Motherhood is monastic. Walking into Gethsemane Abbey during Night Prayer, I had to catch my breath. Not one to be swept up by hero worship, even of such a worthy figure as Thomas Merton (or for that matter, Kathleen Norris), I had braced myself to be critical. Nevertheless, entering the chapel, sea

On Aug. 12, 2002, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Web site published a story to the effect that the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, in dialogue with the National Council of Synagogues, had just issued a document, Reflections on Covenant and

Could the gargantuan financial burdens from settling and losing the numerous sexual abuse cases force the Catholic Church in the United States into bankruptcy? Not if one thinks of the American Catholic Church as a national entity. But it is possible that a particular American diocese, or a part the

Vatican Prepares Draft Against Admitting Gays to OrdinationThe Vatican has prepared a draft document containing directives against the admission of homosexuals to the priesthood, informed Vatican sources said. The document takes the position that since the church considers the homosexual orientation

Vatican Quandary: Complicated Decision on Sex Abuse NormsAs the Vatican debates how it will respond to U.S. norms on clerical sex abuse, it is not dealing only with the finer points of church law. It is also confronting larger issues of church communion—the ties that exist between a bishop and

Our Palestinian friend Khaled, a respected elder in the local Arab-American community, called last week: “We’re planning a prayer vigil for peace at a downtown church. Could you call some of your Jewish friends to join us? I don’t know many.”It took a flurry of faxes, e-mails

Are the concerns of Catholic theologians changing? It seems so. The concerns of younger Catholics in the academy today are different, perhaps considerably different, from those of my own generation of theologians. First of all, some younger theologians seem uncomfortable with the enormous polarizati

For 60 seconds or so this past summer, I found myself on the dark side of a capsized kayak being swept along in treacherous, frigid waters. My eventual survival was a mixed blessing, for the whole experience had the predictable but unfortunate effect of intensifying my preoccupation with death. In t

Given the stories of sexual abuse that assault us from every direction, it is possible that any public discussion of liturgy could be dismissed either as frivolous diversion or highly ideological sparring. Catholics have serious issues to discuss, moral ground to retake and an obvious evil to repel.

With rents soaring, low-income renters face harsher struggles in their efforts to find a place to live. In its recently released report, Out of Reach 2002, the National Low Income Housing Coalition compares wages and rents throughout the country. Among its findings: at the fair market rate, the nati