Twenty years ago, Pope John Paul II convened what has become one of the more significant symbolic and substantive events of his eventful pontificate. On Oct. 26, 1986, the participants in the World Day of Prayer for Peace gathered under an overcast and sometimes rainy sky in Assisi, Italy, “to
Twenty-seven years after Pope John XXIII announced to the cardinals that he would call an ecumenical council, another pope announced that he would consult with world religious leaders to organize with them a special meeting of prayer for peace, in the city of Assisi. Pope John Paul II chose the same
"It’s a monsoon out there.” Our rain-soaked superior had just come in from one of the ferocious spring storms that beset New York. I quoted his words in this column in our March 24, 2003 issue. It was our only reference to him in America during all the years he lived here. As import
Justice for All
On behalf of the bishops of the California Catholic Conference I wish to respond to the article in America by Marci A. Hamilton (9/25), who is both an attorney for plaintiffs suing the Catholic Church and a professor at Yeshiva University Law School. The
As we approach the November midterm Congressional elections, most of official Washington has gone into recess. In the final weeks of campaigning, both the White House and the Congress have turned their attention from policy to politics. Those who take an idealistic view of the democratic process mig
I had very mixed feelings driving to Mass a few Sundays ago. The pastor of the church I had been attending for years was retiring, and this would be his last Mass there. I was trying to feel happy for Father Don; he deserved to be free of the administrative duties of a pastor. I knew he wanted more