Magazine

In the task of designing church interiors, one of the most neuralgic issues is the placement of the tabernacle. Behind the altar? To the side of the altar? In a separate chapel? In recent years, the visual prominence of the tabernacle, not the centrality of the altar, seems to have become for some t

The working document, or instrumentum laboris, for the World Synod of Bishops on the Eucharist that meets this month in Rome begins with a beautiful reflection on the symbolic meaning of bread for the life of the world. This reflects the grave concern expressed by readers of an early draft about the

Broken Flowers needs no narrative. Bill Murray’s face says it all: unspeakably sad eyes that might once have had the twinkle of a comedian, pitted jowls and a mouth far too small and puffy for a face grown larger as his forehead nudges his hairline backwards. He stares intently at his huge pla

In October 2003 I was part of a scholarly meeting that honored the memory and accomplishments of Raymond E. Brown, S.S. It was entitled “An International Conference on the Gospel of John: Life in Abundance,” and held at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, where Brown s

Thinking People

You can only blame yourselves! As a Jesuit-trained scientist (Holy Cross, 1959; Ph.D. in physics from U.C.L.A., 1965), I was trained to use my Little Gray Cells (5/30) in a continual challenge of hypotheses, no matter how enticing, no matter how vigorously promulgated by