Of Many Things
Of Many Things
Last month marked the 51st anniversary of the “Decree on the Means of Social Communication,” (“Inter Mirifica”), promulgated by the Second Vatican Council. In that document the council fathers considered how social communications “contribute greatly to the enlargement o
Letters
Reply All
Family UnityI second the Rev. Robert P. Imbelli in “Family in Focus” (12/8). Father Imbelli emphasizes the importance of prayer in this process of discernment, and I would add Scripture to that. I am reminded of the Gospel reading at my wedding, “That they may be one,” from J
Editorials
A Nation of Immigrants
Administration action on immigration is only a first step in long road to comprehensive reform.
Features
Marketing Motherhood: The meaning of vocation in a secular world
The word vocation, originally used to indicate lives directly consecrated to God through priestly or religious service, has recently come into use in a much broader fashion. To expand vocation to include the whole range of ways that lives can be given to God is a fair and sensible extension. After a
Faith in Focus
Fruitful Searching: Wandering my way toward God
I know a Jesuit whose father worked at the same company for 56 years. A friend and mentor just retired after 35 years at the same company, and my father has only recently begun to decelerate after practicing orthopedic surgery for almost 40 years.I am 33. After graduating from college
Military Maneuver: Finding my vocation in uniform
Raymond A. Scroth, S.J., on finding his vocation in uniform
Books
Rights Over Laws
‘Kinship Across Borders,’ by Kristin E. Heyer
The ‘Devil’ Inside
‘Sister Thorn and Catholic Mysticism in Modern America,’ by Paula M. Kane
Founding Pastor
‘Paul and the Faithfulness of God,’ by N.T. Wright
Art
Mother and Mystery: A new exhibit celebrates Mary.
A new exhibit celebrates Mary.
Poetry
His Vision
I never saw the root of the realIn arboreal flare,Nor witnessed this man walk on water,Nor that one float in air. I sat beneath the bodhi tree;I felt my body itch.Between the true cup and the falseI knew not which was which. My eyes have never blown like fusesSparked black upon a wall,No s
The Word
Finding a Friend
How do relationships begin There is naturally not just one way one place or one word needed to start a relationship But is there a common process by which friendship is built from nothing to the point that neither party can imagine life without the other Some friendships begin in childhood thei
Spirit of Justice
In a number of Servant Songs in Isaiah a mysterious individual appears who sometimes represents the nation of Israel though later Christians understood him to represent Jesus In Isaiah 42 this person is designated ldquo my servant rdquo ebed in Hebrew while in the Septuagint ldquo my child
Current Comment
Current Comment
Vatican suggests that the church’s conditional acceptance of deterrence is no longer functional.
Faith
Marketing Motherhood: The meaning of vocation in a secular world
The word vocation, originally used to indicate lives directly consecrated to God through priestly or religious service, has recently come into use in a much broader fashion. To expand vocation to include the whole range of ways that lives can be given to God is a fair and sensible extension. After a
Generation Faith
Wisdom of the Ages: Lessons from living with retired clergy
With great trepidation I asked permission to sit at the breakfast table with the Rev. Desmond J. Regan, a man more than six feet tall with a thick waft of shock white hair perfectly combed to one side—no trace of a receding hair line—as he sat with one hand clutching a mug of black coffe
Of Other Things
A Requiem for Truthiness
As the self-proclaimed “pope of basic cable,” Colbert performed a brilliant high-wire act.
Signs Of the Times
Church ‘Returned to Catacombs’ in Ukraine
Ukrainian Catholic leaders have warned that their church is being driven underground again, a quarter-century after it was re-legalized with the end of Communist rule. “In Crimea and eastern Ukraine, we’ve already effectively returned to the catacombs,” said the Rev. Ihor Yatsiv, t
Vatican Report Affirms Women Religious
U.S. women religious welcomed the conciliatory tone of a Vatican report on religious life and expressed appreciation for its acknowledgement of the important ministry that they practice in the life of the church. They also said the report, released on Dec. 16, opens a new beginning for women religio
Five Years After Quake, Progress; But Serious Problems Persist
Nearly five years after one of the most devastating earthquakes ever to rock the Western Hemisphere, more than 85,000 people still live in dozens of tent camps across Haiti’s expansive earthquake zone.While significant, the number is small compared with the original 1.5 million people who were
New Hope After Renewed Ties?
Watching a Vatican-brokered diplomatic breakthrough in De-cember that may lead to the normalization of relations between the United States and the island nation of Cuba, Eusebio Mujal-León was hardly a disinterested bystander. A professor at Georgetown University, Mujal-León is the director of a G
Jerusalem Violence
Ending a year that saw a papal visit, a war in Gaza and the resumption of unrest in Jerusalem, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal’s Christmas message condemned all instances of violence. “We condemn the Gaza war and deplore its dramatic consequences, killing and destruction, but at the same time
In China, Counting Christians
What percentage of China’s population considers itself Christian is a question that has come to the fore here recently, in part because that number may have grown to nearly equal the membership of the Communist Party of China.The C.C.P. operates “patriotic” churches that are headed
News Briefs
“A barbaric, inhuman and cowardly act” is how Cecil Chaudhry, executive director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, described the attack on an army school in Peshawar on Dec. 16 that left at least 126 children and others d
Synod on the Family
‘We Must Reach Out’: Pope Francis speaks about the Curia, the Synod on the Family and the year ahead.
Editor’s note: The following interview, conducted in Spanish, is Pope Francis’ first lengthy interview with a newspaper in Latin America. The original text was published in three sections in La Nación on Dec. 7, 2014. An English translation, completed by Vivien Pérez Moran, appeared si
The Church Visible
Synod Can Unify Church
Preparation for the October 2015 Synod on the Family may help the U.S. church face pressing problems.The church faces a challenge of disunity, some of it from polarization. Threats to unity have crept into the church from adversarial politics that permeate cultural warfare and political skirmishes r
Vatican Dispatch
Papal Resolutions
Many in Rome believe that 2015 could prove to be a watershed year in the pontificate of the first Latin American pope.
Washington Front
New Year’s Wishes
The year 2014 was an awful one for Washington, with too little leadership from the president and too much obstruction from Congress. I find liturgical litanies comforting, but 2014’s litany of Washington woes was demoralizing. The year was a roll call of crises, anger and sadness: Ferguson, &l
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts