Benedict in America
View a slideshow of images of Pope Benedict XVIs first visit to the U.S. as pontiff. This feature will be updated daily over the course of his visit.
Animals in Distress
America presents slideshow of ProFaunas work with distressed animals. Watch the slideshow.
Ending the Death Penalty: What one Catholic Supreme Court justice could do
A change of position by one Catholic Supreme Court justice could make a difference.
The Court at a Crossroads: A new majority enters the culture wars
A new majority enters the culture wars.
Creatures Great and Small: Viewing animal suffering with interfaith eyes
Sewing up the torn paw of a Javanese leaf-monkey, with the help of an Indonesian vet, might seem an untried and unexpected form of interfaith dialogue, but it proved very productive for me. This particular encounter took place in a wildlife rescue center, ProFauna Indonesia, in the hill country of E
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Awaiting a spring that is coming slowly to the Big Apple, I fast-forward my thoughts and summon the words of the 18th-century poet James Thomson: “…who can paint/ like Nature? Can imagination boast,/ amid its gay creation, hues like hers?” Signs and wonders will soon abound in all
Letters
Letters
A Watched Pot Never Boils In “Curbing Medical Costs” (3/10), Daniel Callahan starts a necessary discussion about health care. Unlike the proverbial frog in the pot of water, which did not detect the rising temperature until it was too late to jump out, the American people are becoming aw
Editorials
Abuse of Office
Under George W. Bush, the executive branch consolidated power to a dangerous degree.
Faith in Focus
An Unexpected Lesson: God’s option is always for the poor and defenseless.
There I was, a 50-something woman of privilege, in front of the Salvation Army homeless shelter in a seedy neighborhood of Austin on a sultry summer evening, dutifully putting bright orange traffic cones out in the street. I was startled by a tough-looking female police sergeant, who pulled me aside
Books
No Dimming His Light
New and selected stories from Tobias Wolff, reviewed
Poet Resurrected
By all accounts the poet Robert Frost 1874-1963 was a difficult man moody contrary competitive exacting Not one would have thought a sympathetic subject for a novel It is all the more miraculous then that Brian Hall rsquo s biographical novel mdash historical novel really mdash weaves
Earths Last Pastoral
Mary Oliver has done it again She has assembled a collection of poems that is moving intense and evocative in its engagement of the natural world Yet this latest book by the Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winner is distinctive among her 17 volumes for the dark undercurrent that runs thro
Art Versus Autocracy
Russia rsquo s cultural history in the 20th century presents both ldquo triumph and tragedy rdquo For every masterpiece published or exhibited countless more never saw the light the state mobilized artists and writers to serve its goals but kept them on a short leash ready to break any who da
Side by Side in the Forest
If Robert Satloff rsquo s recent book Among the Righteous Lost Stories From the Holocaust rsquo s Long Reach Into Arab Lands 2006 offers a freshly conceived if ultimately stark investigation into the archive of small kindnesses shown the occasional Jew during the Second World War Mimi Schwar
A Memorable Second Act
What is the proper role of an ex-president Should he retire to enjoy his newfound freedom from public life write his memoirs and perhaps attend official functions as might be asked of him Most former presidents have done just that Presently we have three living ex-presidents in the United Stat
Poetry
Canticle of the Washing Machine
Be praised, my Lord,for the washing machine,whose swingle flails the soiled and stained.
The Word
Glory and Suffering
In our eucharistic liturgies we regularly say or sing ldquo Glory to God in the highest rdquo and ldquo to God hellip be all glory rdquo The motto of the Society of Jesus is Ad majorem Dei gloriam ldquo For the greater glory of God rdquo and the Latin phrase soli Deo gloria ldquo to…
Columns
Public Morality After the Religious Right: ‘Religion still retains a hold on the American conscience.’
Is the religious right a spent force in American politics? There seems to be a growing consensus that it is, based in part on John McCain’s rather easy dispatch of Mike Huckabee in the Republican primaries. Huckabee, a preacher and unabashed advocate for the evangelical movement, certainly tou
News
Signs of the Times
U.S. Urged to Share Iraqi Refugee Burden The ambassadors of Syria and Jordan called on the United States to share the burden of the unprecedented Iraqi refugee crisis. “The situation is terrible, and the burden on Syria’s resources and population is horrendous,” said Imad Moustaph
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts