The Human Costs of War
The refugee camp at Dbayeh, founded in the early 1950s north of Beirut–once housed thousands of Palestinian refugees, most of whom lived in Christian villages in Galilee. This week, the camp has become home to a new influx of refugees from the south: 58 Lebanese families, most of them Shiite Muslim
Moral Implications
The political aspects of the present war in Lebanon seem to be the focus of much reporting. The moral implications, however, are just as important. Should all of Lebanon and its citizens have to sustain being pounded each day for the behavior of some of its citizens? Likewise, should the Lebanese go
Where the Laity Flourish
One of the strongest and most distinctive features of U.S. Catholicism is the central place parishes play in the church’s life. In recent years we have heard a lot about the closing of some parishes and reconfigurations of others, especially in parts of the country like the Rust Belt. But the
A Symphony of Church Life
A rainy November evening finds three dozen people gathered for prayer at the Cabrini Center for Nursing in Manhattan’s East Village. They include Anthony Frarracci, who arrives early to help arrange the chairs in a circle, and Vita Santangelo, a wheelchair-bound native of Sicily whose recent 9
Gazas Summer Rains
It is hazardous to write about current events in the Holy Land, since they change rapidly and publication dates are distant. I write in the midst of the invasion of the Gaza Strip launched by Israeli forces under the name Operation Summer Rains. The stated goals of the invasion are the release of th
Learning From El Salvador’s Poor: An interview with Dean Brackley
How did you happen to go to the University of Central America?
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Now I get it. Or at least part of it. The prospect of not raising children was not a big deal for me when I entered the Jesuits. It wasn’t a deal at all, really. And, over time, while I calculated (almost daily) the difficulty of going through life without one special person to stand…
Letters
Letters
Dynamic Universe
I am frustrated by the recent action of the bishops in considering certain changes to the liturgy of the Mass (Signs of the Times, 7/3). Why are they wasting their time and ours on trivialities when there are so many important issues that need attention?
Are they using their command function to remind us that…
Editorials
Sowing the Wind
In its short modern history, Lebanon has been brutalized by both its neighbors and its own internal divisions. Syria, the Palestinians, Hezbollah, Israel and the country’s own religious militias all have inflicted blows on the small Mediterranean state. Besides its 1982 invasion to dislodge th
Faith in Focus
The Way Things Are Going
Maybe it’s not that bad. No one actually brought a hammer and some sturdy nails. But the pastor of my parish is under pressure to get rid of me. A group of parents does not want a person like me teaching the second-year confirmation class at our parish. The men of a certain chivalrous organization…
Books
On the State of World Affairs
When Europeans criticize President George W Bush rsquo s foreign policy they often cite the predominance of neo- conservative and religious thinking A book written by a British politician who defines himself as a conservative a Catholic and a patriot ought thus to offer some hope for the trans
Poetry
Capital Punishment
The blood cried out. The evidence was plain.
The Word
Wisdoms Banquet
During our series of reflections on Jesus rsquo ldquo bread of life rdquo discourse in John 6 we have seen repeatedly how the Old Testament passages chosen for each Sunday cast fresh light on Jesus and the Eucharist Today rsquo s selection from Proverbs 9 reminds us that the Eucharist is also W
A Call to Decision
The passages from John 6 that we have been considering on recent Sundays have reminded us of some of the ways in which God feeds his people Most fundamentally God feeds his people through Jesus the revealer who explains and exemplifies who God is and what God wills for us This revelation is tra
Columns
Seen as in a Mirror
I had never been inside an ambulance before. I didn’t for a moment expect to discover that night what the inside of an ambulance looks like. But that’s lifeone minute we have an agenda, the next minute our best-laid plans lie in pieces all over the floor of our lives. That’s supposed to be one…
Culture
The Passing of a Giant
At the insistent urging of a motel clerk near the Minneapolis airport a few years ago, I took the motel shuttle to that temple of American consumerism, The Mall of America, even though, as I told the lady at the front desk, I am not a mall kind of a guy. After a few bewildering…
Current Comment
Current Comment
Immigration and AssimilationAmerican Catholics, long thought of as a church of immigrants, continue to see their numbers augmented by an influx of new Americans. Dealing successfully with this new population will be a major challenge for the church in the new century. If history is any guide, we wil
News
Signs of the Times
Knights’ Relief Quick and Generous The $10 million raised by the Knights of Columbus for hurricane relief on the Gulf Coast represents the largest disaster relief effort in the organization’s 124-year history, reported Patrick Korten, vice president for communications. Almost before the
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts