Progress in unity among Christians does not occur step by step. Communions of Christians do not stand still. They are constantly developing within themselves and forming new communions, sometimes adopting new structures and practices, at other times recovering ways that were once held in common. As
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Christian Political Capital
When you have a party, invite the poor. I have been asked, now and then, how someone might vote from the perspective of Gospel values, Christian values, Catholic values. Usually, I demur, not because I am reluctant to answer, but because I don’t think such questions are really serious. If I sa
Seminarians Make Peace in the Balkans
What can Americans do to help with the peace in the battered countries that used to make up Yugoslavia? That question preoccupied Laurie Johnston, a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School, whose thoughts turned to the reconciliation work that Moral Re-Armament had done between Germans and Frenc
Implications of an Ecumenical Agreement
"See how they love one another." According to Tertullian, a Christian writing in 197, this was the amazed comment of outsiders observing the members of the new Christian sect that was then sweeping the Roman Empire. That was in the second century, early in the history of Christianity. Duri
The Genome Project: More Than a Medical Milestone
Two scientific teams, one public and one private, jointly announced in June that their researchers, working separately, had deciphered the human genetic code. Elation in the scientific community and extensive media coverage signaled the importance of their accomplishment for the capabilities of medi
Housing and Low-Income Americans
The timing could not have been more appropriate: On the first day of the annual conference in Washington, D.C., of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released its report to Congress on worst-case housing needs. The title itself goes to the hear
A Papal Age Limit?
Six years have passed over the Holy See since 1870, and its organization has been dying out year after year. All this darkness, confusion, depression, inactivity and illness, made me understand the Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem [My soul is sorrowful even unto death].The author of these words
Elderhood for the World
The first time I realized that I was old, at least in the eyes of others, was when a young woman stood up in a crowded bus to give me her seat. Resisting that sobering message, I continued to think of the old as they, not we. The definitive change came only a few years ago at Bethany, when I was wel
Kent State and the Next Generation
Kent State is my American Jerusalem. Ever since I stopped at the campus on a whim while driving across Ohio in 1993, I have made yearly pilgrimages to this sacred-secular ground of antiwar activity, where four students died and nine were injured. But I’m no nostalgic baby boomer, no former rad
The Papacy for a Global Church: The contemporary world situation demands a successor of Peter who, with divine assistance, can teach and direct the entire people of God.
The contemporary world situation demands a successor of Peter who, with divine assistance, can teach and direct the entire people of God.
