Renew This World: A churchwide strategy for a sustainable planet
In “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis thoughtfully asked for suggestions for church reform that might better meet the needs of evangelization today. I trust he is getting a strong response! As an observer at the Vatican conference Sustainable Humanity, Sustainable Nature, I would like
Eden to Gethsemane: The Christian environmental journey
‘If we destroy creation, creation will destroy us!”This warning was given by Pope Francis during a talk he gave in May, in which he reminded his listeners that “creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, the property of only a few. Creation is a gift
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Worried about the church? Then come to the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice next year.
Letters
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Family RevelationRe “Go in Peace” (Editorial, 11/10): St. Pope John Paul II, in “Familiaris Consortio,” states that “The Christian family is a specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason too it can and should be called ‘the dome
Editorials
The Tyranny of Talk
Francis has rarely been more plainspoken than when talking about the ‘terrorism of gossip.’
Faith in Focus
The Loneliest Choice: Puzzling through suicide’s sorrowful mystery
‘I can no longer cope with the loneliness. At this point the future could not look any blacker…. I kept thinking I could work my way out of this horrible depression that grips me, but I can’t do it. Please forgive me if I have hurt you….”Minutes after writing these words, my mo
Books
Living on the Edge: Religious Women: Past, Present, Future?
Religious Women: Past, Present, Future?
Film
Laws of Attraction: Love and loss in ‘The Theory of Everything’
The struggle to form and sustain relationships is a universal experience. The struggle to understand the existence of black holes, less so. So it makes sense that The Theory of Everything, a new biopic about Stephen Hawking, the physicist and cosmologist, puts more focus on his love life than on the
Poetry
L’HEURE BLEUE
Hour of approach, hour of silence.The brother sets down his axe in the woods.The sister sets down her glasses on the tableand waits in the moment before prayerthat throbs from the tolling of the bell.Shadows swallow shadows in the frigid air.Hour of departure.Ledgers toted, windows shuttered.Late he
The Word
The Comfort of Hope
A reflection by John W. Martens for the Second Sunday in Advent
(Un)Conventional Wisdom
Conversation Stoppers
The elections of 2014 brought infinite examples of political opponents talking right past each other.
Columns
Finding Your Center
How much does the average church help the person in the pew facing life’s big questions?
Current Comment
Current Comment
Today H.I.V. remains the world’s leading infectious killer, taking 1.5 million lives last year.
Generation Faith
Hot Dog Hospitality: Seeking solidarity on the streets of Chicago
My paternal grandmother, Ruth, was the incarnation of hospitality for me throughout my childhood. As a perpetually hungry growing boy—eager for every fat, carb and casserole laced with cream of mushroom soup I could get my hands on—I developed a deep appreciation for Ruth’s talent
Of Other Things
A Common Core–of Hysteria?
It has been mocked by David Letterman and Steven Colbert. On Twitter, the comedian Louis C. K. complains that his kids used to love math, but now “it makes them cry.” Tea Party conservatives have pummeled it as another menacing tentacle of a vast left-wing conspiracy to “big-brothe
Signs Of the Times
Vatican to Speed Up Abuse Appeals
Pope Francis has established a special body within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to speed up the process of hearing and ruling on appeals filed by priests laicized or otherwise disciplined in sexual abuse or other serious cases. Federico Lombardi, S.J., the Vatican spokesperson, tol
Progress on Ebola
Catholic Relief Services committed an additional $1.5 million to programs aimed at countering Ebola in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in November. The money is being used to train heath workers, ensure safe and dignified burials, develop and implement prevention awareness campaigns, maintain local
The Public Protector Needs Protection
South Africa’s Parliamentary portfolio committee on justice and correctional service heard that the Office of the Public Protector, the constitutionally created watchdog on public affairs oversight, was insolvent. According to reports, the office’s assets were valued at just under R1 mil
Obama Readies Executive Order; Some in Congress Prepare for Fight
Obama administration moves on immigration were drawing attention and pre-emptive opposition from Republican lawmakers, who will soon control Congress when the lame duck session ends in January. President Barack Obama was poised in mid-November to unveil a series of executive actions on immigration t
Survey Shows Church Decline
Is the “Francis effect” slowing the diminishment of Latin America’s Catholic population?
News Briefs
Commenting on the deaths of 13 young mothers at government-run sterilization camps in India’s central Chhattisgarh State on Nov. 12, Archbishop Prakash Mallavarapu said the guilty should be punished, but “the systemic faults behind this tragedy must be exposed and corrected.” &bull
Focus on World’s Poor
As world leaders prepared to meet in Australia on Nov. 15-16 to continue looking at ways to improve the global economy, Pope Francis asked them “not to forget that many lives are at stake” behind their discussions and decisions. The measure of success of the Group of 20 heavily industria
Vatican Dispatch
Francis and the Children
On Nov. 8, Pope Francis signed a decree recognizing that Silvio Dissegna, a 12-year-old Italian boy who died from bone cancer on Sept. 24, 1979, had lived the Christian virtues to a heroic degree and can therefore be called venerable.The signing of that decree may seem an insignificant event in the
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