Pity poor Kansas! Deposited there in the dead center of the country, propping up Nebraska and oppressing Oklahoma, the state has been typecast by Hollywood screenwriters. When a poor girl gets bonked on the head, she hies out of Kansas as fast as her red slippers or white sneakers will carry her. Ev

But Mousie thou art no thy laneIn proving foresight may be vain The best-laid schemes o rsquo mice and menGang aft a-gley An rsquo lea rsquo e us nought but grief an rsquo painFor promis rsquo d joy Robert Burns To a Mouse 1786Robert Burns rsquo s reflections have entered the language as a pr

If Professor Fogel were giving his students a multiple-choice test on the new egalitarianism one likely question would be Which is the greater agent of equity in prosperous America He would probably present five choices a federal government b transnational corporations c trade unions d th

Sometimes the obstacles to peace appear so great and so many that to face them seems humanly impossible. But what seemed unthinkable even a few short years ago is now a reality or at least a matter of open discussion. Pope John Paul II offered that reflection on September 18 as he received a new Isr

One of the interests that I share with my father is a taste for what the British used to call ripping good yarns, that is, stories of high adventure. My father and I are far from alone in our interest. A glance at recent best-seller lists will reveal a surprising number of adventure tales nestled am

Bunnies RuleMore bunnies, please, out of James Martin’s hat (Of Many Things, 8/26)! Peter Cottontail with Karl Rahner and Father Martin’s nephew made me laugh today - again!Mary Anne ZakSuffield, Conn. Manifesting CommunityThomas J. McCarthy’s column (7/29) struck a very famil

In the late 1980’s, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan of Atlanta suffered a seriously debilitating stroke, so severe that he was not able to communicate with anyone around him. Archdiocesan officials consulted the then recently revised Code of Canon Law and followed its directions for what to do

How should the Catholic Church in the United States respond to what some have labeled the gay agenda? One way would be simply to restate what has been declared repeatedly. This approach, however, may not meet the challenge. The so-called gay agenda has been in the making roughly since 1969, when the

Driving to the university the other morning during rush hour, I was delayed briefly by the motorist ahead of me, who paused to let traffic enter from a side streeta courteous, helpful gesture, certainly. Moments later, in the elevator on the way up to my office, I was delayed once againthis time by

Who are the young people most at risk-these days for crime? They tend to be the black and brown fatherless youth who inhabit our inner cities, and who lack mentors, ministers and monitors. The absence of responsible authoritative adults in their lives, in addition to poverty and the lack of educatio