Climate Ethics
With the publication of the report of the fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it should now be clear to everyone that climate change is one of the most serious ethical issues facing humanity in the 21st century. Even President George W. Bush, after almost a decade of denial, has used t
Laughing with the Saints
America Video: Fr. James Martin talks about the spiritual value of humor.
Archive Articles
Several readers have asked how to locate articles from Americas archives on our new Web site. All articles from 2001 until the present are available, and free, to all who register. You can search our database by author, keyword or title on our advanced search page. You can also search by issue by en
A Brewing Storm: The detention of illegal imigrants
Tragedy struck the family of Francisco-Javier Domínguez Rivera, a 22-year-old native of the State of Puebla in Mexico, in mid-January 2007. Francisco was shot to death by a U.S. Border Patrol agent while attempting to cross the desert between Bisbee and Douglas, Ariz. The agent reported that he had
Lovingly Observant: An interview with Susannah Heschel
Susannah Heschel, daughter of Jewish thinker Abraham Heschel, discusses his father's life and work.
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
One of nature’s ironies is that when it comes to wildflowers, the semi-arid West, even the desert Southwest in springtime, outdoes the green-forested East. I am told the secret is sunlight. The open forests and high meadows of the Sierra Nevada or Colorado’s San Juan Mountains seem to sp
Letters
Letters
Worth the Reading Many thanks for the recent Of Many Things column (4/30) by Patricia A. Kossmann. I always make it a point to read anything that bears her byline. Thus, this expression of gratitude has been long in coming. She always mentions books that would ordinarily slip by without being notice
Editorials
Pastoring Hispanics
As Hispanics in the United States increase in number, they will likely exert more influence on the nation as a whole, and especially on the U.S. Catholic Church. For while Hispanics make up 14.2 percent of the populace, they make up more than a third of its Catholics, a percentage expected to increa
Faith in Focus
Dating God: A young friar’s experience of solitude
The importance of solitude
Finding God in post-Katrina New Orleans
Thousands of young volunteers are a bright spot amidst the city’s slow recovery.
Beckoned by the Desert: An antidote to subjective spirituality
Each year I spend at least a few weeks in the deserts of the Southwest. My favorite places include the high desert canyons of northwest New Mexico, the Great Sonora Desert of Arizona, Death Valley, and the Big Bend area in Texas. Many of my friends in New York City cannot quite understand the attrac
Design for Others: Beautiful and low-tech solutions for daily problems
A small but important collection of ingeniously designed yet simple-to-use devices from around the globe is currently on display at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum (part of the Smithsonian Institution) in New York City, where it will be on view until Sept. 23. Organized outdoors in the lush
Books
Wise Words From a Wheelchair
In his beautiful and moving Letters to Sam, Daniel Gottlieb, a renowned psychologist who has lived with quadriplegia for 25 years, imparts uncommon wisdom about the lifelong journey of becoming a man.
Just a Good Idea?
A new book traces the development of human rights.
Great Saint of the Little Way
At a recent viewing of the film ldquo Into Great Silence rdquo I was mesmerized as the camera circled the austere perimeter of a new Carthusian novice rsquo s cell and oratory stripped of any comforts or signs of individuality And then there she was pasted to the wall near a bare cross a sma
Poetry
Voice of Our Father
Wed scatter at our fathers thunder bark:
The Word
Decrease and Increase
We usually associate John the Baptist with the Advent season But here in early summer we encounter John once more in order to celebrate his birth on June 24 So important is this solemnity that today it replaces the Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time The New Testament does not supply precise informa
Traveling Time
Summer is a good time to travel Many of us interrupt the normal flow of life and go elsewhere for a while Travel allows us to meet different people and see different things and we often come away refreshed and renewed At least that is what we hope Today we begin a journey with Jesus…
Columns
18 Months to Go
When will the United States draw down its troops occupying Iraq? In the political showdown between the president and the Congress over the war in Iraq, attention has focused on legislating a specific timetable for troop withdrawal. This issue will be revisited in September, when debate over war fund
Current Comment
Current Comment
NEGOTIATING WITH IRAN The meeting of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq with the Iranian ambassador to Iraq in Baghdad on May 28, under the auspices of the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, was an encouraging step in the direction urged by the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group. The meetings agenda
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts