Study Reports Influences on Newly Ordained PriestsAccording to a new study, recently ordained priests are now older and more culturally diverse than those of 15 years ago. The major theological influence on new priests was Pope John Paul II. The German Jesuit Karl Rahner, who easily ranked at the to

I have learned the hard way - through many a tortured battle with airport scales around the world - to travel light. So my modest 14 kilograms caused no convulsions at the Manchester airport, and I confidently watched the check-in attendant fasten the label around my bag, designating its intended de

In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, Pope Benedict XVI remarked that the essential functions of the church are three, for which he gives the Greek terms: leitourgia (worship), marturia/kerygma (witness/proclamation), and diakonia (service). He uses the word marturia (witness) in the original s

The current debate over torture revolves around a hasty judgment that has become American common sense and an axiom of public policy: that “on 9/11, everything changed.” Sept. 11, 2001, was a date on which tragic and traumatic events took place. The vivid horror of the airplane crashes a

Although it may be hard to imagine a volume on the construction of St Peter rsquo s Basilica as a beach book R A Scotti has produced an account gripping enough to be one The subtitle The Splendor and the Scandal hints at its focus This is not a dry account for the architectural journals but

During the last three years of her life, my grandmother spent much of her time in one small room of the house she had lived in since moving to the suburbs to be closer to her children and grandchildren. The room was about 6 feet by 6 feet, close quarters crammed with a couch, a television set and tw

Vatican Observatory Head Says He Was Not FiredGeorge Coyne, S.J., who headed the Vatican Observatory for more than 28 years, said suggestions that he was forced out of the post by Pope Benedict XVI are simply not true. The Vatican announced on Aug. 19 that Father Coyne, 73, would be stepping down as

I come before you as a pastor who cares deeply about your work as Catholic legislators. We do not always agree. I have tried to be a clear teacher and a decent pastor here in our nation’s capital. I offer some brief reflections that may nourish and challenge you in your vital responsibilities.

In 2001 the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments issued an instruction on the translation of the liturgy entitled Liturgiam Authenticam. Five years later, at their semi-annual meeting in Los Angeles in mid-June, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

I am troubled by what I see as a lack of unity in our church and wonder whether it results from a failure to appreciate precisely what kind of unity we Catholics should anticipate finding. Should we all hold and say the same thing, whether we are discussing a theological, philosophical, cultural or