In what may signal a crack in the wall of support for the death penalty, a number of states have begun to question whether it can ever be fairly applied. Illinois provides the most dramatic example. Since 1977, 13 men have been released from its death row. One, Anthony Porter, came within two days o

I’ve seen two movies in recent days that I can’t shake. Both are late-1960’s films about a stranger in a hostile and unfamiliar place who, through an unlikely relationship, discovers unknown darkness and lightin himself and in others. My emotional response to each movie was contrad

During the last three days of January, after an 18-month exploration of the topic, The Kansas City Star published a series of articles on cases of AIDS among Catholic priests. Propelled by the assertion that "priests are dying of AIDS at a rate at least four times that of the general U.S. popul

Should public high school students be permitted to engage in a public opening prayer before the game of their football team? That question will be resolved in a case accepted by the United States Supreme Court on Nov. 15, 1999 [see editorial, "Public Schools and Religion," 1/15.] The facts

This is an excerpt from his essay on the Eucharist in the forthcoming collection, Signatures of Grace (edited by Thomas Grady and Paula Huston; E. P. Dutton; a Catholic Book Club selection). I first received Christ in the Eucharist in 1955. It was Dec. 8, the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Concept

Bob Chase, president of the country’s largest teachers’ union, the 2.3 million-member National Education Association, has nothing good to say about school vouchers.Mr. Chase occasionally writes brief essays that the N.E.A. inserts as paid advertisements in selected newspapers. In one tha

Only last year pundits were pronouncing the sitcom on its last legs. After all, "Seinfeld" and "Home Improvement" were gone, and even popular shows like "Frasier" seemed increasingly tired. (How often can you watch Niles pursue Daphne, Frasier avoid Lilith and Eddie act

Fitting TributeA brilliant star, Richard A. McCormick, S.J., illuminated the galaxy of moral theology in the 20th-century United States as no other (Signs of the Times, 2/26). His notes on moral theology over the years were eagerly devoured by opinion leaders in church and state. He shone as a fair-

Pope’s Visit to Egypt Seen as Aid to Christian-Muslim RelationsPope John Paul II’s visit to Egypt was generally well received among the Egyptian public, with some Muslims and Christians hoping he would encourage better relations between the two faiths. The pope’s first words at a w