W H Auden - who like T S Eliot was pre-eminent in 20th century English-language poetry - remained at or near the center of Western cultural life from the 1920 rsquo s until his death in the early 1970 rsquo s With his gaze focused unflinchingly on matters great and small during those years A

The logjam of denials about the torture and abuse of prisoners in U.S. detention sites in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo has finally been broken. Capt. Ian Fishback’s letter in September to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, has cleared the way for steps that may at last establish

Consultations Shape Future of Church in New Orleans After Hurricane Katrina Following the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, the Archdiocese of New Orleans, La., has begun to plan its rebuilding. Prior to Katrina, the archdiocese numbered 491,000 Catholics. Questions facing the planners inc

Mark, a Russian journalist, comes every year to the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong for an update on the Catholic Church in China. This year he arrived right after the election of Pope Benedict XVI. “What is your opinion?” he asked. “Will Benedict XVI accomplish more than Joh

Last week, over our Wednesday morning cup of coffee, a conservative Christian friend smiled as she told me I am the most conservative liberal she has ever met! There was a time when this would have brought anything but a smile to my face. But that day, I laughed out loud. I thanked her for recognizing in me a hard-fought battle that has landed me smack dab in the middle of the road.

"A tamale, please, and a cup of atole,” I said to the Mexican woman on East 116th Street, in the heart of Spanish Harlem. It was 7:45 a.m. on a weekday morning, and people were headed toward the subway to get to work. The woman was standing beneath a blue and white umbrella that shielded

Election reform is needed in the United States on several levels, both because of inequities in the present system and because of low voter turnoutone of the lowest in the world. The period from 1960 to 2000 marked a long decline: whereas 65 percent of the adult population voted in the 1960 presiden

Only through the body does the way, the ascent to the life of blessedness, lie open to us.- St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of SongsThe Song of Songs has long held a privileged place in the mystical theology and monastic tradition of the church. Commentary on this erotically charg

The 10th annual survey of 12- to 17-year-olds by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) has a loud and clear message: Parents, if you want to raise drug-free kids, you cannot outsource your responsibility to their schools or law enforcement. The odds are t