Less Vast
Not long ago I came across an article about one Mr. Newton Minow, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission who famously described television in the 1960’s as "a vast wasteland." Doubtless it would have surprised Mr. Minow that his phrase still sums up the current
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Behold the Mother
Is there a more remarkable spiritual writer today than Kathleen Norris And how full of paradoxes she is quot containing multitudes quot to take a leaf from Walt Whitman Coming from what she calls a quot thoroughly Protestant background quot her meditations have been both widely read and grea
Posted inOf Many Things
Of Many Things
Heretical as it is for someone living in New York, I must confess: I almost never go to the theater. But before you peg me a hopeless philistine, I might explain that there are a number of, well, reasonable reasons for this. First of all, have you checked the price of a Broadway ticket lately? Not a
Posted inFrom Our Archives
The Hidden Holocaust: An Interview With Bishop Macram Max Gassis of Sudan
Over two million people have lost their lives and over four million have been displaced in the war waged by the government of Sudan against its own people in the south. It is arguably the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in the world, dwarfingat least in terms of casualtiesthe recent crises in Koso
Posted inFaith, Vantage Point
Mother of the Incarnate Word
From 1998: An introduction to a unique Marian icon.
Posted inArts & Culture, Vantage Point
Remembering the unlikely friendship between Princess Diana and Mother Teresa
In the wake of her death, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one of the holiest women of our time, was reduced to a walk-on in the life of the Princess of Wales.
Posted inFaith, Vantage Point
Opus Dei in the United States
From 1995: To its members, Opus Dei is nothing less than The Work of God. To its critics, it is a powerful, even dangerous organization.