As we retell the Bethlehem story each year, its familiarity can obscure one of its most important lessons. We do not celebrate at Christmas some timeless truth or immutable dogma but a particular moment. “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was
Iraqi Archbishop Calls for More U.N., Arab InvolvementArchbishop Jean Benjamin Sleiman of Baghdad said the answer to Iraq’s problems is not a hasty U.S. military pullout, but greater involvement by the United Nations and Arab countries. A sudden withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces would be a
Although more than 25 years have passed, the joy I felt at Christmas in Calcutta remains more vivid than any other memory of this season. I was ending what Jesuits call the long experiment of tertianship, that third year of novitiate tacked on to the end of our training. My days had been spent offer
The wars that have most deeply scarred recent history have not been wars between national states. Internal conflicts killed far more people during the 20th century than international ones like the First and Second World Wars. In a deadly dynamic, government and government-allied forces have wiped ou
During the countdown early this year to the war in Iraq, Pope John Paul II and his Vatican aides wasted no opportunity to broadcast their opposition to a U.S.-led invasion. They warned that besides being unjust, an invasion would be counterproductiveit would leave many dead and wounded, destroy Iraq
In the column Food for Terri Schiavo (ethics notebook, 11/24), John F. Kavanaugh, S.J., notes that some assertions made about Terri Schiavo’s actual condition seem to be irresponsible. We believe that some of his assertions are also irresponsible.
Without
When I think about the Holy Family I remember other holy families as well, the ones who brought me up in the faith, who showed me how to love and who taught me how to celebrate Christmas.