U.S. Bishops Discuss Church Problems, Two Major TextsThe U.S. Catholic bishops discussed serious problems facing the U.S. church and voted on new directories for catechetics and deacon formation at their June 19-21 spring meeting in St. Louis. Three of their five half-day sessions were closed to the

The first time I fully realized the moral stakes at a commencement was over 10 years ago. For a brief moment I was to share the stage with none other than George Bush the Elder. It was after the triumph of the first Persian Gulf war, an exercise I found myself opposing along with a paltry 10 percent

Virtually every Christian tradition is trying to have it both ways on war. Twenty years ago the U.S. bishops published The Challenge of Peace, which explicitly paired just war and pacifism as legitimate Christian responses to war. Three years later, Methodist bishops in the United States made a simi

The Catholic Church in the United States has come to identify “peace and justice” issues as the call for the church to speak out and challenge policy makers. The church must not only salve the wounds of war and injustice, but prevent them at their systemic source.   But these days,

Bishop Apologizes, Avoids Prosecution in Abuse CasesIn an agreement to avoid criminal prosecution, Bishop Thomas J. O’Brien of Phoenix has given up some of his diocesan administrative duties and apologized for allowing priests he knew were suspected of sexual abuse to continue working with min

There were lots of unfamiliar faces at Mass that morningvisitors invited to share the day with their friends from the parish. Some of them were not Catholic, though that was hardly a surprise. In my part of the country, the polyglot Northeast, such family-church celebrations rarely are for Catholics

You can see a wonderful golden tabernacle and monstrance by Egino Weinert in the Gaukirche of Paderborn in Germany. You can pray his Stations of the Cross in the parish church of Strassen in Luxembourg or at St. Vincent de Paul’s in Huntington Beach, Calif. You can admire his decorations at a

Pope John Paul II will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his election to the Chair of Peter on Oct 16 2003 That makes this a timely publication His papacy has been the most visible in history this pope ldquo reaches out across borders rdquo that are not just geographic but also social politi

Valerie Martin rsquo s new novel is aptly titled The power of property mdash persons and things mdash drives the plot and illuminates the characters Captors become captives and lives are irrevocably changed by power struggles over property The novel rsquo s setting moves back and forth from plan

More and more regional and intrastate conflicts throughout the world have led to huge increases in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons Their pressing needs have in turn resulted in a corresponding growth in nongovernmental organizations that attempt to provide them with basic e