We want to thank all our readers and friends who expressed their sympathy and concern in numerous letters and e-mails. In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, it was good to know that we had friends praying for us all over the world.Our residence-office building is about

Pope John Paul II has surprised everyone by announcing an extraordinary consistory for May 21-24. This will be the sixth extraordinary consistory since John Paul resurrected this governmental structure in 1979. In an extraordinary consistory, the pope invites all of the cardinals (even those over 80

As I write this column, Pope John Paul II is celebrating the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 on the feast of the Epiphany. I must admit that I dont get very excited about celebrating events like this, and the constant reference to jubilee wore thin as the year progressed. Part of my hesita

Summer is a time of celebration and transition in most religious communities. It is no different for those who live and work at America House, situated midway between Radio City Music Hall and the West-Nile virus hot zone in Central Park. Though none of us has been stricken with any exotic tropical

The death of cardinal John O’Connor of New York on May 3 marks the end of an era in the American Catholic Church. Without question, he was the most powerful American cardinal of his generation. New York makes a bully pulpit for any archbishop with talent and chutzpah, and Cardinal O’Conn

From 1995: The kiss of peace, which originated among the first Christians but eventually fell into disuse, was restored to the Roman missal in 1970.