Generalizations about races or nations, however prejudiced, usually have some basis in fact. – Peter Mansfield, The Arabs.
From Our Archives
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The Church’s Bishop, A City’s Pastor
It might surprise many to learn that no bishop has ministered to more persons living with AIDS than Cardinal John O’Connor, who by his own report tended to countless patients at St. Clare’s Hospital. I dare say also that no bishop has directly ministered to more priests and bishops who w
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Distributors of Justice: A Case for a Just Wage
In this Jubilee year, the issue of wealth distribution, especially as it relates to the larger macroeconomic issues of international debt and globalization, has received a good deal of attention and analysis. For this we should be thankful. What has not received much attention, however, are the resp
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Fighting Against Sweatshop Abuses
When did your anti-sweatshop work begin?We began our labor rights activities in Latin America in the early 1990’s in El Salvador and Honduras. One of our first projects was to help a local human rights organization in Honduras, called the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, to do a surv
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The China Trade Debate
The debate over whether the United States should give permanent normal trade relations to China pits human rights concerns against economic ones. While others focus on labor, environmental or military issues, the U.S. bishops oppose special trade privileges for China because of China’s human r
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Sunset or Sunrise?
As I sat down to enjoy a breakfast cup of coffee recently on an out-of-town trip, I was caught off guard by a question that would challenge any early riser: How does it feel to preside over the demise of Jesuit higher education? Like it or not, I must admit that my questioner is not alone. There are
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Confessions of a Residence Hall Chaplain
Making cookies, spending long nights in the local hospital emergency room and giving relationship advicewhen I joined the Jesuits five years ago, I would have never guessed that these tasks would one day comprise my job description. As I conclude an academic year living as a residence hall chaplain
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Educating for Justice
At a Jesuit university halfway around the world, a visiting Latin American theologian told the assembled Jesuits, "Students? Oh, students are the necessary sin of a university!" The comment was made tongue-in-cheek to stir the audience up. But his line of thought was deadly serious. Studen
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Being Catholic in a Jesuit Context
Even if there were no Ex Corde Ecclesiae or U.S. bishops’ Application, those involved in higher education in Catholic and Jesuit universities would be examining the mission and the direction of our institutions. Publications like Michael J. Buckley’s The Catholic University as Promise an
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Elin’s Fevered Island
The first big surprise on landing in Havana, Cuba, is the magnificent new José Martí International Airport. You’ve heard all the stories about the collapse of the island’s economy after the Soviet Union abandoned subsidies in 1989, and how since then, with the tightening of the U.S. em