Of Many Things

Institutional cultures are notoriously hard to change, whether the institution is a corporation, a university or a not-for-profit organization. Those who are comfortable with unquestioned assumptions and accustomed ways of doing things are not likely to recognize the need for change, even when the i

As letters to America go, this one was nothing special. A Catholic physician had written to argue for a married Catholic clergy, listing a number of familiar arguments, including the superior ability of married Protestant ministers to relate to their congregations, the equivocal witness of early chu

Sister Helen Prejean once again last fall spent several days with us at America House. She was in New York in November to consult with the actor-playwright Tim Robbins about the stage version of her book Dead Man Walking. She found time to stop by my office to speak about this latest reincarnation o

One afternoon in early February, a sad-eyed man in a faded parka was standing on a corner in Midtown Manhattan. He was timidly trying to distribute cards for a nearby sandwich-and-salad shop, but the crowd brushed past him. Not far away, two young women were more successful. Smiling and twittering,

You have to hand it to Mel Gibson. Whether his decision to screen The Passion of the Christ in advance for only a hand-picked cadre of sympathetic reviewers (mostly evangelical Protestants, conservative Catholics and sympathetic rabbis) was motivated by fear, money or faith, it was an excellent mark

During his surprising appearance on “Meet the Press” on Feb. 8, President Bush outlined what most observers believe will be the basic argument of his campaign for re-election in November 2004. The dominant theme of that campaign was probably captured in the president’s assertion to

Every organization has people who work behind the scenes out of the limelight, to make sure that everything gets done that needs to be done. They do not get the headlines, but no organization can survive without them. America had such a person for 40 years as our business manager and controller. Jam

A Pentecost wind—that’s what it felt like the afternoon I took a subway uptown to visit the Mother Cabrini shrine. It was her feast day, Nov. 13, and never having been there, it therefore seemed the right moment to do something I had thought about since my days as a seminarian. Back then

Yoko Ono, John Lennon’s widow—a tiny figure in tight jeans and a short, snug-fitting jacket—was talking about her art. She stood out in marked contrast to her surroundings, the cavernous 19th-century Great Hall of the Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan, where Abraham Lincoln once spok

Here’s an old chestnut I first heard as a novice: "He’s as confused as a Jesuit during Holy Week!" Ha ha. We Jesuits were supposed to be so addled about liturgical practices that the elaborate rituals of Holy Week were for us a mystery – and not the good kind of mystery.There i