What caused the war in the former Yugoslavia? Over 15 or 20 years ago we had a feeling that the end of Communism was coming. The whole Medjugorje event was an intimation of things to come. We were happy that Communism was going to end, but we also knew that Marshall Tito’s powerful bureaucrac

Back in the 1950’s, when I was a kid in a Jesuit high school, a novel called Mr. Blue, by Myles Connolly, was all the rage. The eponymous hero was a mystical type who combined the social activism of Dorothy Day with the contemplative reserve of Thomas Merton. In short, he made Catholicism cool

Mother Katharine Drexel founded schools nationwide, including Xavier University, and a religious order to serve people of color.

What do you do when you can’t afford an out-of-town summer vacation? If you are a New Yorker living in Manhattan or one of the surrounding boroughs, you might spend an afternoon or a day at Coney Islandnamed by Dutch settlers after the word for rabbit, konijn, which abounded there in the 1600&

Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the last few weeks, you know that the lucky winner of the CBS series Survivor was revealed during its Aug. 23 episode. America’s newest millionaire is the now-famous Richard Hatch, a Machiavellian corporate trainer, of whom we will undou

How about the following planks for a political party platform this November:1. Health care is a fundamental human right to which every American is entitled.2. The lack of safe affordable housing is a national crisis and such housing should be available to all on a non-discriminatory basis.3. The min

Seven years ago in 'Acts A Writer: Reflections on the Church, Writing and His Own Life,' novelist Larry Woiwode interleaved his idiosyncratic meditations on Luke's narrative of the first Apostles with his own story of giving up an English professor's job in upstate New York.

I should have been required to read a book like this the summer before I began studying theology for ordination That was my thought as I read Arthur Jones rsquo s breezy but compelling new book on U S Catholicism It certainly constitutes required reading for anyone contemplating ministry in the N

Pope John Paul II has beatified and canonized more individuals than all his predecessors put together. Since these solemnities occur with such frequency, they receive at most perfunctory mention in the American press. The beatifications taking place in Rome on Sept. 3, however, have excited notice b

The struggle of low-wage workers in the United States for survival stands in striking contrast to the booming economy. The stock market, occasional setbacks notwithstanding, has roared to dizzying heights. Business profits have soared. Yet minimum-wage jobs pay 30 percent less in real, inflation-adj