Why We Must Withdraw From Iraq
The United States has reached a new chapter in its intervention in the Middle East, as the enormous obstacles to achieving peace are being recognized more clearly with every passing day. We have lost our way in Iraq—strategically, militarily and morally—and we need to forge a pathway for
The Stories We Tell
I sat in reflective silence as my sister drove us from the movie theater to our parents’ house. We had just watched The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith’s film based upon the true story of Chris Gardner, who lifts himself and his son out of poverty and homelessness and becomes a successf
Interviews
Promoting the Faith: An Interview With William J. Levada
The Office of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is reached by staircase or elevator up one level from the inner courtyard at Piazza del Sant’Uffizio, 11, near the end of the colonnade that wraps around the Piazza San Pietro. The dome of St Peter’s Basilica, designed six centuries ago…
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
“One a of the lessons we all must learn if we are to survive spiritually and psychologically is how to leave behind what is unnecessary and travel light. Wise counsel, this, from Robert J. Wicks, a professor at Loyola College of Maryland and the author of some 40 general and professional books. His
Letters
Letters
Joyful Evangelizers
The reflection by James Martin, S.J., on joy in the Christian life appeared most appropriately in your Easter issue (4/2); overwhelming joy was the Easter experience of Jesus’ first disciples. Their encounter with their risen Lord transformed them into dynamic evangelizers. I am convinced of the intimate connection between Christian joy and effective evangelization.…
Editorials
Peace in Northern Ireland
The promise of a new era of peace in Northern Ireland will be realized on May 8, when the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly meet and elect a 12-member administration. It is to be led by Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest Protestant party in Northern Irel
Faith in Focus
Liberal Catholicism
A friend recently said to me, I presume you regard yourself as a liberal Catholic. In response, I asked myself what kind of Catholic I am, and what is liberal? I came into the church 25 years ago at mid-life, without previous religious faith, practice or upbringing. My parents had been secular anthr
Books
Take the Test
Stephen Prothero a historian of American religion and the author of a much acclaimed earlier volume American Jesus takes his cue for his title from E D Hirsch rsquo s 1987 volume Cultural Literacy What Every American Needs to Know Prothero addresses a huge paradox America is very religious b
A Winning Combination
As the poet Joan Murray points out in her introduction to this stellar collection the glitteringly self-deprecating Pushcart Prize has been bringing extraordinary literary talents to a broad readership for 30 years This volume is the third in a series of prize-winning Best of the Best volumes from
Long Live Matthieu
In 2002 Pete Hamill scored a bestseller with his novel Forever which told the story of an Irish immigrant granted the gift of eternal lifeso long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan Meanwhile next year Brad Pitt will star in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button based on an F Scott Fitzg
Gods Agent
The words ldquo messiah rdquo and ldquo messianism rdquo are often used loosely not only in popular culture but also in religious discourse even in biblical scholarship This magisterial study of these terms in the Bible and related ancient sources by a premier biblical scholar of our time brin
Turning Up the Heat
Most people realize that over the last 40 years the tobacco industry has spent millions of dollars to mislead the public about the dangers of smoking People are less likely to know that oil companies are doing something similar ExxonMobil has spent 16 million to fund a web of organizations charg
Behind the Serene Public Image’
Assigned to read Thomas Hardy 8217 s The Return of the Native in high school I was fascinated by its evocation of our pagan agricultural past Reading Jude the Obscure recently however I suffered all the way through Hardy 8217 s determined destruction of hope in the life of his stonemason hero
Poetry
Accept the Gift A Letter to James Wright, Deceased
Like snow, the poem breaks into petals
The Word
Love Is the Answer
There are two great questions in the Easter season How could the community formed by the earthly Jesus carry on without his physical presence And what can the church of the 21st century learn from the earliest Christian communities Last Sunday rsquo s reading from John rsquo s Gospel suggested th
Columns
The Deepest Desire
Desire has a bad press. Most of us, at least those beyond a certain age, have grown up thinking that anything we desire is probably something we shouldn’t even be thinking about, and whatever God’s will might be, it is surely diametrically opposed to what we actually want.
Current Comment
Current Comment
Unrepentant MediaWith the announcement by North Carolina’s attorney general, Roy A. Cooper, that he was dropping all charges against three Duke University lacrosse players wrongly charged with rape, a lengthy travesty of justice has been undone. Errors in the case were so egregious, exoneratio
Faith
Promoting the Faith: An Interview With William J. Levada
The Office of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is reached by staircase or elevator up one level from the inner courtyard at Piazza del Sant’Uffizio, 11, near the end of the colonnade that wraps around the Piazza San Pietro. The dome of St Peter’s Basilica, designed six centuries ago…
News
Signs of the Times
Lebanese Christians Flee Growing Fundamentalism Christians are fleeing Lebanon to escape an ongoing political and economic crisis amid signs that Islamic fundamentalism is on the rise in the country. Forty-three percent of Maronite Catholicsthe largest of the country’s 12 Christian denominati
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts