The fundamental imperatives of the Christian vocation are two in number: love God with all your heart and mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. The twofold commandment involves loving in three distinct directions: love of God, love of neighbor and love of self. Any Christian spiritu

Here’s a question about the shows that have debuted during the past few weeks: What’s with all the cop/detective/law/forensics shows these days? C.S.I., C.S.I. Miami, Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, Crossing Jordan, Judging Amy, N.Y.P.D

Just after I leave the church and step into the sparkling sunlight on the way to my car, a woman I hadn’t noticed before comes up to me. A recent widow, she speaks, at first hesitantly, about her faith not helping her when she needs it most. It has been a year since her husband died, and she f

To say merely that it was “inappropriate” would be a gross understatement. On a Sunday afternoon in the great Romanesque abbey church of Maria Laach in the German Rheinland, a mother and father with three preteen children strolled down the aisle casually licking their ice cream cones. Al

In the wake of the sexual abuse scandals and numerous reports of priests abusing boys and adolescent males, some Catholics have expressed grave concerns over the ordination to the priesthood of gay men. The question arises: should the church continue ordaining gay priests, that is, homosexual men co

Ilive and teach in Rockville, Md. Before Oct. 3, 95 percent of Americans would have been hard-pressed to locate our quiet suburban neighborhood on a state map. But the events of the last several weeks have exploded anonymity. A killer has taken deadly aim—over and over again—and now anyo

Shortly after his inauguration in January 2001, President George W. Bush announced a partnership between government and “community-serving and faith-based organizations—whether run by Methodists, Muslims, Mormons or good people of no faith at all.” His proposal significantly expand

Something that was unimaginable 10 or 20 years ago has been happening in the philosophy department of Saint Louis University. While still a department with strong historical, ethical and medieval offerings by professors and with students from a variety of religious and philosophical stances, it has

In his new novel Umberto Eco semiotics professor and the author of a number of essays and novels offers a stylistic tour-de-force set in the latter part of the reign of Frederick Barbarossa Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 to 1190 The core of the novel is Baudolino mdash an unreliable narrator with