Vocation Education
One can distinguish between two radically different approaches to making life choicesthe professional and the vocational. The professional approach is so familiar as to be a cultural commonplace. It has such primacy in personal power, economic currency and institutional warrant that it claims near m
The Strengths of Priests Today
Since I became a bishop 32 years ago, I have seen and worked with priests all over the United States. I have been a bishop in a rural diocese and in an urban diocese. I have given priests’ retreats in the East, West and Midwest. I have worked with priests in committees and on the…
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
The saints in glory, whether they have been formally canonized or not, are immune to irritation. Were that not the case, those canonized saints who were married men might have been chagrined to find their existence denied in a letter to the editor in the May 6 issue of The New Yorker.Thomas A. DiMag
Letters
Letters
Renewal on All Levels
There have been many excellent articles in America on the current crisis (6/3). Different perspectives, often complementary, have been presented. It was, however, refreshing to read Christopher Ruddy’s thoughts from the Second Vatican Council seeking inspiration for a renewal in the heart of the church’s tradition rather than outside of it. There…
Editorials
Returning From Dallas
The charter approved by the bishops at their spring meeting in Dallas on June 13-15 provides for zero tolerance: No priest who has abused a minor in the past, present or future will be allowed to act as a priest againno public Masses, no working in parishes or any other priestly ministry and no wear
Faith in Focus
God in the Tangled Sheets
If marriage is a source of sacramental grace, why are we as a church so uncomfortable about sex?
Books
They Tell the Story
Over the years many theological texts have brought fresh insights to the well- known story of the sisters from Bethany named Mary and Martha Now we can add the fine scholarship and fresh ideas of the Japanese feminist theologian Satoko Yamaguchi to the list I truly enjoyed this book The author s
Dramatic Dominican
In the course of 50 years in and out of the theatrical spotlight Vincent Harke the Dominican priest who founded the renowned Department of Speech and Drama at The Catholic University of America in Washington D C attracted a host of admirers One of them a graduate of the department Mary Jo Sa
Nothing More Than a Feeling
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
The Word
After the Parade
Independence Day Parades streaming down main street band concerts of patriotic music fireworks displays cookoutsall celebrating the birth of a nation with paeans of praise for freedom democracy and military might With the memory of Sept 11 still fresh the celebrations will be bittersweet Ho
Down on the Farm
Amos N Wilder one of the greats of 20th century biblical scholarship wrote that in the parables the reader meets Jesus the layman for whom human destiny is at stake in ordinary creaturely existence domestic economic social Early Christian Rhetoric The Language of the Gospel p 82 Here t
Columns
The Ghost Walks
I wonder if Jim Florio, the former Governor of New Jersey who became famous because he raised taxes, feels any better about his fate now that he has been included in Caroline Kennedy’s new book of modern profiles in courage. Florio took office in 1990 and found himself staring at a recession-b
News
Signs of the Times
U.S. Bishops Rule Zero Tolerance for Priests Who AbuseAt a historic meeting in Dallas, Tex., on June 13-15, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops ordered dramatic changes to protect children throughout the Catholic Church in the United States, notably forbidding a second chance in ministry for any
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