An Uncertain Path
Sad? Unbelievable? Outrageous? Whatever one thinks about the recent bankruptcy filing by the Archiocese of Portland, Ore., it is certainly unprecedented. And it is taking the Catholic Church down an uncertain and uncharted legal path. Portland’s Archbishop John Vlazny has sought the protection
Reverence Over Reason?
Two prominent rabbis have denounced the failure of Catholics publicly to brand the recent film “The Passion of the Christ” as anti-Semitic. They spoke at the joint meeting on April 20 of the Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs and the Rabbinical Council of Ameri
American Catholics and the State
In December 1960, shortly after a Catholic Democrat had been elected president of the United States, Time magazine devoted a lengthy cover story to the topic “U.S. Catholics and the State.” The story focused on the work of John Courtney Murray, S.J., and his then-recently published book,
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Everyone recognizes that the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church was not caused only by the sinful failures of individual priests; it was also caused by the failure of a number of bishops to deal appropriately with these priests. There were not just personal failures; there were also personne
Letters
Letters
Thoughtful Advice
I’m glad that Cardinal Avery Dulles stood up for the rights of priests to receive due process when they are accused of wrongdoing (6/21). As he points out, the definition of sexual abuse has been expanded to include even verbal offenses, while at the same time the public embarrassment and losses from even…
Editorials
The Political Season
The conventional wisdom about presidential election campaigns is that the American voting public does not begin to pay attention until after the Labor Day weekend. For both Democrats and Republicans the candidates have been clearly identified long in advance of the national conventions in which they
Faith in Focus
Father James Martin’s Lourdes diary
Something you don’t hear every day from a Jesuit: I’m here to pick up a cassock for my trip to Lourdes.
Books
Going My Way
The dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and assistant secretary of defense in the Clinton administration Joseph S Nye Jr coined the term ldquo soft power rdquo in the late 1980 rsquo s In Bound to Lead 1990 and The Paradox of American Power 2001 he developed the
We’re Broke
While Ronald Reagan tagged Democrats with his tax and spend label it was his 1980 electoral adversary Jimmy Carter who while governing Georgia in the 1970 rsquo s pioneered zero-based budgeting in government the system by which each program rsquo s very existence must be justified every time spe
Oke’s Odyssey
If Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka are arguably the grandfathers of Nigerian literature and Ben Okri and Buchi Emecheta are their successors Chris Abani Chimamanda Adichie and Helen Habila would appear to be coming into their own these days as the next wave Adichie author of Purple Hibiscus Alg
Film
Burning Bush: Fahrenheit 9/11
The worm turns. Last spring the religious right made such a fuss about the polychrome piosities of Mel Gibson that even card-carrying atheists had to line up to see what all the buzz was about. Every action has its reaction, so now the sanctimonious left has created an even greater fuss about Michae
The Word
Seeing Is Believing. Really?
The phrase ldquo seeing is believing rdquo is well known to us all It suggests skepticism it implies that we will not accept the truth of something unless we can somehow see it While the phrase may validly express a concern for verification it contradicts basic religious ideas To paraphrase t
Hail, Holy Queen
What can one say about the assumption of Mary There is no mention of it in the Scriptures That of course does not invalidate the feast It simply means that its full theological meaning is found outside of the readings selected for its celebration These readings however provide us with insigh
Columns
Redrafting America
As the Roman world began to disintegrate and the emperor was far from home fighting wars on the Rhine, a group known as the Alemanni advanced from Germany to the very outskirts of the great global city. In this emergency, wrote Edward Gibbon in his masterful tale of Rome’s decline and fall, th
Faith
Father James Martin’s Lourdes diary
Something you don’t hear every day from a Jesuit: I’m here to pick up a cassock for my trip to Lourdes.
News
Signs of the Times
Bishop to Investigate Austrian SeminaryPope John Paul II appointed a special investigator to gather information on a pornography and sex scandal in an Austrian seminary. In a one-line statement, the Vatican announced on July 20 that the pope will send Bishop Klaus Küng of Feldkirch, Austria, a memb
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts