Can the Church Learn From Wal-Mart?
With over one million employees, the Catholic Church in the United States is comparable in size to Wal-Mart, but it still follows a feudal model of governance and management. This may be adequate to protect religious orthodoxy, but it is not equal to the task of managing a worldwide enterprise that
Germany’s Unwelcome Guests
Freed nearly a decade and a half ago from its dividing and restraining wall, Berlin has largely succeeded in moving beyond the siege mentality of the cold war period. It has become once again not only the political capital of Germany but a cultural center of gravity for Europe as well, especially in
Against Tobacco, For Life
In August 2003, thousands of tobacco-control and health advocates converged upon Helsinki, Finland, for the 11th World Conference on Tobacco or Health. I was the only “official” Roman Catholic attending. Three months later, in mid-December 2003, I attended the National Conference on Toba
Voting Conscience
Over the past few weeks I have had friends plead with me, Please don’t vote for Nader again. You will be giving the vote to Bush. You will be giving the vote to Kerry. There’s my problem: I don’t want to give my vote to either of them. Such words could infuriate readers as well…
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
They say you can stay on the subway all night.” So commented a middle-aged homeless man to me on a particularly cold evening at a subway station in the Manhattan neighborhood of East Harlem. Warmly bundled up myself, I was sitting on a bench facing the tracks and noticed him because he was sta
Letters
Letters
Means to Solidarity
How is it possible that so few Americans are aware of the horror in northern Uganda: since 1988, nearly 20,000 children abducted, more than one million civilians living away from their homes in squalid camps? Thank you for trying to inform them (Child Soldiers and the Lord’s Resistance Army, 3/29).
Thanks too for Rwanda…
Editorials
Fifty Years of Progress
On May 17, 1954, neither the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, nor anyone else, could have predicted that 50 years later both the U.S. secretary of state and the president’s national security advisor would be African-Americans. But on that Monday morning, the court announced its decisio
Books
Jump-Starting the Parish
A few years ago when Paul Wilkes wrote Excellent Catholic Parishes The Guide to Best Places and Practices and later when he penned Excellent Protestant Congregations he was not primarily interested in theory trends or statistics Rather he observed the approaches and programs in several hundr
Two-Part Harmony
American Catholics and Civic Engagement is the first of two volumes published by American Catholics in the Public Square a three-year project funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts Peter Steinfels rsquo introduction sketches the historical background behind the ongoing struggle of Roman Catholics to
Sightings, Signs and Wonders
It is difficult to imagine two books about the same subject more dissimilar than these Randall Sullivan rsquo s The Miracle Detective is a drawn-out tour de force rivaling The Da Vinci Code in length digressions and clues that ultimately don rsquo t go anywhere Lisa Schwebel rsquo s Apparitions
The Word
Dream the Impossible Dream
We might be tempted to laugh at the naive optimism of Don Quixote who though considered ridiculous saw himself as a champion of the vulnerable But is he really so far removed from us As children we may have envisioned ourselves as an astronaut hero Miss America or the batter who wins the Worl
Magazine
Catholics and Candidates
Senator John F. Kennedy walked into the grand ballroom of Houston’s Rice Hotel with one goal: to put to rest the notion that a Roman Catholic should not be elected president of the United States. It was September 1960, and many Americans were wary of electing a Catholic. Most non-Catholics vie
News
Signs of the Times
Canon Law on Sanctions Leaves Much to Interpret People on one side ask why bishops don’t stop certain Catholic politicians from receiving Communion or even excommunicate them.Aren’t they openly defying church teaching on the most important subjectthe right to life? If such politicians do
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts