Social Security and the Poor
It is tempting to assess the modern debate over Social Security according to what any proposed changes will do for each of us personally. But many people, if not most, want a more principled approach to considering what, if anything, needs to be reformed. To these I suggest that there is a solid civ
Enough Oversight?: Raising Money for Catholic Causes
Charitable appeals reach their full force across the nation about now, as the asking season roars in like a winter gale. Yuletide and year-end tax considerations collide to make a climate perfect not only for marketing U.S. charities but also for the cottage industry of donor guidance that seems to
Symbols Are Not Just Symbols: After Berengar of Tours the focus shifted from the action of the Eucharist to the host.
Many Catholics, perhaps especially among the clergy, continue to be dismayed by the 1994 New York Times survey, according to which over half the Catholics who attend Mass weekly said that they believed that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are strictly the symbolic presence of Christ. (For a rece
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
It is a truism that Americans spend more than we need to and consume more than we have to. But doesn’t it seem that our desire to consume superfluous goods has lately grown to alarming proportions? The other day, for example, I caught a TV commercial for Fit. In case you’ve not yet been
Letters
Letters
Advancing the VisionIn your cover article, Hurricane Mitch’s Silver Lining (12/2), Dennis Linehan, S.J., sensitively chronicles the collaborative efforts of Catholic Relief Services and others in the reconstruction efforts in the wake of that devastating storm which ravaged Nicaragua. The Cent
Editorials
Christmas 2000
In a sermon preached at Oxford around 1825, when he was still an Anglican, John Henry Newman began by saying that in every part of Scripture it is told us again and again, that to make sinful creatures holy was the great end which our Lord had in view in taking upon Him our nature,…
Faith in Focus
God as Mother: Exploring an Alternative Image of Love
In his way out the door my husband, Shawn, looks at me with honest concern in his eyes. Are you going to be okay? Yes, I bravely try to assure him, choking back a few tears while holding our beautiful new baby girl on my lap. He is off to work and will drop our…
Books
International Peace Initiatives
The American activist and pacifist A J Muste once said There is no way to peace peace is the way His maxim is pithy but enigmatic What is the peaceful way and how do you follow it when conflicts become armed and dangerous Most of us simply don rsquo t know It is one of…
For All the World to See
Privacy has no enemies Its friends date back at least to St Thomas Aquinas who wrote nemo tenetur seipsum accusare mdash ldquo no one is obliged to accuse himself rdquo Is privacy destined to erode because of the electronic footprints of e-mail the Internet cell phones and the vast amounts of
Virtuous Education
Ex Corde Ecclesiae the Vatican document issued by John Paul II on Aug 15 1990 describes the relationship that should exist between the Catholic Church and Catholic colleges and universities throughout the world Even before that document was issued there had been considerable discussion and deb
Poetry
Formal Brief: The Name
Forgive my having recourse just aboveto the legalistic idiom. Forgivemy having chosen to pursue a measuredargument, and in such lax verse. Forgiveas well my penchant for ironic tone,for all my insufficiencies—those fewcommitted here, the many others—there. And now that you are in t
The Word
Words to Live By; A Light to Guide
The Christmas Epiphany cycle offers a series of windows into the mystery of the birth and manifestation of Jesus rather than a sequential tour through the infancy narratives The already rich fare of the Christmas season was expanded within the last century by the addition of the feast of the Holy
Epiphany
Two years ago on Epiphany eve I was visiting a stellar family with four exuberant little boys ranging in age from 8 to 2 Johnny age 5 and I were looking through the family Christmas cards and he seemed especially fascinated by the varied and elaborate illustrations of the visit of the Magi came
Columns
Point of Embarkation: While Christmas is the goalthat which we long forit is by no means the end.
Everyone knows Christmas is about giving, and who could have any problem with an annual holiday centered on gifts? In a booming economy when consumers are spending, there are no losers; everyone gives, receives and feels good. The atmosphere saturated with preternaturally familiar sights and sounds,
News
Signs of the Times
Christians, Muslims in Bethlehem Hold March for PeaceFor the first time in almost two months Manger Square and the streets of Bethlehem were filled with people after dark as several hundred people participated in a candlelight march to protest Israeli-Palestinian clashes. In the last few months Beth
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts