The Apologetics of Beauty
In normal usage, the word apologetics means the craft of arguing effectively. But I use the word here in an analogous sense. Beauty does not argue. It doesn’t have to. When I say beauty is a form of apologetic, I mean that the most powerful appeal of Catholicism both to its own membership and
Plow Before You Plant: Our first goal should be not doctrinal thoroughness but conversion.
If Booth Tarkington wrote Seventeen today, he’d have to call it Ten. Yet those in charge of Catholic catechesis, judging from their directories and vetting of texts, urge us to teach the young as if their families still routinely attend Sunday Benediction. Someone should inform the front offic
Spring Back, Fall Forward: How do you do it year after year? How do you welcome us…and then watch us go?
Perhaps it’s my 25 years as a teacher, but for me Dec. 31 rarely prompts much soul searching or melancholy musing on the passage of time. No, for me time’s movement becomes especially vivid and poignant in June. The school year ends and a teacher is left in a state of almost bipolar ambi
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
What do you do when you can’t afford an out-of-town summer vacation? If you are a New Yorker living in Manhattan or one of the surrounding boroughs, you might spend an afternoon or a day at Coney Islandnamed by Dutch settlers after the word for rabbit, konijn, which abounded there in the 1600&
Letters
Letters
Historian’s PerspectiveIn reference to the article by John W. O’Malley, S.J., on the beatification of Pope Pius IX (8/26), I am moved to ask, Was it not this pope whose body the Roman citizens attempted to throw into the Tiber during his funeral procession?I think the real question Catho
Editorials
The Elections and Abortion
At one point in his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention last month, Vice President Gore worked himself up into a rhetorical outcry: The last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court that overturns Roe v. Wade. That was actually a scare tactic. On June 28 of this year, the
Faith in Focus
Explainer: Who was Mother Katharine Drexel, the second American-born saint?
Mother Katharine Drexel founded schools nationwide, including Xavier University, and a religious order to serve people of color.
Books
Faith Meets Life
Titles can be deceiving but The Prophetic Spirit of Catechesis does indeed capture both the argument and spirit of this book It is only in the Afterword that Mongoven formally explains the title but the attentive reader will experience its meaning on every page The book is divided into two parts
Finding Common Ground
At a chapel I occasionally attend some worshipers face the tabernacle during the Liturgy of the Word even though the lectern is at the opposite end of the central aisle Elsewhere at a Sunday liturgy I heard the presiding priest begin by invoking the Creator the Redeemer and the Life-giving Spi
Visionary and Richly Satisfying
Kenan Osborne O F M professor emeritus at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley brings impressive credentials and an enviable reputation to the task he sets himself in this volume The task is worthy of the man a complete reworking of sacramental theology so as to open it up to new line
Television
Coarse TV
Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the last few weeks, you know that the lucky winner of the CBS series Survivor was revealed during its Aug. 23 episode. America’s newest millionaire is the now-famous Richard Hatch, a Machiavellian corporate trainer, of whom we will undou
The Word
Can You Walk the Walk?
Christians today tend to think of the age of martyrs in terms of the early centuries of the church with vivid pictures of lions about to devour those who would not deny Christ Yet Karl Rahner once noted that today we should speak not only of martyrs of the faith but also of martyrs of…
Columns
A Special Kind of Courage: President Kennedy no doubt would be amazed.
Upon hearing that Al Gore had chosen Joseph Lieberman to be his running mate, a friend remarked: Very interesting. He’s religious. He’s for school vouchers. He’s against partial-birth abortion. Pause for effect. I guess the bishops have their man!As the would-be No. 2 put it, only
Faith
Explainer: Who was Mother Katharine Drexel, the second American-born saint?
Mother Katharine Drexel founded schools nationwide, including Xavier University, and a religious order to serve people of color.
News
Signs of the Times
False Sense of Religious Tolerance’ Worries VaticanTaking aim at the notion that one religion is as good as another, a new Vatican document emphasized the exclusive, universal and absolute value of Jesus Christ and said the Catholic Church is necessary for salvation. While acknowledging that n
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