Prayers and Politics at Kahnawake
The bridge over the St. Lawrence River in Canada hangs in the twilight, a connection to some different sense of time and space. It is the summer of 2000 and my last day in Montreal. I’ve been invited by a French Canadian friend to travel with him across the river. My plan is to visit…
Solidarity Brings Hope for Peace in Sudan
From a high ridge in Nimule, Sudan, I looked across a quiet valley to the Nile Riverthe source of life for thousands who pull their living from its muddy waters. In a patch of yellow grass a few feet from where I stood lay the tarnished casings of spent artillery shells, fired only recently at…
Whom Should the Patient Trust?A Friendly Reply to Kevin Wildes
In a recent article in America (Patient No More, 7/16), Kevin W. Wildes, S.J., our friend and colleague at Georgetown University, celebrated a requiem for the traditional, patient-centered ethic of medicine. In its place he proposed a new ethic of social contract, one oriented to societal need rathe
Dealing With Terrorism
Where does terrorism come from and how far ought any government go to both defeat terrorists and protect citizens’ rights, not least their right to life?
The Laying Down of Life
Two days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, I made my way to one of the emergency trauma centers in Manhattan. It had been hastily set up in a cavernous sports facility called Chelsea Piers, on the Hudson River. I had been there earlier, on the evening of Sept. 11, still stunned…
Before Retaliation or Redemption
There are times when even an atheist must ask, Who or what can save us from our plight? Sometimes the great rages of the earth, the physical evils of earthquake and tidal wave prompt the question. More often, it is the appalling moral evil of the human heart. Who can save humanity from itself?Even t
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Sept. 11, 2001, will forever be etched in the consciousness of all living Americans, but assuredly in a unique way for New Yorkers and Washingtonians. In New York, a variant of the question, “Where were you when the lights went out?” is asked and pondered citywide. For me, the answer is
Letters
Letters
Look to TeensAs I read “‘Home Alone’ in the Priesthood,” by Monsignor Eugene Gomulka (8/27), I was struck by a rather distressing thought: “They complain endlessly about the lack of new blood in the priesthood and its effects, but they never seem to propose anything to
Editorials
The Editors: We profess that “evil and death do not have the final say.”
Faced with the enormity of suffering and evil that we have seen in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it is impossible to find words that are adequate to comprehend it. When we search for words to deal with this tragedy, we quickly find ourselves at a loss. In the…
Books
A City Fails Its Kids
All too often significant court cases fail to arouse universal interest Confusing jargon and endless deliberations conspire to numb the public to these cases despite their importance The class-action suit known as Wilder which plodded through courts for 26 years could have been one of thema ca
The Monks of Manitoba
R my Rougeau has written a fresh and surprising narrative about the monastic life It is a novel or perhaps a series of linked short stories But form is not what counts here The odd angle of vision is what makes this book worthwhile Rougeau rsquo s story deals with young Paul Seneschal a Canad
Succeeding for God
Visiting friends in New England recently I listened to their lament about parish life Boring liturgies irrelevant homilies insipid musicall this from devout Catholics tempted to bolt to a local Protestant church for a feeling of community and worship It rsquo s a familiar scenario to most of us
Film
Art as Process: Apocalypse Now Redux
Forgive the ponderous title. As a veteran reviewer, I do recognize the limits of my role. Ordinarily, I would try to find a mildly entertaining way to remind readers that Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now received a warm if not enthusiastic welcome when it first appeared in 1979. I would conclu
The Word
Strange Working Conditions
Destruction and violence are before me there is strife and clamorous discord rdquo how sadly current ldquo When you have done all you have been commanded say lsquo We are unprofitable servants we have done what we were obliged to do rsquo rdquo Habakkuk rsquo s cry and Jesus rsquo wor
News
Signs of the Times
Nation Moves from Terror to PrayerAmericans moved quickly from shock and terror to prayer after suicidal terrorists used hijacked passenger planes to demolish the twin towers of the World Trade Center and a large section of the Pentagon. On Sept. 16 worshippers packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral i
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