Self-Hating Humanity?
In the fantasy novel That Hideous Strength, a young social scientist, hoping to break into the inner circle of the prestigious National Institute for Coordinated Experiments (acronym: NICE) discovers that the goal of the institute is to eliminate organic life. Filostrato, a physiologist who hates tr
Catholics and Jews: Healing the Wounds
Catholic Christianity’s understanding of and relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people was radically transformed by the the Second Vatican Council’s declaration, “The Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.” On Oct. 28, 1965, Nostra Aetate formally declared t
The Myth of Reform: Tougher Is Better
Hours after the 109th Congress convened in early January, Republican majority leaders delivered this startling notice: they intend to transform public aid to the poor into a compulsory work program that offers little opportunity for recipients to lift themselves from poverty. This transformation was
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
François de La Rochefoucauld, a 16th-century French aristocrat, made a name for himself by writing tough-minded epigrams that he called maxims. In one of these philosophical wisecracks he noted: “Death and the sun are not to be looked at steadily.” All the same, there are some people wh
Letters
Letters
Missed the Mark
In reviewing Million Dollar Baby (Of Clay and Wattles Made, 2/14), Richard A. Blake, S.J., surprised me by the reference to this intelligent, compassionate priest. I felt that the ordinary, everyday pastoral ministry of the priest sure missed the mark in this film.
(Rev.) Eugene F. McGovern
Editorials
The Weight of Glory
C. S. Lewis compared the risen life to the lightness of an early summer morning when we feel one with sunlight and the gentle air. Of such a morning he wrote in The Weight of Glory, We do not want merely to see beauty…we want to be united with the beauty we see, to pass…
Faith in Focus
Easter: A Child’s-Eye View
In the black-and-white photo, my sister and I stand side by side, looking tanned from the Miami sun. We are decked out in crisp Easter finery, complete with straw hats. We are bursting with pride, because in our hands we are cradling something that for us represented the essence of Easter joy: two v
Vantage Point
The legacy of Teilhard de Chardin: A French Jesuit’s radical fusion of science and spirituality
Teilhard was striving for sanctity by working in science, and this effort would require a new understanding of what it means to be holy.
Books
An Elegaic Portrait
Since the flurry of biographies of Pope John Paul II appeared in the 1990s an uneasy deathwatch has set in among Vaticanologists who have been predicting his imminent death since 1994 The 84-year-old pontiff has not only refused to follow their scenarios he has actually buried many of his
New Life in Lima
This slender but powerful book describes how an upper-middle-class parish in Lima Peru was transformed in concert with the poor people in its midst largely through the efforts of its founding pastor The pastor who is also the author of Birth of a Church Joseph Nangle O F M recounts how this
The Word
Is Seeing Really Believing?
We should not be too quick to criticize the early disciples for their initial lack of faith in the resurrection.
Faith
The legacy of Teilhard de Chardin: A French Jesuit’s radical fusion of science and spirituality
Teilhard was striving for sanctity by working in science, and this effort would require a new understanding of what it means to be holy.
Is Seeing Really Believing?
We should not be too quick to criticize the early disciples for their initial lack of faith in the resurrection.
News
Signs of the Times
New Lay Group Formed to Improve Church ManagementA group of U.S. Catholic bishops and lay church and business leaders announced on March 14 the formation of a group to be called the National Leadership Round-table on Church Management.Its goal is to help Catholic dioceses and parishes improve admini
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts