The Catholic Church in China
Mark, a Russian journalist, comes every year to the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong for an update on the Catholic Church in China. This year he arrived right after the election of Pope Benedict XVI. “What is your opinion?” he asked. “Will Benedict XVI accomplish more than Joh
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Have you ever returned to a book that you enjoyed as a younger reader? The experience can be enjoyable, disappointing and surprising, all at once. Last month, in a book club at a local Jesuit parish, I reminded the group that our next selection would be Mr. Blue, by Myles Connolly. Mr. Blue! exclaimed one…
Letters
Letters
Modernity
The very fact that John O. Mudd does not mention religious brothers along with sisters and priests in running Catholic health institutions in his article From C.E.O. to Mission Leader (7/18) leads me to believe that he is not aware of the success of the Alexian Brothers in combining sound management practices with a sense…
Editorials
The Shame of Torture
The logjam of denials about the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. detention sites in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo has finally been broken. Capt. Ian Fishback’s letter in September to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has cleared the way for steps that may at last establish
Faith in Focus
Dodging Traffic
Last week, over our Wednesday morning cup of coffee, a conservative Christian friend smiled as she told me I am the most conservative liberal she has ever met! There was a time when this would have brought anything but a smile to my face. But that day, I laughed out loud. I thanked her for…
Correspondence of a Foundress
On Nov. 11, 1841, a 63-year-old woman named Catherine McAuley was dying of tuberculosis in a commodious house on Baggot Street in southeast Dublin. Some years earlier, after she had come into a considerable fortune, she had had this building constructed for what she called “works of mercy.”
Books
Travel to the Center
Bruce Feiler is one American determined to find meaning in the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 2001 and the war in Iraq mdash and he does it in one of the most dangerous places on earth As a follow-up to his Walking the Bible 2002 Feiler returns to the Middle East to answer the question…
Progress of a Poet’s Soul
W H Auden – who like T S Eliot was pre-eminent in 20th century English-language poetry – remained at or near the center of Western cultural life from the 1920 rsquo s until his death in the early 1970 rsquo s With his gaze focused unflinchingly on matters great and small during those years A
The Key Link
Anne Hunt an Australian Catholic theologian and author of several previous books on the doctrine of the Trinity aims in this book ldquo to explore and present the trinitarian nexus or interconnection of the mystery of the Trinity with the other great mysteries of the Christian faith rdquo Thus
Light on Mystery
This is a difficult book to classify It is not history or theology or philosophy nor is it poetry exegesis criticism or hagiography mdash although it includes something of each Perhaps it might be considered a manual for converts a handbook for participants in a parish adult initiation group
Don’t Box Him In
If she were a name-dropper Jane Kopas might tell us that she and Pope John XXIII agree about many things She would agree with his opening address at the Second Vatican Council when the pope attentive to reading the signs of the times said that the substance of the ancient doctrine of the deposi
Film
Good Knight: Good Night, and Good Luck
"Nattering nabobs of negativism” was the phrase Spiro T. Agnew used to describe the press when he addressed the convention of California Republicans on Sept. 11, 1970. The vice president had his own reasons for despising what he called “the effete corps of impudent snobs.” Loc
Television
Life on Mars
In the sugarplum candyland of Neptune, Calif., the high school student Veronica Mars had it all–smarts, a cute boyfriend, a stable nuclear family and social status. It is true that, unlike most of her peers, she was not wealthy; as sheriff, her dad was actually closer to “the help.” But
The Word
Use It or Lose It!
One is amazed by the results of an Internet search for the phrase ldquo use it or lose it rdquo The listing is easily a seven-figure number A good portion of this listing deals with issues like free speech brain function and muscle tone to name but a few These are excellent examples for it…
Faith
Use It or Lose It!
One is amazed by the results of an Internet search for the phrase ldquo use it or lose it rdquo The listing is easily a seven-figure number A good portion of this listing deals with issues like free speech brain function and muscle tone to name but a few These are excellent examples for it…
News
Signs of the Times
Consultations Shape Future of Church in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Following the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, La., has begun to plan its rebuilding. Prior to Katrina, the archdiocese numbered 491,000 Catholics. Questions facing the planners inc
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts