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Time and Transcendence
Although more than 25 years have passed, the joy I felt at Christmas in Calcutta remains more vivid than any other memory of this season. I was ending what Jesuits call the long experiment of tertianship, that third year of novitiate tacked on to the end of our training. My days had been spent offer
FaithFaith in Focus
Remembering the Christmas traditions of my family and the Holy Family
When I think about the Holy Family I remember other holy families as well, the ones who brought me up in the faith, who showed me how to love and who taught me how to celebrate Christmas.
Faith in Focus
The Salvation of Particulars
It started months ago. Weeks before the autumnal equinox, long before the first frost, pumpkins began appearing in the lobby of my apartment building. Bedecked with straw hats and carved faces, they crowded our entryway and clustered around mailboxes, announcing the arrival of fall. In short order,
Letters
Letters

False Problems?

Frederick W. Gluck’s article, Crisis Management in the Church (12/1), is flawed by several statements that are not supported by the available data.

The church’s traditional sources of revenues are drying up. Some weeks ago I finished writing a report that analyzed contributions to Sunday collections and diocesan annual appeals in the years 2001 and 2002. I found that Catholic household giving in the Sunday collections increased from $5.573 billion in 2001 to $5.846 billion for 2002, an increase of $273 million or 4.9 percent. This increase happened in the midst of high unemployment, a recession and the painful and lengthy revelation of the sexual abuse tragedy.

Catholic giving to diocesan annual appeals declined from $650 million in 2001 to about $635 million for 2002. About half of that national drop happened in Boston. The decline in the other 175 geographic dioceses averaged a more modest 1.1 percent, not surprising in a troubled economy.

The church’s ability to recruit has declined dramatically over the last 40 years. I happened to be working on church staffing data recently and found that the number of professional parish ministers increased from 54,055 in 1995 to 63,065 for 2002.

In addition, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, at Georgetown University, has reported that there are approximately 35,000 students in graduate programs of religious studies and religious education.

I think that we need to find some negative numbers before we can rightly declare a staffing crisis.

A number of other statements in the article mystified me. Mr. Gluck stated, for example, that the plant is rapidly becoming obsolete. Perhaps so, but I would like to see the data supporting such a statement. I am familiar with the current rebuilding program in Chicago, where the archdiocese raised in excess of $200 million to repair its buildings.

While discussions of management issues in the church can be fascinating, we should be careful that we are discussing solutions for problems that do in fact exist.

Joseph Claude Harris

Books
Dec 15, 2003 issue
Freud Was a Fan
Peter Heinegg
The vagaries of Arthur Schnitzler rsquo s reputation in the English-speaking world have been curious Often praised but little read best known for filmed versions of his work from Max Ophuls rsquo s marvelous ldquo La Ronde rdquo 1950 to Stanley Kubrick rsquo s dreadful ldquo Eyes Wide Shut r
Helping the Healing
Once a month Sister Barbara Flannery waits outside a door for about two hours. On the other side is a support group for people sexually abused as minors by priests. I’m there, hanging around, said Sister Flannery, chancellor of the Diocese of Oakland, Calif., and a member of the Sisters of St.
Books
Dec 08, 2003 issue
Miller Time
Joe E. Jeffreys
Arthur Miller is one of America rsquo s great writers His plays Death of a Salesman and The Crucible reshaped the parameters of theater and thought Arthur Miller is also one of America rsquo s great citizens with a political history that includes testimony before the House Un-American Activities
Editorials
Immigrants and Pending Laws
Several legislative measures under consideration in Congress could either harm or help undocumented immigrants in the United States. One that would harm them in this post-9/11 period of anti-immigrant sentiment is the CLEAR Act, introduced by Representative Charlie Norwood, Republican of Georgia. It
Our Lady of Guadalupe: Patroness of America
The exuberant and growing devotion of U.S. Catholics to Our Lady of Guadalupe is clearly evident in the numerous congregations in San Antonio, Tex., that enthusiastically celebrate her feast on Dec. 12, including San Fernando Cathedral, where Guadalupan devotion has thrived since the parish’s
A large group of people face a sunset on the beach.
FaithFaith in Focus
On Being One of Many
My family and my church have been instrumental in helping me to discover that I am part of something a whole lot larger than just me. Being one of many is really who I am at my core.