Funding for Faith-Based Initiatives Seen as First HurdleThe first real test of whether President Bush’s proposed faith-based initiatives will succeed in changing the way the nation’s social services are provided will come in his budget proposal, said an official with Catholic Charities U

Is there a vocation crisis? That depends on your perspective. If you think of clergy, the answer is yes. But if you widen the horizon, the picture changes. Think of the number of laymen volunteering to become deacons or the extraordinary number of women presently acquiring advanced degrees in system

Nearly 20 years presiding over classrooms of college freshmen provided me ample opportunity to confirm or question the conclusions of developmental psychology. One popular parlor trick used to engage students in the learning experience was to ask them to recall, in as much detail as possible, their

A few months ago, the Rev. Peter J. Sammon reported in America (8/26) on the Living Wage movement, which has emerged in response to the increased numbers of working poor and the growing wage inequality in society. This circumstance is especially troubling at a time of such economic prosperity. Livin

George Bush and Bill Clinton both wanted to be an education president and both wanted to make U.S. public schools the best in the world. Neither succeeded, although in his various farewells Mr. Clinton talked as though he thought he had. Two immovable obstacles blocked their way.In the first place,

The U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., is a harsh and punishing place, as correctional facilities are meant to be. Privileges for relatively normal communication that are allowed the general population do not apply to those on Death Row. A separate wing shelters the men condemned to dea

The U.S. bishops issued a statement at their November meeting in Washington, D.C., called Welcoming the Stranger Among Us. Although largely intended as guidelines for parishes with many new members who come from other countries and cultures, the document also makes brief but pointed reference to the

Ari Goldman and I worked side by side some 20 years ago at The New York Times We admired each other I think for a perceived seriousness in the way we went about covering the religion beat It wasn rsquo t just a job it was a vocationto get the story right not just get it written But we were not

The distinction between fact and fiction is often a contested one Nor does it remain static especially for novelists like Graham Greene and Michael Ondaatje who have drawn their inspiration from the fractured politics of our just past century In The English Patient it was World War II and its ru

Pope Announces Seven More CardinalsIn a surprising and unprecedented move, Pope John Paul II named seven new cardinals after having appointed 37 just a week earlier. The new nominees included archbishops from Ukraine and Latvia whom the pope had designated cardinals in pectore—in his heart&mda