Editing Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen worked with many editors in his life. As it turned out, I was the last. I would not have foreseen this 10 years before, when I first brought him the news that I had been offered a job at Orbis Books. Well, he said, if someone were to ask me if you would…
Finding the Quiet Center
Henri Nouwen, a popular and prolific author and spiritual guide, died suddenly on Sept. 21, 1996, from the complications of two major heart attacks. En route to Russia, he was going to film a special for the BBC on Rembrandt’s famous painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son,” at th
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Years ago the last editorial The Sunday New York Times ran each week was an essay on the changing seasons. As a boy I would page through the Week in Review section to read the weekly sketch of natural history. I identified with the writer’s fascination with the natural world, and read in the h
Letters
Letters
Wake Up
Terry Golway’s column A Nation of Idol-Worshipers (7/31) was right on target.
It’s sad to see so many young adults wasting their time and energy for such low standards, while there are so many challenges everywhere to benefit society. There are numerous fields of labor that can make one feel fulfilled. The sad part of…
Editorials
The People’s Schools
Alma E. Miller was 102 years old when she died in 1994. For 78 of those years she had been a member of the religious congregation called the Society of the Sacred Heart. During much of that time, she was the mistress of studies, that is to say, the academic dean, in one or other…
Faith in Focus
Preaching: A Ministry (Still) in Distress
The reminiscences of Walter Burghardt, S.J., of his 75 years as a Jesuit and the delight this renowned preacher has experienced in nourishing the heads and hearts of those hungry for God’s word (America, 3/20), recall a memory of my own. I am one of many thousands who have listened spellbound
Books
The Great Circle of Love
Next year will mark 50 years since John S Dunne C S C fresh from writing a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas under the direction of Bernard Lonergan S J at the Gregorian University in Rome joined the theology faculty at the University of Notre Dame In those five decades he has published 16 boo
The Man Behind Unity
Among the signal achievements of the Second Vatican Council is the Roman Catholic Church rsquo s irreversible commitment to the cause of Christian unity How did the church come to change its preconciliar triumphalist insistence on the ldquo return rdquo of ldquo schismatics and heretics rdquo
Meeting His Past
I first met John McGahern in the 1990 rsquo s when I was teaching a summer course in contemporary Irish literature for Georgetown students at Trinity College in Dublin where John was then residing He was one of the people I was hoping to entice to come to my class and when I asked him…
The Word
The Origin of Wars and Other Conflicts
Today rsquo s reading from the Letter of James asks and answers a timely question Where do wars and conflicts come from All around us on the international scene there are wars and rumors of wars And there surely are conflicts in our country local communities churches and families Why James t
Columns
What Vacation?
If adults were required to compose essays chronicling what they did on their summer vacation, some of us would have no choice but to hand in a blank piece of paper. A recent article in The New York Times reported that about one in four private-sector workers in the U.S. receive no paid vacation time
Current Comment
Current Comment
Cuban Immigrants FavoredCubans stand apart in notable ways from other Hispanic groups in the United States, according to a report by the Pew Hispanic Center. What especially distinguishes them is that U.S. policy has been much more welcoming to Cubans than to immigrants from the Caribbean and Centra
News
Signs of the Times
Capuchins Elect Mountain Climber to Head OrderRepresentatives of the Capuchins overwhelmingly elected the Swiss provincial superior, Mauro Johri, to head the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin for the next six years. The 59-year-old friar replaces John Corriveau, O.F.M.Cap., a Canadian, who is leaving a
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts