I Learned My Prayers in Basque
When I was growing up, my nightly ritual was probably just like that of other kids in my C.C.D. class. After tucking me in, my mother would sit beside me on the bed and listen to me recite my prayers: the Our Father, the Hail Mary, the Creed. But this litany was also very different.…
The Jesuits of Baghdad
The Jesuits certainly will return to Bagdad, because a place so important to Islam as well as to Christianity cannot be ignored for very long. What form the future mission will take we leave to the Holy Spirit, who took us there in the first place. But one thing is clear: the Jesuit mission to…
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
For some years my mother has lamentedand this is not too strong a wordthe fact that I never studied Latin. Whenever she spies a phrase in Latin inscribed on a church facade, or comes across a quote in a book or article, or hears an unfamiliar Latin hymn during a Mass, and I am unable…
Letters
Letters
Not Polite
I have followed with fascination the exchanges about the Second Vatican Council between Cardinal Avery Dulles, S.J., and John W. O’Malley, S.J. (2/24). Equally fascinating have been the numerous informative and thought-provoking letters that America readers have written in response.
Two sentences by Cardinal Dulles keep haunting me. Stating that style should not eclipse substance…
Editorials
Roadblocks for the Road Map
With the end of hostilities in Iraq, the Bush administration, along with the other three members of “the Quartet”—Russia, the European Union and the United Nations—has released its “road map” for peace in the Holy Land. The plan consists of a set of coordinated st
Faith in Focus
Standing for the Unborn: A Statement of the Society of Jesus in the United States on Abortion
On this feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord, we, the leadership of the Jesuits in the United States, fervently renew our opposition to abortion and our support for the unborn. In treating this delicate and controversial topic, we hope to provide our brother Jesuits, colleagues, parishioners and st
Books
Tensions in Balance
By any yardstick Contemplatives in Action The Jesuit Way surpasses all expectations This book is a gem and is destined to be a classic introduction for all future reading about Jesuits and their way William A Barry S J and Robert G Doherty S J accomplish something rather remarkable in thi
Unconscious Theologian
Flannery O rsquo Connor downplayed the deep spirituality that infused her life and her works She is probably saying ldquo Haw haw haw rdquo in the southern backwoods accent that she sometimes affected as she views this new title in the Modern Spiritual Masters series The series introduces read
Spectacleand Silence
Rosemary Mahoney is a good traveler and a good writerinterested interesting and strikingly unconventional in her perceptions In earlier books she has allowed us to listen to people in China The Early Arrival of Dreams and Ireland Whoredom in Kimmage a 1994 National Book Critics Circle Award f
The Word
In Between, but Not Alone!
How does one go on when life seems to have been torn apart at the seams Loved ones die others turn away from us we are forced to assume responsibility we never chose We want things to be what they were before but we know that they never will be The world is just not…
What’s Gotten Into You?
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is such a simple statement, a statement that may no longer startle us!
Columns
A Job Named Slop
The earliest and most enduring lesson the Jesuits taught me can be summarized in one word: slop. This may take a bit of explaining, but not as much as you might think. For it has to do with learning to find the sacred in the mundane. Other than paper routes, my first real job came…
Faith
The Classroom as Holy Ground
Every semester begins the same way. I walk to the door of the classroom and catch my breath. Like an actor walking on stage, the nervousness of a teacher on the first day—or any day—is natural.
What’s Gotten Into You?
“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” It is such a simple statement, a statement that may no longer startle us!
News
Signs of the Times
Cardinal Restoring Nation’s First Catholic CathedralBy the time the Basilica of the Assumption, the nation’s oldest Catholic cathedral, turns 200 in 2006, Cardinal William H. Keeler of Baltimore wants it restored to its original magnificenceand more. The most notable feature of the basil
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts