The fire at Notre Dame raised questions about God’s protection of sacred sites. But then how could God allow the destruction of Rome just one generation after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire?
History
Posted inFaith, Features
Why the Catholic Church needs cathedrals
Cathedrals express our solidarity with the universal church: with those who worship in the cathedrals of Ireland and Italy, of England and Gennany, of France and the Philippines.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Eighty years later, ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ is a stunning tapestry of social realism
April 14 was the 80th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, the greatest social novel of the 20th century.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Revisiting the ‘Boys’ Life’ books of sports stories
Looking back on sports stories designed to educate a certain class of white American male into the virtues of postwar civic culture.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Timeline: 110 years of statistics in America magazine
Over the past 110 years, the U.S. Catholic population has grown from 14.3 million to 68.5 million. There have been plenty of historical firsts and statistics of note along the way; here is a selection from the archives of America magazine.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
110 years of America book reviews
America has published thousands of book reviews over 110 years…and some of them were more spot-on than others…
Posted inFeatures, Politics & Society
Praying for peace on D-Day
From 1944: When President Roosevelt led the nation in prayer on D-Day’s night, an event unique in modern history took place.
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
Saint Boniface: The patron saint of D-Day
From 1944: May the English-born Saint Boniface, through his intercession with God, bring out of the battles of today the peace of tomorrow.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Why the Catholic Church needs two different kinds of priesthood
In the wake of an important document on the priesthood, two members of religious congregations offer a few reflections in conversation with the document on another kind of priesthood that is exercised in the church—the priesthood that is lived within religious or consecrated life.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
We can turn away from faith, but humans will always hunger for meaning
We are all about individual rights, personal narratives and the freedom to choose. So was the Prodigal Son, until the food ran out.