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April 19 2004

April 19, 2004 / Vol. 190 / No. 14

Must We Preserve Life?

Is the removal of a feeding tube that supplies nutrients and fluids, especially in patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS), simply a means of killing a vulnerable persona form of euthanasia? Judging from some of the responses to the much-publicized Terri Schiavo case, it seems there are thos

Remembering Rwanda 1994-2004

During early April this year, thousands of quiet, sad memorials were held across Rwanda. Holy Week also fell in early April, but the passion that Rwanda re-enacted is uniquely its own. Ten years ago, on April 6, 1994, a raging genocide was unleashed that claimed over 800,000 Rwandan lives in 100 day

The Glorious Paradox

If a Jesuit Volunteer Corps community were ever chosen to appear on MTV’s “The Real World,” you might hear words like the following, an altered version of the program’s usual opening credits: “This is the true story of some young adults who live together and pursue the

Hispanic Ecumenism

With the steady growth of the Hispanic population in the United States, Christian denominations have been competing as never before for the allegiance of Latinos. Now many Hispanic religious leaders have begun to ask an intriguing question: couldn’t we accomplish more for our people by collabo

Of Many Things

Of Many Things

St. Paul would not have been surprised by the clash of opinions aroused by Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of the Christ.” At the beginning of his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul alluded to the controversy he himself encountered when he proclaimed “Christ nailed to the

Letters

Letters

Peer Review

Regarding Bishop Emil C. Wcela’s title query, What Did I Miss? I should like to suggest that the missing category about which he is puzzled is the use of peer review (3/15). If seminarians had been polled regularly, perhaps some weeks before the seminary authorities met to discuss and vote on the candidates for…

Editorials

Eight Hundred Thousand

This year, the United Nations proclaimed April 7 an International Day of Remembrance. For in the 100 days beginning on the eve of that date 10 years ago, 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda. The divisions between the Tutsi and Hutu peoples in Rwanda were not always as deep as those that separated t

Books

Cleanse Us From Our Sins

You rsquo ll need an iron stomach and a leather bottom to get through these two investigative reports but if you want to know about sexual abuse in the church they are indispensable You will also have to put up with cute titles and chapter heads as well as an occasionally questionable judgment

Voice of the People

El Salvador rsquo s civil war took 175 000 lives and during the dozen years of its duration human rights abuses ran rampant Those who denounced the abuses mdash like Archbishop Oscar Romero the six Jesuits at the University of El Salvador and other activists mdash were targeted for assassination

Boulder’s Miracle Child

On Aug 15 the feast of Mary rsquo s Assumption a homeless Chaucer scholar on antipsychotic drugs has a vision that convinces him that 14-year-old Francesca Dunn is the Virgin pregnant with the Savior Certain he rsquo s been elected to serve and protect her Chester finds the girl at a Colorado

The Word

Is He Alive in Us?

Not too many people serve grilled fish for breakfast mdash smoked maybe but not grilled But who would turn it down if Jesus was the one offering it Bread and fish Not unlike the meal he earlier served to the large crowd on the mountainside Jn 6 9-11 Both times he astonished the disciples Unf

A Great and Diverse Multitude

Today is traditionally known as Good Shepherd Sunday But the readings call our attention to the flock rather than the shepherd Still the character of the flock does tell us something about the one who guides and cares for it The fact for example that there are different kinds of sheep indicate

Faith

News

Signs of the Times

Kennedy to Kerry: Catholic Candidates in Strikingly Different TimesWhen Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts ran for president in 1960, he faced a barrage of questions from a predominantly Protestant public, like, "How do we know you can separate your Catholic beliefs from your political re


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