Changing Catholic Models of Marriage
Marriage is in the news these days, but for mostly negative reasons. The first type of union for the majority of couples is now not marriage but cohabitation; young people are delaying both marriage and, when married, parenthood; the divorce rate hovers around its all-time high; and the birth of chi
The Amoral University
The young man was clearly uneasy. Most people would insist that he had no cause for worry. After all, he would soon receive his M.B.A. from a very prestigious business school, had already been offered a contract by a large investment banking firm and, if he accepts it, would have a starting salary o
The Peace of Jerusalem
Nine years ago, amid higher levels of political violence than had ever occurred before, white South Africans went to the polls. This was not an election but a referendum: should the negotiation process initiated in February 1990 continue? The result was an overwhelming yes. Somehow we realized that
Coming Out as a Catholic School Teacher
In an article about maturity they contributed to Robert Nugent’s book A Challenge to Love (1983), the psychologists James and Evelyn Whitehead use the metaphor of journey or passage to explain the loss and gain or peril and possibility that accompany significant moments in life. At the death o
Poland Today
The re-election in October of a former Communist, Aleksander Kwasniewski, to a five-year term as president of Poland should be a lesson to the Polish church, according to Stanislaw Obirek, S.J., editor of the Polish review of spirituality, Zycie Duchowe. For me and others, Father Obirek said, that w
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Pope John Paul II has surprised everyone by announcing an extraordinary consistory for May 21-24. This will be the sixth extraordinary consistory since John Paul resurrected this governmental structure in 1979. In an extraordinary consistory, the pope invites all of the cardinals (even those over 80
Letters
Letters
From the President of Bethlehem University
I read with great interest your editorial Saying No to Israel (3/5). It is not clear that such enormous amounts of aid to Israel benefit the security of anyone in the areaPalestinians or Israelis. A just and honorable peace is the only real security. I find myself thinking that the…
Editorials
Government and Charities
It was with great joy, President Bush said on Jan. 29, that he was announcing his plan to encourage private charitable agencies, both religious and secular. His basic policy is not new, but his applications of it are. Collaboration has been going on for generations between private social work agenci
Books
A Free Spirit
In The Soul Knows No Bars Drew Ledera professor of Eastern and Western philosophy at Loyola College in Marylanddescribes his experience as a teacher at the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore Others involved in prison education have also written of their on-site work but this is a very different t
Recasting the Christian Story
During his recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land Pope John Paul II enacted three iconic moments that symbolized to the world the new relationship between Catholicismalso Christianityand Judaism and the Jewish people These were 1 his shaking hands with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak which symbo
Mad for God
Reading Mark Salzman rsquo s spare astringent novella about the struggles of a cloistered Carmelite nun inevitably reminds one of Ron Hansen rsquo s contemporary masterpiece Mariette in Ecstasy Sister John of the Cross is decades older than Hansen rsquo s teenage novice and has lived in the conv
Film
Hollow Men: Pollock
Art is a blood sport. Really. Someone, something must be sacrificed during the game, while heartless spectators stare in fascination at the suffering orchestrated for their amusement. Just think how many of the world’s greatest artists made a demolition derby of their lives, systematically wre
The Word
The Pardoner’s Tale
Today rsquo s readings are the second of the three Sundays before Holy Week all of which stress the summons to return to God repentance Paul states the theme crisply ldquo The old things have passed away behold new things have come And all this is from God who has reconciled us to himself t
Columns
A Trio of Love Notes
I was a melancholy child. The photo albums show a toddler with a woebegone expression peeking at the world through the bars of a playpen. My earliest memory is trailing my mom around the house as she vacuumed and asking her over and over, Do you love me? Silencing the roaring machine momentarily, sh
News
Signs of the Times
Pope Names Cardinal Kasper Head of Christian Unity CouncilPope John Paul II has named Cardinal Walter Kasper from Germany, an internationally known theologian and ecumenist, to be president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Cardinal Kasper, who had been secretary of the counci
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