The Rights of Gods People
The church is not a democracy, we often hear, and the statement is true in several senses. But does this mean that the faithful have no rights before church authorities? Is the church’s teaching on the importance of basic human rights consistent with its own internal governance? The present Co
Imagining Our Defeat
The horrors of the bloody century past—from the Great War through the Holocaust and Hiroshima to the genocide in Rwanda—all but defy human imagination. Some artists, though, have summoned skill enough to warn us of the sorrows humanity can inflict upon itself. Their imagery bears ponderi
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Lent? Wasn’t it just Christmas? Catholics can be forgiven for sometimes scratching their heads over the liturgical calendar. While the liturgical year is designed to help Christians follow the life, death and resurrection of Jesus by meditating on the sequence of Gospel readings, sometimes it
Letters
Letters
Distraught Prayers
There is no way either Bishop Blase J. Cupich of Rapid City, S.D., or America could have anticipated the confluence of his unambiguous defense of all life (How Unconditional Is the Right to Life? 1/29) and the New York federal jury’s imposition of the death penalty on Ronell Wilson. Perhaps it was the work…
Editorials
The Death Penalty:Tinkering’ to Good Effect
The execution of Saddam Hussein roused condemnation by the United Nations and European Union leaders. But this widespread international criticism also cast a spotlight on the use of capital punishment in the United States, where public dissatisfaction has been growing. An overview of the current situation follows.
Film
Life Among the Dead: Letters From Iwo Jima
Suicide and martyrdom have become our constant companions in this dark new century. We’ve settled comfortably into explaining the phenomenon in terms of extremism or fanaticism. We place the blame securely on tribal and religious traditions gone terribly wrong in the minds of some few who woul
Poetry
The Houses of Charleston
A poor thing the past
The Word
The Testing of Gods Son
In the church rsquo s calendar Lent is a period of preparation for the solemn celebration of Jesus rsquo death and resurrection the paschal mystery at the end of Holy Week On the First Sunday of Lent it is customary to read the account of the testing or temptation of Jesus Since Jesus had been
Columns
A Personalist Lent
This is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God Micah 6:8
Culture
Reading in the Season of Lent
One could do worse than devote some time during Lent to ‘lectio divina’ and reading the Scriptures prayerfully.
Current Comment
Current Comment
The Costs of CampaigningWhile the presidential election of 2008 is nearly two years away, the field of aspiring candidates is already crowded. The early start of the campaign provides an unsettling reminder of how costly election campaigns have become. The first index of a candidate’s potentia
Faith
Jesus in the Middle Kingdom
The first question surprised me. We had come to China in the spring of 2006 as a group of college faculty members to experience the old and the new China and to meet faculty and students at a variety of universities.
News
Signs of the Times
China’s Catholics Hope Pope Will Clarify Relations Underground Catholics in China say they hope a letter Pope Benedict XVI plans to send them will not only strengthen their faith but also clearly explain how their fractured community in the mainland can be healed. The Holy See wants us to reco
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts