Two provocative offerings in this week’s issue deserve particular attention, not only in light of their authorship, but also because of the importance of their message for the universal church. The first is this year’s John Courtney Murray lecture, delivered by Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.

More than 2,500 years ago the Greek historian Herodotus observed that if anyone were given the opportunity of choosing from among all the nations of the world the best set of beliefs, he would inevitably choose those of his own country. Herodotus further asserted that everyone believes his own nativ

Health care is emerging as a major campaign issue, and rightly so, because we are in trouble. The U.S. Census Bureau has found that over 44 million people lack health insurance. It is estimated that by the year 2008, the number of uninsured will have risen to 55 millionalmost a quarter of all non-el

If American voters do not feel threatened by the presence or imminence of a war or a depression, they can turn their attention to higher things when pollsters phone. In mid-March, a bipartisan poll asked its respondents to name the most important issues with which the next president must deal. &quot

"Religious liberty is at the very heart of human rights, making the other personal and collective liberties possible," Archbishop Giuseppe Bertello, the Vatican’s Permanent Observer at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva, said on April 8 in an address to the members.

There is a season for everythingfor planting and building, and for uprooting and tearing down. The protesters who swarmed through the streets of Washington, D.C., over the weekend of April 14-16, during the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, seemed more interested in tear