The Search for the Historical Pius
The four-decades-old controversy over Pius XII and the Holocaust has always been more political than historical, but never more so than now. The International Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission appointed to review the Vatican-published documents on the wartime pontiff has foundered on politics. B
The Ten Worst Anti-Catholic Atrocities of 2001
Every year thousands of cases of anti-Catholicism come to the attention of the Catholic League. Our first job is to determine whether the alleged offense merits our attention. If it does, then we must verify the authenticity of the offense to the best of our ability. If everything checks out, a stra
The Wrong Targets
Many of the Italian political extremists who spread death and terror in the 1970’s and 80’s have been reintegrated into society. Indeed, some relatives of their victims claim that society has shown more concern for the ex-terrorists than for them. Occasional pamphlets and one killing in
Human Cloning A Success Story or a Tempest in a Petri Dish?
Worcester, Mass., my hometown, has once again become the center of bioethical debate. The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology gave us the oral contraceptive that helped spawn the sexual revolution; now Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), under the leadership of its chief executive, Michael Wes
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Lack of affordable housing has affected all low-income people, but its effects have been especially harsh for the elderly and vulnerable. New York City provides a case in point. Many of the single-room occupancy hotels that dotted the Manhattan landscape through the 1960’s have disappeared, co
Letters
Letters
World Peace
Thank you for publishing the pope’s Message for World Peace Day (1/7). Appropriately, we hear often from the Vatican about significant but essentially internal church matters. But this message is a stunning reminder of how timely, human, warm, clear, compassionate, courageous and hopeful the Catholic Church can be when we address all our human…
Editorials
Sexual Abuse by Priests
Sexual abuse of minors by priests is once again making national headlines. No news story about the church is more shocking and scandalous than a report of children being sexually abused by priests. No victim is more defenseless than a child being preyed upon by an adult, especially an adult in a pos
Faith in Focus
Mothering Dominican Style
About eight years ago, when my five children were between the ages of 9 and 18, I had my first opportunity to go with my husband to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission. It was a little scary to leave the children, because we would be incommunicado for a while. We also knew there…
Books
Double Consciousness
Jim Cullen has rowed shorter pieces across the pages of Rolling Stone and Newsday as well as skippered three books through the riptides of cultural studies The Civil War in Popular Culture A Reusable Past Born in the U S A Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition The Art of Democracy A Co
In Fedya’s Footsteps
Perhaps the least helpful statement in Susan Sontag rsquo s otherwise indispensable introduction to Summer in Baden-Baden is her peremptory opening declaration that she would include it among the most beautiful exalting and original achievements of a century rsquo s worth of fiction and para-fic
Poetry
Stain
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. –Isaiah 1:18
We grabbed hold of goggled Howard as he
The Word
A Voice From the Mountaintop
As a diptych to the story of the temptation of Jesus the Transfiguration is always proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent The title masks its deeper meaning since the earliest English use of quot transfiguration quot is for the feast and the word rarely appears in quot secular quot discours
Columns
The Lights Are Growing Dim
I’m writing this column smack in the middle of Catholic Schools Week, a bittersweet occasion this year. In parishes like my own, Catholic Schools Week is a cause for celebration and even a little self-congratulation. In other places, however, the week must seem terribly sad indeed. Another rou
News
Signs of the Times
Young Adult Catholics Know Little About ReligiousYoung adult Catholics generally have a positive opinion of men and women religious, but many do not know a great deal about them, according to a new national study. Only one-third of those surveyed, for example, said they knew the difference between d
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