Abortion, Faith and Politics
On a January Monday, after busloads of pilgrims returned from this year’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis witnessed the installation of Archbishop Raymond Burke. It was an appropriate juxtaposition of events: local news coverage prior to the instal
The Bible, the Jews and the Passion
A week or so before Ash Wednesday this year, the Committee for Ecumenical Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will release a 150-page resource book for use by Catholic preachers, teachers, interested laity and Catholic-Jewish dialogue groups. Entitled The Bible, the Jews and the Death
Blocks in the Road
The 10th anniversary of the signing of the Fundamental Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Israel occurred on Dec. 30, 2003. David-Maria A. Jaeger, O.F.M., has served on the Holy See’s delegation to the negotiations with Israel since 1992 and is widely credited as the principal dra
The School of the Heart
We can be forgiven if we think the spirituality of aging applies only to the septuagenarians among us, but aging is a tricky term, for we are aging from the instant of our conception, and then there is the matter of perception. Victor Hugo noted that Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is…
The Movie: Defense and Dissent
The publication of the bishops’ document just before Lent will be followed closely–on Ash Wednesday, in fact–by the release of a controversial movie "The Passion of the Christ," produced and directed by the actor Mel Gibson, in over 2,000 theaters across the United States This may
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
A Pentecost wind—that’s what it felt like the afternoon I took a subway uptown to visit the Mother Cabrini shrine. It was her feast day, Nov. 13, and never having been there, it therefore seemed the right moment to do something I had thought about since my days as a seminarian. Back then
Letters
Letters
Catholics, Abortion and Politics
A task force of seven was established at the U.S. bishops’ meeting Nov. 10-12, 2003, to prepare policy for dealing with Catholic politicians on the subject of abortion. As one bishop stated, the question is most complicated and delicate. The guidelines could possibly promote harmony between the hierarchy and politicians or could…
Editorials
The Abortion Debate Today
When the annual March for Life was held in Washington, D.C., last month to protest the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, (Jan. 22, 1973), the marchers were adamant and upbeat. Americans are still sharply divided over abortion; but the debate is less raucous than it once was, partly beca
Books
A Hard-Knock Ministry
In 1995 in Amazing Grace The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation Jonathan Kozol opened a window on the rock-bottom housing health care and schooling of the Motts Haven enclave in the South Bronx His focus was on children facing the worst possible odds His purpose as declared in t
Walking the Walk
For Eugene Kennedy Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago 1928-96 is an exemplar of the paschal mystery ldquo Joseph Bernardin rsquo s life tells us what happens when a man accepts the destiny that is given to few on behalf of us who are the many to recreate the central motif of Christian spirit
Still a Mick
Ernest Hemingway rsquo s famous comment about taking up a collection and sending John O rsquo Hara off to Yale once for all may have been a cheap shot but it was one O rsquo Hara rsquo s boorish streak nearly begged for In his unorthodox yet enlightening new biography Geoffrey Wolff makes the case
Television
Sex and Reality in the City
Sarah Jessica Parker has spent a lot of time at America House. Well, not really. But over the past several years, the cast and crew of the popular, and soon to be departed, HBO series Sex and the City (Sundays, 9 p.m. ET) have frequently been spotted filming on our block in midtown Manhattan, have…
The Word
Rend Your Hearts
quot Return to me with all your heart rdquo This is the cry of a lover who has been separated from the loved one either by distance or time or perhaps by betrayal It is a heart-to-heart cry In the writings of Joel it is God begging Israel to return to God rsquo s…
The Golden Rule
As children we learned the Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you But as we grew older we realized that the world operates according to a slightly different version of that rule Do unto others before they can do unto you We were told Don rsquo t give an…
Columns
Father Has an Accent
Cardinal George Mundelein, the colorful archbishop of Chicago from 1915 to 1939, styled himself “Prince of the West.” He was indeed the first bishop west of the Allegheny Mountains to be made a cardinal, and he enjoyed to the fullest all the pomp and glory of a prince of the church. But
News
Signs of the Times
Cardinal Examines Ways to Recover Moral VoiceAlthough the Catholic Church has always provided a moral voice for the modern world on such issues as abortion and war, the voice has lost its force and perhaps become more of a whisper than the shout it once was, said Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicag
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts