The debate over legalizing same-sex marriage has become a worldwide issue. On Sept. 4 Pope John Paul II denounced the notion to the new Canadian ambassador to the Holy See, Donald Smith. The issue also has been the subject of court decisions and legislative actions throughout the United States and w

Joel Magallán, S.J., is the founder and executive director of the Asociación Tepeyac in New York City. (Tepeyac is the name of the hill near Mexico City where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared to Blessed Juan Diego in 1531.) A network of 40 community and parish-based organizations, the

Religious forces in the Middle East and in the United States are complex While Muslim Jewish Catholic and Orthodox perspectives are widely known account is often not taken however of the strong millennial movement in the evangelical subculture which assigns a special theological significance

View From the Altar is a must-read for all who are interested in understanding the causes of the scandal of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy Howard Bleichner a Sulpician priest who has served for 40 years in seminary formation 20 of them as rector of two major seminaries deserves t

U.S. Bishops’ Conference Elects Skylstad and GeorgeAt their meeting in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 15-17, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops elected new leaders, approved a catechism for adults and joined a new ecumenical group aimed at bringing together all the Christian churches in th

First, a confession: I couldn’t do it. I wanted to vote for one of the two nominees from the dominant parties, but I just could not offer my vote to either. I went for the Green candidate, since he was for universal health care and conservation policies that 20 years from now we will all wish

For many people today, globalization is happening at the dinner table. My wife and I, both of Irish-American descent, stare across the table every day at two exquisitely Chinese faces. As toddlers, both our daughters traveled halfway around the world to be at home with us, their hope-filled parents,

Does the ban on partial-birth abortion really save babies’ lives? Does the ban violate the U.S. Constitution? How crucial is the ban to the pro-life movement? This summer, federal judges in California, New York and Nebraska dealt a major setback to pro-life efforts to ban the controversial par

For years the Democrats have been telling themselves “it’s the economy, stupid.” Yet consistently, for dozens of years, millions of middle income Americans have voted against their economic interests to support Republicans who have tapped a deeper set of needs. Tens of millions of

On July 6, 2004, the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., became the first Catholic diocese in the history of the United States to seek the protection of the bankruptcy court. On Sept. 20, 2004, the Diocese of Tucson became the second. Both of these filings resulted from the wave of lawsuits brought again