Books

ldquo Once a reasonable number of our germ cells have been given a chance to impart their DNA to the next generation rdquo U C L A biologist William R Clark reminds us ldquo our somatic cells become so much excess baggage They serve no useful function and they mdash we mdash must die so th

A school particularly a Jesuit school is a family mdash a community of brothers and sisters who share a common name as alumni a common ancestry in the generations that came before common parents in the faculty a common Ignatian culture and a common responsibility for the generations to come A

How many times have we mumbled our way through the Nicene Creed giving not a second thought to our firm vocalized belief in the revolutionary proposition that there shall be a ldquo resurrection of the body rdquo after death and not simply some vague new life for our immortal soul How often p

It was one of those chilling moments I was seated across from my parish priest who had just gotten back from an extended ldquo time away rdquo mdash yet unexplained When I mentioned my interest in a more disciplined prayer life perhaps to buy a breviary mdash the standard daily book of prayers

Every year the president determines how many refugees will be allowed into the United States for permanent resettlement In 2001 President Bush set the number at 70 000 But in the wake of Sept 11 the government decided to carry out a security review of the refugee screening process and shut down

ldquo Take religion away and the Irish are a pretty friendly people rdquo a Protestant woman from Derry remarked to Marcus Tanner the author of this rather unfocussed history of religious conflict in Ireland Tanner the assistant foreign editor of the London Independent came to the project as

With Popes and Politics Justus Lawler has written two books His first four chapters analyze recent works about Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust His final three chapters address issues of church renewal and reform So massive has been the devastation inflicted on the memory of Pius XII by Rolf Hochhu

I first began reading Ian McEwan when Black Dogs came out a decade ago subsequently I started collecting and reading all his novels Combining a shrewd narrative sense with acute psychology he often manages to pick subjects that push him and his reader into the borderlands of ordinary life where t

In 1998 just before he turned 50 Edward Gargan did what any normal Vietnam-era c o former Berkeley Ph D candidate in medieval Chinese history New York Times foreign correspondent and bureau chief West Africa India and Hong Kong and current Newsday Asia hand would do for a midlife sabbatical

In his 40th year Chris Offutt took his wife and two sons home to the hills of eastern Kentucky so he could teach creative writing at Morehead State University his alma mater which he confesses was more of a high school with ashtrays than a genuine college Even the location was not much just a