A Fundamental Gap
The current debates about the sexual abuse scandals in the church revolve around a litany of diagnoses and proposals for reform, touching such topics as clericalism, a culture of dissent, homosexuals in the priesthood, the need for accountability and shared episcopal authority, seminary reform, a re
Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions
Traditional devotions can provoke a wide variety of reactions among contemporary Catholics. For many, the devotional life discovered during childhood has never lost its appeal. For some it has always remained on the fringes of their Catholicism. For still others it seems inconsistent with a mature f
The Miraculous Medal: Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions
On the night of July 18, 1830, in a chapel on Rue du Bac in Paris, Catherine Labouré, a 24-year-old novice of the Daughters of Charity, had a vision of the Virgin Mary. They spoke familiarly for two hours. In this conversation, and in a second apparition on Nov. 27, Mary gave Catherine a twof
The Liturgy of the Hours: Contemporary Catholics on Traditional Devotions
Having spent the past 15 years at various Jesuit institutions, I have probably logged more hours on retreats, in spiritual direction, in prayer groups, discussing or teaching theological topics and doing or organizing service work than your average 30-something. But despite all of the above, I am em
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
I’m sort of a nut for the historical Jesus. Of course I’m a nut, or at least a fool, for Christ too, but as for my reading tastes, I much prefer books and articles about the Jesus of history than those on the Christ of faith. The historical (which can often read like detective stories)…
Editorials
Xenophobia and the Warrior Ethos
“Sneering and snobbery,” the philosopher Mary Midgeley has written, won dominance for linguistic analysis and existentialism in 20th-century philosophy. Although an overstatement, her comment hits the mark about philosophical fashions. It points to a desperate ploy in the war of ideas. W
Faith in Focus
Friendship Is a Prayer
Should I feel guilty? The question nagged at me—a good Catholic question, pecking at my conscience as I sat under a shaggy tree on the grounds of a great monastery and listened to the bell as it tolled. It was time to pray. I should have been heading to the church. Others on retreat would…
Books
Inundation or Interpretation?
Chapters 6 through 8 of the Book of Genesis tell how God in response to human wickedness sent a flood to wipe out the human race sparing only the righteous Noah and his family and the animals they gathered into their ark The biblical account interweaves two versions an older one conventionally
The Word
Words of Eternal Life
On the first Sunday of Lent we reflected on the covenant that God made with the entire created world Last week we pondered the covenant promises God made to Abraham and his descendants Today we consider one aspect of yet a third covenantthe law associated with the covenant God made through Moses T
Columns
Marching, But Not to Their Drummer
Within a recent five-day period, I marched twice in Washington, D.C. One march opposed a U.S. attack on Iraq; the other opposed legal abortion. According to partisan politics, these causes have nothing in common. But I went because I believe they share a fundamental similarity: both claim that human
Culture
The Word Flourishes
The clergy sexual abuse scandal has left us stunned and confused. But crisis in the church is not a new phenomenon. One of the most important spiritual resources in times of crisis in the church has been Scripture. Two items in this year’s roundup of books on the Bible deal explicitly with Cat
News
Letters
From One Who Was There
As one who actually participated in the Second Vatican Councilas a private consultant during the first period and as an official of the council in the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity for its three other periodsmay I add a few reflections of my own to the articles you published by Cardinal…
Signs of the Times
Papal Envoy Meets BushA papal envoy met with U. S. President George W. Bush and reiterated the Vatican’s opposition to a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, saying a war without U.N. approval would be “immoral, illegal, unjust.” Italian Cardinal Pio Laghi, who delivered a personal message f
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