In a recent article in America (Patient No More, 7/16), Kevin W. Wildes, S.J., our friend and colleague at Georgetown University, celebrated a requiem for the traditional, patient-centered ethic of medicine. In its place he proposed a new ethic of social contract, one oriented to societal need rathe

Forgive the ponderous title. As a veteran reviewer, I do recognize the limits of my role. Ordinarily, I would try to find a mildly entertaining way to remind readers that Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse Now received a warm if not enthusiastic welcome when it first appeared in 1979. I would conclu

Nation Moves from Terror to PrayerAmericans moved quickly from shock and terror to prayer after suicidal terrorists used hijacked passenger planes to demolish the twin towers of the World Trade Center and a large section of the Pentagon. On Sept. 16 worshippers packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral i

Do Not GeneralizeI wish to comment on the article Home Alone’ in the Priesthood (8/27) by Msgr. Eugene T. Gomulkanot to comment on Msgr. Gomulka’s theory about loneliness in the priesthood, but on what I fear could be an unfortunate generalization drawn from the article’s subheadin

Feeling wooed? You should be, at least according to pundits and Washington insiders. It seems that 2001 has been the year for courting the Catholic vote. The term burst on the scene shortly after the inauguration and has consistently shown up in news stories ever since, particularly with respect to

The Declaration Dominus Iesus, issued in September 2000 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, aroused deep concern among many Jews and not a few Catholics. Let me first survey the specific areas of concern, then proceed to address the question of whether or not Jews can plausibly be sai

A friend recently asked me whether the Catholic Church, in its opposition to embryonic stem cell research, is committing a folly equal to its condemnation of Galileo. An apt question: the dawn of genetics is as revolutionary as the idea that the earth moved around the sun. Galileo’s tool was t

I once heard a talk by a priest who was also a clinical psychologist, in which he said: “If you are a Christian, you have to believe that people can change. If you don’t believe people can change, you have no right to call yourself a believer in Jesus Christ and in his Gospel message. It

Architects can poison your faith. I found that out between 1960 and 1962, when I lived in a huge seminary the Jesuits had recently built about an hour’s drive north of New York City. The seminary was what Le Corbusier once called a “machine for living”; it had all the charm of Sovi

Bishop James Hoffman of Toledo, Ohio, recently cancelled more than $1.38 million in delinquent debts owed by 24 parishes and institutions in his diocese. The parishes had incurred these obligations by not paying assessments—for example, for insurance coverage secured on their behalf by the dio