In this disarmingly honest and haunting memoir the former governor of Nebraska and United States senator Bob Kerrey tells the story of his rite of passage from a rather na iuml ve and carefree childhood in the 1950 rsquo s Midwest to his transformation into a skeptical Vietnam veteran with the Cong

As James M McPherson notes at the opening of his new book Sept 17 not Sept 11 was the worst day in American history mdash Sept 17 1862 Over 6 000 Americans died that day at Antietam four times as many as on D-Day and more than those who died in all the pre-1900 wars combined Many of the

I remember reciting the phrase about mourning and weeping in this valley of tears in the Hail, Holy Queen, a prayer I said often when I was growing up, and being aware at the time of the immense suffering in the world. Perhaps it was because I was a child during World War II or because the church ta

As of last Sept. 11 the word hero has assumed a life of its own. Although our political and social history is replete with heroes and heroic deeds, whether in wartime or peacetime, a new way of looking at heroism, of defining courage and sacrifice, was born on that fateful day in 2001. In his addres

Sunday, September 23, 2001. This morning I am here with Joe and Chris, two young Jesuits from Fordham University. Part of Jesuit training includes philosophy studies, and there is a large community of Jesuit scholastics studying at Fordham, for whom working at Ground Zero has become a kind of t

Down the street from your house is an unpretentious bungalow. You don’t often see the owner, but when he does appear, he wears a dark suit and dark glasses on even the cloudiest and hottest days. You sometimes notice bulges in his clothing. He rarely speaks or shows much interest in the neighb

Anniversaries of great disasters are commemorated mainly for the sake of the living. If the event was recent, an observance of its anniversary may somewhat console those who are still mourning, and that is a great benefit. The sting of death, as the historian Arnold Toynbee once said, is often enoug

Catholics have always relied on church teaching for an understanding of marriage expressed perhaps in papal encyclicals and theological studies But A Daring Promise is different from these It is both intellectual and spiritual offering a treatment of married spirituality that is in rather short

On the Fourth Sunday of Easter, I replaced my pastor as administrator of the parish of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Raleigh. Under the diocesan Code of Professional Responsibility, he was removed by the bishop because of an allegation of sexual misconduct with a teenager that took pla