Coalition Crunch
A long time ago, in the 1960’s, I found myself in a march protesting what I thought was some covert racism at Saint Louis University. As I carried my sign calling for more serious recruitment of African-American students, I saw someone in the picket line looping back toward me. His sign sporte
Human Rights, Justice and the World Church
When more than 400 Catholic moral theologians from around the world gathered in Padua, Italy, from July 8 to 11, the meeting evoked an awareness of God calling the church to deeper communion and generated among them a powerful desire to work for greater unity throughout the global human community. T
Lebanon’s Reconstruction
When I met Antanos Hasrouni at the height of the conflict in Lebanon, the bitter irony of his life hung like a cloud about him. Chased by the war to a rented room in East Beirut, Hasrouni was readying a tiny apartment for the nine other members of his family who would join him. He…
Darth Mauled
Some see Halloween as a time for pretty outfits and make-believe—“My, what a handsome scarecrow” and the like. Personally, I always looked on the holiday as an occasion for casting ourselves headlong into our fears—of mortality, monsters and the dark—and laughing at the
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
I have had to learn three hard lessons about political life. First, perception “is” reality. Second, loyalty counts more than morality. Third, symbols trump reasoned argument. These are lessons every natural-born politician knows. But, I confess, in my case they may never take firm hold.
Letters
Letters
A Magnificent Witness
I do canonical work for women religious in the United States and in other countries. Some of this work has been with cloistered sisters. Therefore, I was deeply touched by the beautiful photographs of the women from the three Carmelite monasteries (Who Can Argue With Love? by Lily Almog, 10/2). The Jewish photographer…
Editorials
All Souls Day, 2006
Among the great spirituals created by the African-American churches in the South is one that compares death to a train. The same train, it says, that called for my father and my mother and my brother is whistling at the station for me. This train makes only one-way trips, for it is traveling to the
Faith and Reason
Hard Questions About Just War
Reevaluating just war theory for a new millennium.
Books
Answering the Call
The Sulpician priest Gerald D Coleman is to be commended for this volume In it he shares with the Catholic community at large not only his long-term experiences as a rector professor and guide for seminary life but also his keen insights into the practical needs of priestly formation Catholic m
Film
10 best films and documentaries about the saints
Films can be a fine introduction to the saints. And sometimes the movie versions are as good as any biography for conveying the saint’s special charism.
The Word
The Jewishness of Jesus
Today rsquo s reading from Mark 12 concerns what is often called the love commandment It urges us to love God and our neighbor It is sometimes referred to as the double love commandment because it involves both love of God and love of neighbor It is frequently held up as the distinctive feature o
Culture
Chasing the Sacred
"Batter my heart, three-personed God." "The world is charged with the grandeur of God." "Slouching towards Bethlehem." In each generation, orthodox and maverick poets have offered fresh insights into age-old religious truths. George Herbert blazed new trails for devotio
Current Comment
Current Comment
Justice in the Rift ValleyThose with long memories, as well as admirers of Isak Dinesen’s writings, may recall the Honorable Hugh Cholmondeley, the third Baron Delamere, who was one of the original white settlers of British East Africa in the 1900’s. Lord Delamere, and later his family,
Faith
Hard Questions About Just War
Reevaluating just war theory for a new millennium.
News
Signs of the Times
Security Must Not Trump Human RightsCounterterrorism strategy must not sacrifice fundamental human rights in the name of security, said the Vatican’s ambassador to the United Nations Oct. 16. The ambassador, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, spoke at a U.N. committee session deliberating on a pro
Politics
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts