Of Many Things
In Memoriam: Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J.
In Memoriam | Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. | February 12, 1931—March 29, 2020 | 10th Editor in Chief, 1975 to 1984
Your Take
How do you keep the faith in a time of coronavirus?
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, many dioceses have suspended in-person Masses or dispensed Catholics from their Sunday Mass obligation.
Editorials
The Editors: Remembering Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J.
Like many other New Yorkers and America readers, we suffered a great loss on Sunday, March 29, with the death of Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J., editor in chief of America from 1975 to 1984.
The coronavirus dilemma isn’t death or economic destruction. It’s prudence or ignorance.
It is a catastrophic failure of imagination and moral responsibility to act as if we are unable to learn what we need to know to make a better decision.
Short Take
The fight against coronavirus faces another threat: declining faith in medicine
Catholics and other Americans are losing confidence in the medical community, writes political scientist Ryan Burge, who examines new survey data. That could complicate efforts to fight Covid-19.
Dispatches
With Masses suspended, parishes face collection shortfalls and perilous finances
Online donations may not be enough to compensate for the lack of a weekly collection plate in U.S. dioceses, writes Michael J, O’Loughlin, and Catholic charitable organizations are also being affected.
U.S.-Mexico border humanitarians scramble to curb coronavirus
The “social distancing” required by the coronavirus is making it more difficult to provide essential services to migrants and asylum seekers stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border, writes J.D. Long-García.
Washington Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib will not seek re-election in order to join the Jesuits
Cyrus Habib is interrupting what had been a rapid political ascent to join the Catholic Church’s largest religious order.
With all eyes on Covid-19, refugee suffering continues in Greece, Turkey and Syria
Conditions at overcrowded refugee camps in Greece have become desperate, and Turkey has revived threats to renege on an agreement with the European community and to open its border allowing refugees through to Europe.
Features
A Road Trip Through the Swing States (Before the Coronavirus Hit)
Trump voters were holding firm in early March, reports John W. Miller, but Covid-19 may bring a sea change in the key states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Christianity in a time of sickness
In biblical terms, this all-pervasive sickness is a sign of the times.
Faith in Focus
The right (and wrong) ways for Catholics to host a Passover Seder
As Christians have become more familiar and neighborly with people of other religious traditions, we have extended that familiarity to appreciation, and sometimes appreciation becomes appropriation.
The good and beautiful things I’ve seen amid the coronavirus pandemic
It is good to know that people are still people, still willing to visit each other, still willing to bring hope, still willing to share what they have.
Vantage Point
From 1918: Army Chaplains and the Epidemic
Catholic chaplains fighting a different battle in World War I: the fight against Spanish influenza
Ideas
What we lost when Notre-Dame de Paris caught fire
What did Notre-Dame mean? What did it feel like to step into it in the Middle Ages?
Books
Review: When the meek are not blessed
If anything, the dystopia is even scarier in the sequel, which provides terrifying detail on the history of the Christian fundamentalist regime that overthrows the United States at Gilead’s founding.
Review: When charity is not enough
Maureen Day is an assistant professor of religion and society at the Franciscan School of Theology and the author of Catholic Activism Today: Personal Transformation and the Struggle for Social Justice.
The border divides a family in Marcelo Hernandez Castillo’s affecting memoir
Castillo writes with gorgeous precision and sensitivity about his experience as a boy growing into a man in a country that will not recognize him, his family split across borders.
Review: A college president looks back
Mark W. Roche is the Joyce Professor of German and former dean of arts and letters at the University of Notre Dame.
Theater
‘Dana H.’: She was abducted, but she did not lose her faith.
Dana Higginbotham is the subject of an extraordinary new play by her son, Lucas Hnath.
Poetry
In Adoration: April 2019
Christ shining, Christ gold, dawn in a fragile frame
The Word
Building a community of faith, even from a distance
Our ideas of connection and community have been put to the test. Today’s readings reveal how early Christians connected with people in order to spread the faith.
How can we follow the example of the disciples this Easter?
It was the breaking of bread that revealed Jesus’ identity.
Last Take
On watching a Mass on YouTube at which I was scheduled to preside
The Mass has power whether we are able to be there in person or not, writes Sam Sawyer, S.J., reflecting on a Sunday when circumstances mean that many are participating in liturgy via modern technology.
Faith
The right (and wrong) ways for Catholics to host a Passover Seder
As Christians have become more familiar and neighborly with people of other religious traditions, we have extended that familiarity to appreciation, and sometimes appreciation becomes appropriation.
How do you keep the faith in a time of coronavirus?
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, many dioceses have suspended in-person Masses or dispensed Catholics from their Sunday Mass obligation.
In Memoriam: Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J.
In Memoriam | Joseph A. O’Hare, S.J. | February 12, 1931—March 29, 2020 | 10th Editor in Chief, 1975 to 1984
Christianity in a time of sickness
In biblical terms, this all-pervasive sickness is a sign of the times.
Building a community of faith, even from a distance
Our ideas of connection and community have been put to the test. Today’s readings reveal how early Christians connected with people in order to spread the faith.
How can we follow the example of the disciples this Easter?
It was the breaking of bread that revealed Jesus’ identity.
With Masses suspended, parishes face collection shortfalls and perilous finances
Online donations may not be enough to compensate for the lack of a weekly collection plate in U.S. dioceses, writes Michael J, O’Loughlin, and Catholic charitable organizations are also being affected.
The good and beautiful things I’ve seen amid the coronavirus pandemic
It is good to know that people are still people, still willing to visit each other, still willing to bring hope, still willing to share what they have.
On watching a Mass on YouTube at which I was scheduled to preside
The Mass has power whether we are able to be there in person or not, writes Sam Sawyer, S.J., reflecting on a Sunday when circumstances mean that many are participating in liturgy via modern technology.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts