Come play with us under the blanket, Mama.” I don’t have to be asked twice. I set aside my work, civilian casualty figures for the Iraq war, and join the kids under the tent they’ve made of my grandmother’s afghan. “Tell us again about your grandma,” they ask, and

My recent visit to Sudan corresponded with the first Sudanese bishops annual meeting in Khartoum in nearly 20 years that included both northern and southern bishops. The bishops, separated by a long civil war, were again united, and the joy was palpable. After a jubilant open-air Mass, nearly 5,000

Gulnora Huseinova was in trouble. When she got divorced a few years ago, she was left to care for her child, which is no easy matter for a single woman in Khujand, Tajikistan. She decided to start her own business at the local market, but she needed $800 to purchase grain. The problem was that she h

Intellectual Nourishment The editorial Jaw, Jaw, Not War, War (10/15) was a well-argued analysis of this most frightening situation. It is too bad that such essays in America do not receive wider dissemination in either the secular or religious press. A conversation among like-minded persons is fine

I beheld cried the prophet Jeremiah and lo there was no man and all the birds of the heavens had fled 4 25 KJV One part of the Bible that has gained in heft thanks to the technological horrors of modernity is the apocalyptic genre When visionaries in either testament describe a global catac

During the month of November we remember--and honor--all the saints and the souls of all the just A Sister of Notre Dame de Namur named Dorothy Stang is one of these elect Her life story is one of commitment to spreading the Good News promoting peace and justice fighting for the poor and oppress

I graduated from journalism school in 2000, a heady time when newspapers were still hiring young people with enthusiasm but little experience. With a little help from a friend, I got a job at The Hartford Courant, a reputable midsize newspaper. During my three years at the Courant, management introd

Conscience and Information Two newspapers in Malaysia were recently closed down for specified periods as a punitive measure after their editors published controversial cartoons. In both cases the press could be seen as an equal opportunity offender, since one cartoon pictured the prophet Muhammad an

Conscientious Objector to Nazis Beatified in Austria A Vatican cardinal beatified Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian farmer who was beheaded in 1943 after he refused to fight in Hitler’s army. Presiding over the beatification Mass in Linz, Austria, Oct. 26, Cardinal José Saraiva Ma

The cloudy future of suburban Catholic schools