The Potential of a Plenary Council
Eight bishops recently sent a proposal to the administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for the convening of a plenary council of the bishops of the United States. Coincidentally, the editors of Church magazine, of whom I am one, circulated an editorial also calling for a p
Blessed John’s Call
On Sept. 11 we remembered the hole blasted in our world a year ago. On Oct. 11 we remembered the trumpet blast with which Blessed Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago. His speech on Oct. 11, 1962, set a direction and tone for the church and the world in our…
The Aftermath
In the first century, Peter had a dream in Joppa, a strange dream that encouraged him to eat prohibited food that was common and unclean. This was not kosher. Then he heard a knock at the door. A group of gentiles, sent by Cornelius, asked him to come with them to Caesarea. He agreed, mystified…
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Small art galleries abound in Manhattan, and one of them—the AXA Gallery—is only a few blocks from America House. During the summer it featured an exhibit called “Testimony: Vernacular Art of the African American South.” I stopped by to see it several times, drawn by the work
Letters
Letters
Ubiquitous and Protean
Buried in the substantial disinformation throughout the Rev. Andrew R. Baker’s Ordination and Same Sex Attraction (9/30), old chestnuts about allegedly effeminate affective manners and proper masculine behavior most alerted my historian’s antennae. As Carolyn Dean shows in her fine recent study of sexuality between 1918 and 1940 (The Frail Social Body: Pornography,…
Editorials
Design for Disaster
Theodore Roosevelt, our 26th president, was a military strategist who believed in the exercise of arms to advance U.S. interests. He was also a Nobel Peace Prize-winner who successfully negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War (1904-5). His “Big Stick” policy—“Speak softly
Faith and Reason
The History Behind Celibacy and the Priesthood
Why and how did the celibate state became a requirement for ordination?
Faith in Focus
The Sandbox and the Incarnation: The Risk of AnonymityModel of MarginalityModern-Day St. JosephBlessed Anonymity
It was unusually hot that July afternoon. Cara had just asked me for some more water so that the sand would pack better. Sweating, frustrated and with a two-year-old getting the best of me, I said to myself, “What are you doing?” Here I was stuck in the backyard, trapped in a sandbox, an
Books
Defining the Other’
The idea of citizenship has permeated our political atmosphere in recent years Surging immigration legal and illegal has compelled our political leaders and institutions to confront this issue Swelling populations of recently arrived Asians and Latinos have become a social force to be reckoned w
Praying Authentically
Michael Crosby is widely appreciated for his many gifts as a lecturer and author in the area of biblical spirituality He invariably brings to his audiences both clarity and commitment The clarity flows not only from his rhetorical prowess but from his considerable mastery of spirituality especial
No One Righteous
The physicist Niels Bohr once said The opposite of a true statement is a false statement But the opposite of a very true statement may very well be another true statement Contrary to postmodernist hijackings as in the play Copenhagen modern physics is not about the absence of truth but the pr
The Word
Job Description for Church Leaders
As the liturgical year winds down the church is less concerned with the number of shopping days until Christmas than with sobering reflections on the end of all days The Gospels conclude with Jesus rsquo final instructions to his disciples his final testaments which weave together words of hope
Columns
Sister Said…
Parents make no end of compromises to accommodate the dubious wishes and tastes of their children (despite any number of memoirs that insist otherwise), and I am no exception. Long car rides invariably lead to pleas from the back seat for a musical distraction from the dreaded are-we-there-yet syndr
Faith
The History Behind Celibacy and the Priesthood
Why and how did the celibate state became a requirement for ordination?
News
Signs of the Times
Pope Introduces New Mysteries of the Rosary The rosary is a powerful prayer for peace, for families and for contemplating the mysteries of Christ’s life, Pope John Paul II said in a new apostolic letter. Pope John Paul marked the 24th anniversary of his election on Oct. 16 by signing the apost
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts