Of Many Things
The World Is Watching. And They’re Worried.
The world can ill afford to have the United States abdicate its global position, either by choice or through carelessness.
Your Take
If you designed the U.S. national budget, what would it look like?
The majority of our readers argued for an increase in spending across a number of categories, including Medicare and health (71 percent of readers).
The Letters
Love Chooses Life Re “A.C.L.U. v. Catholic Health Care,” by Stephanie Slade (6/12): This is an excellently researched and informative article. As a Catholic, I find it disturbing that our religious liberties continue to be eroded. Catholics who work in health care because of their religious beliefs are now being asked to ignore the very core…
Editorials
There are no Catholics of the ‘Left’ or ‘Right’. Here’s why.
You will not see the phrases “liberal Catholic” or “conservative Catholic” in the pages of America.
The Editors: U.S. Strategy in the Middle East Is Deeply Problematic
The conflict in Syria is a proxy war, not between the United States and Russia, as some American commentators have suggested, but between the two major powers vying for regional hegemony.
The Editors: Let’s use civic engagement to address climate change
Civic engagement is not limited to voting.
Short Take
What Pope Francis’ apology would mean for Canada’s indigenous people
As an indigenous person who works for the Catholic Church, I have pondered the value of an apology to the former students of the residential schools.
Dispatches
New cardinals express church universality
Pope Francis will create five new cardinals at a consistory in Rome scheduled for June 28.
Forget Washington. For budget dysfunction, look to Illinois.
The Illinois General Assembly ended its regular session on May 31 without passing a budget for the third year in a row. The length of the legislative stalemate is unprecedented.
Why indigenous leaders and Canadian Catholics still want an apology from Pope Francis
Prime Minister Trudeau wants the Vatican to address the legacy of Catholic-run residential schools where indigenous children suffered abuse.
Paris Agreement or not, ‘Laudato Si’’ moves ahead in the Diocese of Monterey
In parts of the U.S. church ‘Laudato Si” has sparked creativity and innovation with impacts not so easily set aside. One such experiment is the Diocese of Monterey’s advocacy of Community Choice Energy.
Congo’s Ebola threat is pushing a vaccine through without full clinical trials
Congo’s Ministry of Health has approved the use of an experimental anti-Ebola vaccine to combat the disease. This is a radical step, but one the World Health Organization approves.
Features
How Standing Rock became a spiritual pilgrimage for activists
Activists see a moral imperative for protecting our water.
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and The Case Against Billionaire Philanthropy As We Know It
Philanthropy should be regarded as a subdomain of democracy, not an exception to it.
Faith in Focus
The little-known story behind Father Walter Ciszek’s ‘With God in Russia’
To this day I have no idea why the editor of ‘America’ asked me, the youngest and newest member of the staff, to write the story.
Ideas
A Jesuit perspective on Harry Potter
Religious studies professor William Reiser, S.J., reflects on his use of Harry Potter in the classroom.
Books
Darwin’s evolution revolution
Thomas Murphy, S.J. reviews “The Book that Changed America: How Darwin’s Theory of Evolution Ignited a Nation” by Randall Fuller.
A time of powerlessness and rage
J.J. Carney reviews “Age of Anger: A History of the Present” by Pankaj Mishra.
A Suicide and Other Deaths
Diane Scharper reviews “There Your Heart Lies” by Mary Gordon.
Trump isn’t Voldemort, and other lessons from Harry Potter on its 20th anniversary
Harry Potter may be the perfect series to speak to this moment in time. But we need to do more than use it as a way to identify like-minded readers. We need to use the texts to create like-hearted brothers and sisters.
Telling Lives: The confusing business of biography
Jon Sweeney reviews “Lessons in Hope: My Life with John Paul II,” “Milosz: A Biography,” and “This Long Pursuit: Reflections of a Romantic Biographer.”
Film
Laughing at flawed nuns and priests in “The Little Hours”
Surprise and outrage are two of the basic tools of comedy, and no one expects these sweet-looking sisters to sound like sailors.
Television
While “Master of None” looks for love, “Catastrophe” finds it.
In the hyper-curated, beautiful world that Dev lives in, a scene that conveys the touching, ugly stubbornness of marriage seems totally impossible.
Poetry
Jerusalem Slim
I did not know it was Joy
The Word
The Yoke of Mission
Jesus offers the same yoke that he bears, the saving mission he receives from the Father.
Called to Be Sent
We need to speak Christ’s words in our own voice.
Last Take
Does the truth matter? This is no longer a theoretical question.
Today, many voters use information not to discover what is true but to reinforce their political tribe.
Faith
The Yoke of Mission
Jesus offers the same yoke that he bears, the saving mission he receives from the Father.
Called to Be Sent
We need to speak Christ’s words in our own voice.
New cardinals express church universality
Pope Francis will create five new cardinals at a consistory in Rome scheduled for June 28.
There are no Catholics of the ‘Left’ or ‘Right’. Here’s why.
You will not see the phrases “liberal Catholic” or “conservative Catholic” in the pages of America.
How Standing Rock became a spiritual pilgrimage for activists
Activists see a moral imperative for protecting our water.
The little-known story behind Father Walter Ciszek’s ‘With God in Russia’
To this day I have no idea why the editor of ‘America’ asked me, the youngest and newest member of the staff, to write the story.
Magazine
The Letters
Love Chooses Life Re “A.C.L.U. v. Catholic Health Care,” by Stephanie Slade (6/12): This is an excellently researched and informative article. As a Catholic, I find it disturbing that our religious liberties continue to be eroded. Catholics who work in health care because of their religious beliefs are now being asked to ignore the very core…
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts