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Arts & Culture
Books
Dec 01, 2003 issue
Boston Boy
Tom Deignan
The most startling fact about Edwin O'Connor's life was its brevity The acclaimed author of such mid-century Irish and Catholic classics as 'The Last Hurrah' and 'The Edge of Sadness' seemed a fit and healthy man. Yet he died when he was just 49 in 1968.
Building Homes, Rebuilding Spirits
At the ripe old age of 32, I found myself in the midst of a mini-midlife crisis of sorts. Nothing seemed to be going my way. I was heartbroken and depressed, facing an uncertain career outlook in a terrible economy and looking for a cure for my ailing spirit. I found it in the wide open spaces of Mo
Faith in Focus
Baltimore's Viva House
Walking from the bus station to Viva House, the home of the Baltimore Catholic Worker, I passed block after block of boarded-up homes. I was coming to celebrate Viva House’s 35th anniversary and to visit its co-founders, Willa Bickham and her husband, Brendan Walsh, whom I knew even before I j
News
Signs of the Times
Sexual Abuse and Many Other Topics on Bishops’ AgendaMembers of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opened their fall general meeting in Washington. D.C., by hearing a challenge from their president to direct the energy of the whole church to the eradication of sexual abuse and the healing
Spirituality on the Western Front
He was standing on the side of a rural road in Southern Arizona, about 50 miles from the Mexican border, where the Sonoran desert is dry, desolate and deadly. As I drove by, I could see he was holding up an empty water jug in his hand, asking for help. I kept driving for the next mile, but thought o
Waters of Life
Throughout Scripture we encounter references to flowing water and its power to renew life. John baptized Jesus in the waters of the River Jordan, where Jesus began his own public ministry. In John’s Gospel, Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at a well. He tells her of the life-giving (flowing) wa
Faith in Focus
La Esperanza
Esperanza is Spanish for hope, and one person whose presence has brought hope to Hispanic immigrants in Delaware’s poultry processing plants is Rosa álvarez. A Carmelite Sister of Charity who is herself an immigrant—from Spain, years ago—she is one of the founders of a commu
Letters
Letters

Season of Remembrance

The sensitive reflection by George M. Anderson, S.J., about renewing on each November day, with deep gratitude to God, the memory of some recently deceased friend (Of Many Things, 11/3) constituted, I am sure, his daily act of faith in life eternal. As a valued fringe benefit, his column nudged me and, no doubt, many other readers back to basic sanity. Yes, Frank Sheed’s striking observation in The Church and I came to mind: By sanity I mean seeing what’s there. Who doesn’t? you ask. Who does? I answer. If a man starts seeing things that are evidently not there, we call him insane and do what we can for him. But a man may fail to see the greater part of reality and cause no comment at all. He may live his life in unawareness of God, of the spiritual order, of the unnumbered millions of the dead, and nobody thinks of him as needing help....

Thank you, Father Anderson, for nudging me back to spiritual sanity. My Novembers will be a bit different from now on.

Larry N. Lorenzoni, S.D.B.

Books
Nov 17, 2003 issue
New And Improved
Richard Fusco
In her preface to Critical Essays on Joyce Carol Oates published 24 years ago the author wrote Once a literary work is published it passes forever out of the private and protective world of the writer rsquo s imagination and out of his or her possession It cannot be reclaimed These passive-voi
Books
Nov 17, 2003 issue
Amo, Ergo Sum
Edward Collins Vacek
If we want to know whether a person is good we should ask neither what his or her beliefs are nor what he or she hopes for Rather we should ask what the person loves So taught St Augustine He was in good company of course since Jesus summarized morality as ldquo love God and love your neigh