One Pilgrim’s Progress: When Malcolm X became El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
We have been deluged with 50th anniversaries in recent months. This past November the nation stopped to remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On a more frivolous note, much has been made of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on American television on Feb.
Supply and Demand: One man reflects on a drug war—and market—without end.
‘First and most important is to think business and not crime,” he tells me. “The Zetas and members of the other drug corporations commit crimes—lots of them—but their raison d’etre is to make money, the same as any other business. And they want to do it as efficie
Shared Sacrifice: The witness of marriage and celibacy
Late in 1608, St. Francis de Sales, the bishop of Geneva, published a little book that was in some ways a revolutionary treatment of the Christian life. Addressed to a laywoman, Philothea (a literary artifice, meaning “lover of God”), Francis’ Introduction to the Devout Life is sti
Writers Blocked?: The state of Catholic writing today
Midway through Richard Rodriguez’s recent spiritual autobiography, Darling, the author offers Catholic readers a useful catechism: “I stay in the church because the church is more than its ignorance; the church gives me more than it denies me. I stay in the church because it is mine.&rdq
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
The joint canonization reminds us the that goal of Christian living is not to be right, but holy.
Letters
Reply All
Conscience IntegralWhile rightly sounding an alarm about the dangers of a growing secular culture antagonistic to deeply held religious values, “Our Secular Future,” by R. R. Reno (2/24), gives short shrift to the rights of conscience. “Liberty of Religion and of Conscience,”
Editorials
An Act of Love
In spirit and law the U.S. must recognize the economic and cultural value of immigrants.
Vantage Point
The Greatness of Pope John
The greatness of a great man may have different aspects. An artist—Michelangelo, for example—is considered great only for his applied genius. […] Saintliness is certainly a criterion for greatness. Not all great men are saints, but all saints are great men. […]I have no int
John Paul’s Quarter-Century
As Pope John Paul II celebrates 25 years in office, the world is taking stock of a pontificate that has helped shape political events, set new directions for the Catholic Church and offered spiritual inspiration to millions of people around the globe.By any measure, this is a papacy for the ages. Si
Books
Winning War, Losing Peace
A. Scott Berg begins his biography of Woodrow Wilson on the eve of his departure for the Paris Peace Conference.
Poles apart
In the words of Trans-Atlantyk’s translator, Danuta Borchardt, this work is “Gombrowicz’s most iconoclastic novel.
Film
Waterworld: The biblical ambition of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Noah’
The biblical ambition of Darren Aronofsky’s ‘Noah’
The Word
The Witness of the Bread
There is a richness to the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus that makes it difficult to consume it in its entirety or to exhaust its sustenance Even seemingly minor details nourish the reader in surprising ways Emmaus itself the village to which Cleopas and the unnamed disciple are jou
The Witness of Suffering
Slaves in the Greco-Roman world were sometimes treated with kindness but this was dependent upon the whims of masters not legally required Even domestic slaves as mentioned in 1 Peter were vulnerable to the demands of their masters and 1 Pt 2 18 asks that they ldquo accept the authority rdquo
Columns
Friends of Merton
Thomas Merton connected with people of different backgrounds, experiences and worldviews.
Current Comment
Current Comment
The world should pause for a moment to acknowledge the fortitude of the Afghan people.
Philosopher's Notebook
Just Friends
In the Aristotelian perspective, friendship does not confine itself to the private sphere.
Signs Of the Times
‘Courtyard of Gentiles’ Comes to America
Georgetown hosts dialogue between believers and nonbelievers on role of religion in society.
Pope Apologizes for Clerical Sex Abuse
“I feel called to take responsibility for all the evil some priests…have committed and to ask forgiveness for the damage they’ve done [because of] the sexual abuse of children,” Pope Francis said, speaking at the International Catholic Child Bureau meeting in Rome on April 11. &l
Higgins Visit Suggests Sea Change in Anglo-Irish Relations
State visits are usually occasions of pomp and circumstance signifying little. That was not true, however, of the recent formal introduction of President Michael Higgins of Ireland to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. During the president’s historic four-day visit, from April 8 to 12,
Vatican Joins in Venezuela Mediation
Pope Francis urging a peaceful, negotiated solution to the ongoing political crisis.
News Briefs
An ecumenical prayer service called for healing on April 9 at Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church in Murrysville, Pa., after a 16-year-old student rampaged in the hallways of Franklin Regional High School near Pittsburgh, wounding 22. • Along with other leaders and organizations that defend the r
Pope Francis: ‘A Crime Against Humanity’
When the pope was Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, he dragged the hidden problem of human slavery into broad daylight, annually celebrating open-air Masses in the city’s Constitution Square for and with victims of human trafficking. Now, as leader of the universal church, Pope F
Politics
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts