The monstrous terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have prodded the nation to reexamine itself. As America races to combat agents of global terrorism, particularly fundamentalist Islamic extremists, decision makers should proceed prudently so as to build the requisite broad coalition at home and abroad. A

I was worried about associating with the Catholics, confides a woman at our monthly community meal. But this pasta is good! She asks me to wrap up a plate to go, for her friend next door. She leaves with a box of groceries, two blankets and a stylish red winter jacket.We are here each month to offer

Top Vatican Diplomat Says U.S. Military Response JustifiedNearly a week into a U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan, a top Vatican diplomat said America’s military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was justified but must avoid taking civilian lives. Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the V

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic dramatizes the new worldwide demand for accountability for public officials who violate internationally recognized human rights That demand is behind the international court and may soon be ratified by enough votes to make it operational worldwide These momentous ev

Dorothee Soelle is well known for her seminal book on suffering Entitled simply Suffering it provoked much-needed discussion on the relation of theology to suffering In the winter years of a long career as a theologian as an activist in peace and ecological movements as an opponent of every for

Empire Statesman begins appropriately enough by evoking the 1928 September night when a flaming cross greeted Alfred E Smith then governor of New York as his presidential campaign train entered Oklahoma When Smith is remembered today if at all it is for the virulent nativist outburst encount

Leaving prison and re-entering the community pose difficulties for both men and women. Women, however, tend to face even more daunting barriers than their male counterparts in making the difficult transition back to freedom. The barriers, moreover, have been raised several notches over the past few

The welfare reform law of 1996 comes up for reauthorization by Congress a year from now. When enacted, it represented an end to the three-decades-old entitlement to public assistance for poor Americans, who have subsequently been pushed toward work in the expectation that they would become self-suff

It is odd to observe twenty-somethings trying to act like fifty-somethings. Yet such behavior is found among a small percentage of seminarians today, who gather to drink good scotch, smoke cigars and discuss liturgy (or, more often, liturgical abuses). Cassocks and French cuffs are preferred. A casu