Uniting America Spiritually
This year the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, commonly known as the Paulists, is beginning the process of seeking beatification for its founder, Isaac Thomas Hecker. To see Father Hecker declared blessed would indeed be an encouraging sign not only for our Paulist community but also for
Left Behind
In a recent article in The Nation, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, author of American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville, expressed his shock at the moribund state of the American secular left. He found it strange, as an outsider, that so many progressives seem to
The Moment, the Message, the Messenger
The Catholic Church’s social teachings need to be heard today throughout our country. Our church has much to say to this moment. But our collective record in conveying these teachings is rather modest. Can we do better? What voices can be gathered to share our rich and growing heritage of soci
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
As we moved into the Easter season this year, I found myself thinking of a comment by the sacramental theologian Peter Fink, S.J., about how difficult it can be to get Catholics to pay attention to the Easter season. After 40 days of Lent and the Easter Triduum, people’s focus and imagination
Letters
Letters
Truly Distinguished
I write this as a board member of the Venerable John Henry Newman Association. It has been a concern of the association for some time to distinguish itself from the Cardinal Newman Society, which society appears so prominently in your editorial, Measuring Catholic Identity (3/27).
The Venerable John Henry Newman Association was founded in the…
Editorials
Hunger USA
Hunger here in the richest nation in the world? Impossible, one might think. But the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual Hunger and Homelessness Survey makes it clear that hunger and food insecurity (not always having access to enough food to meet basic needs) not only exist, but are on the rise
Faith in Focus
Why Evil?
Some time after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center four years ago, I read the results of a study of 437 adults over age 50 that indicated that their sense of control over their lives dropped significantly after that event. I found it interesting that the people who were more religious su
Books
Workers Unite
Some of my best friends yes I know it rsquo s a clich are labor organizers We tend to talk about the prospects of the labor movement and the conversations quickly turn gloomy The A F L -C I O now that its leader Andrew Stern and his brethren are leaving is in tatters The…
A Conservative Hall of Fame
What exactly is the conservative intellectual tradition in America More troubling still what can be said who can be cited to counter Lionel Trilling rsquo s pronouncement in his preface to The Liberal Imagination 1950 that In the United States at this time liberalism is not only the dominant
Holiness Test’
Can great artists be holy Should they even try to be holy This question has troubled many painters poets and composers for centuries Tormented by the world rsquo s imperfections uniquely susceptible to the sensual and necessarily hardened to criticism artists may be more vulnerable to particula
Poetry
The One Who Leaves Few Footprints in the Snow: To Thomas Merton
He splits wood,
The Word
Back to Basics!
“Back to basics!” is a familiar slogan in many walks of life, including religion. The basics of Christianity include the creeds, moral precepts and sacraments. But where do these basics come from?
The Search for Identity
All over the world people seem to be searching for their ldquo identity rdquo Some find it in religion race or gangs often with disastrous results There are also others especially the young with very little sense of identity or self-esteem Here too the result is sometimes tragic issuing in
Current Comment
Current Comment
Sant'Egidio Comes to AmericaThe most important Catholic group that you may never have heard of is the Sant’Egidio community. Their anonymity may lessen with an upcoming convention, Religion and Cultures, to be held at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., on April 26-27. It will be t
Faith
Back to Basics!
“Back to basics!” is a familiar slogan in many walks of life, including religion. The basics of Christianity include the creeds, moral precepts and sacraments. But where do these basics come from?
News
Signs of the Times
New U.S. Ecumenical Group FoundedChristian Churches Together in the USAthe broadest, most inclusive ecumenical movement in U.S. historywas officially founded during a gathering near Atlanta, Ga., on March 28-31. Its founding 34 Christian churches and national organizations represent more than 100 mi
Politics
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts