In January 2000 the Smithsonian American Art Museum until recently known as the Smithsonian Museum of American Art closed until 2004 for major renovations to its home in the historic Old Patent Office Building in Washington D C Instead of storing all of its collection in vaults inaccessible to

Marchers Come to Washington to Tell The Truth About Abortion’In the shadow of the Washington Monument, tens of thousands of marchers gathered to hear a diverse collection of political and religious leaders speak about one goal. We are here to tell America the truth about abortion, said Nellie

How do you go about learning Spanish in New York City if you live in a parish where most parishioners speak only that language? The question led me to enroll in a solidly useful program sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York. It meets three hours each week, and though far from fluency, I now manag

For its first 174 years, the federal government was, as one writer put it, only a benevolent spectator of what the states were doing in elementary and secondary public schools. In some cases, not much was done. As late as 1914, six Southern statesAlabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolin

On Oct. 30, 2002, the Pontifical Biblical Commission, established by Pope Leo XIII at the very end of his unexpectedly long pontificate, will be 100 years old. Though probably few Catholics have ever heard of this commission, its importance in promoting a deeper understanding of the Bible within the

By any estimate the Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz must be reckoned among the most important writers of the 20th century Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980 professor of Slavic languages at the University of California at Berkeley for four decades freedom fighter for Poland in World War

Israeli Cabinet Votes to Halt Construction of Nazareth MosqueThe Israeli Security Cabinet voted 4 to 1 in favor of halting construction on a mosque adjacent to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth [see Am., 2/12/01]. Meeting on Jan. 9, the cabinet instructed one of its members, Natan Sharans

Now that your Christmas gifts are stored away (or returned), the Christmas tree ornaments are tucked away (or broken), and the Christmas tree needles are successfully vacuumed from your carpet (or not—in my family we’re still discovering in our shag, recreation-room carpet the needles fr

I boarded an airplane for the first time in my life in 1965. I left Dublin, where I had studied for three years, and flew to Chicago. From there I went by train to Iowa, where I was to do graduate studies. Like many Irish people, I was treading a well-worn path. Not far away, in Illinois, there live

She stuck her head into the van as soon as the door opened. She had dimples and a gap-toothed grin announcing 7-year-old status, recognizable in any culture. She engaged him in conversation and he laughed heartily. What did she say?, some of us asked. She said, Give me some money. You have the face