Book Briefs
This is shaping up as the season of “kindness.” I’ll cite only three book examples. First, there is On Kindness, by Adam Phillips and Barbara Taylor (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $20 hardcover). Phillips is a psychoanalyst who has written 12 other books. Taylor has written acclaime
Serious Thinking: The moral challenge of ‘Caritas in Veritate’
In his new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), Pope Benedict XVI makes a persuasive case that the current global financial crisis is about more than economics; it is also about ethics. As such, he provides us with a moral framework for moving forward as one human family to address the challenges facing the…
Deacon Dialogues: The discussion continues
For our July 20-27 issue the editors of America asked three writers to assess the modern diaconate. William T. Ditewig, who for five years directed the U.S. bishops’ office on deacons, takes a look at the unique ministry of the deacon in “Married and Ordained.” in “Looking Back and Ahead,” Scott Dodge presents…
A Deacon’s Lessons: Seven things they don’t teach you in formation
Seven things they don’t teach you in formation
Looking Back and Ahead: The theology behind the permanent diaconate
The theology behind the permanent diaconate
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
War can never be understood as a rational exercise, for sin is by definition irrational.
Letters
Letters
Justice for All Kathleen McChesney focuses on the most important aspect of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in her article on its relevance: the protection of children (“Is the Charter Still Relevant?” 6/8). Another aspect, protection of an accused priest again
Editorials
For the Common Good
In state houses and board rooms across the country, a failure to come together
Faith in Focus
Spirituality in the Wild
My companion said it out loud first: “Carol, we’re in trouble.” She was right. Early that morning we had set off for the last leg of a five-day backpacking trek through the beautiful but challenging Weminuche Wilderness in southern Colorado. We had survived fierce sun, raging creek
The Breaking of the Bread: In far-flung places, Jesus is made present.
In far-flung places, Jesus is made present.
Ideas
Accept the Absurd: Beckett and Kierkegaard, Godot and Christ
God, Samuel Beckett and the ‘Theater of the Absurd’
Books
Decline (Yes) and Fall (Maybe)
'The Crisis of Islamic Civilization,' reviewed
A Powerful Grip
Hugo Chavez and Latin America’s most polarized society
Film
As It Was in the Beginning: The timeless charms of ‘The Brothers Bloom’
The comedic grace of ‘The Brothers Bloom’ evokes an earlier age of cinema.
Theater
A War on Women: Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Ruined’
The play of the year is not on Broadway and was not featured at the recent Tony Awards. It is a sprawling yet intimate drama set in a brothel in the war-torn Congolese jungle, with the decidedly gloomy title “Ruined.” That may sound like unlikely hit material, but it is hard to argue wit
The Word
Always Enough
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), July 26, 2009
Heavenly Bread
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Aug. 2, 2009
Columns
Blame Cheney?
Did Cheney’s failed policies destroy the Bush presidency?
Current Comment
Current Comment
Healthier Already; Pope and President; Mere Pious Legend?
Faith
Married and Ordained: The ministry of deacons
Just as the permanent diaconate is not only for celibates, neither is it a “married ministry,” though currently most deacons are married. Rather, the permanent diaconate is a major order of ecclesial ministry open to married and to unmarried men.
Signs Of the Times
U.S. Bishops Revisit Covenant Document
The ambiguities in a seven-year-old document from Catholic and Jewish dialogue partners are continuing to cause confusion.
Sotomayor, Senators, Discuss Legal Philosophy
Supreme Court candidate Sonia Sotomayor took on detailed questions about court cases both famous and arcane.
Pope Discusses Bioethics, G-8 Summit with Obama
In addition to giving Obama a copy of his latest encyclical, the pope also presented a copy of a recent Vatican document on biomedical ethics.
Religious Leaders Condemn Indonesian Bombings
Christian and Muslim leaders called two bomb blasts in Jakarta on July 17 “uncivilized acts” and urged the police to apprehend the culprits.
Aid Groups Praise G-8 Pledge on Hunger
The Group of Eight nations have pledged $20 billion to combat global hunger through greater support of agriculture
Basque Bishops Apologize for 1930s Deaths
Catholic bishops from Spain’s Basque region kept quiet about the killing of priests by right-wing forces during the Spanish Civil War.
News Briefs
Pope Benedict XVI underwent a procedure under local anesthesia to repair a fractured right wrist.
New Encyclical Seeks New Way of Doing Business
Ethical values are needed to overcome the current global economic crisis, said Pope Benedict XVI in Caritas in Veritate.
President Meets With Religious Press
The Catholic social tradition, President Obama said, still impresses me, and it can be a powerful force still in American society.
Honduran President Urged Not to Return
We think that a return to the country at this time could unleash a bloodbath, said Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga.
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts