A silver anniversary is evocative of endurance along (one hopes) with bearing fruit, bonding and blessings. Such evocations and reminiscences came to mind this year on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the National Association for Lay Ministry, a Catholic organization in which I was active for

The Most Rev. Thomas V. Daily, bishop of Brooklyn, N.Y., recently wrote a lengthy pastoral letter on the current shortage of priests and the decline in the number of vocations. Under the title, Pray the Lord of the Harvest, the letter was published in the Nov. 11, 2000, issue of The Tablet, Brooklyn

The buses in Dublin these days are displaying advertisements from the pro-life movement demanding a new constitutional referendum on abortion. The Taoiseach (prime minister), Bertie Ahern, has promised to meet that demand, but short of a political crisis that would force his hand, the odds in favor

Consistory of Cardinals Meets with PopeIn the largest meeting of its kind ever held at the Vatican, more than 150 cardinals joined Pope John Paul II to discuss questions of collegiality, dialogue and evangelization in the church. The pope opened the consistory, which met from May 21 to 24, with a pr

When I asked my friend’s little daughter what her dad enjoyed doing in his spare time, she didn’t miss a beat. Anything to do with me, she beamed. I rejoiced for her, of course, but I also felt a stinging regret. My dad’s free time rarely included his two daughters. And although he

Hate crimes—offenses stemming from hatred of persons based on their race, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation—continue to be an affront to the national conscience. Their incidence among some groups, moreover, has been rising. Such is the case with Asian Americans. Margaret Fung, ex

More than 80 years ago, the British historian Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) made a name for himself by writing short biographies that debunked their subjects, but did so with elegance and wit. He combined the style of a minor Evelyn Waugh with the slant of a demolition expert like Robert Caro, whose s