In a sermon preached at Oxford around 1825, when he was still an Anglican, John Henry Newman began by saying that in every part of Scripture it is told us again and again, that to make sinful creatures holy was the great end which our Lord had in view in taking upon Him our nature, and thus none but

The percentage of Americans living in poverty is the lowest it has been in over 20 years. Nevertheless, over against this positive news is the fact that a sixth of the nation’s children remain poor. Indeed, the Census Bureau has reported that poverty among children has actually deepened—

Envision, if you will, the perfect Catholic church building. For some this would be an exercise of the imagination, one that takes into account the person’s idea of the sacred, of beauty, of practicality. For others it may be an exercise of the memory, recalling the space, sight-lines, colors

According to the Book of Genesis, the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq is the site of the legendary Tree of Life. Today the waters of these rivers bring death, according to UNICEF estimates, to some five thousand to six thousand Iraqi children each monthbecause the se

Nearly a half century ago, an anthropologist named Cora Du Bois analyzed the values of U.S. society and concluded that Americans are optimistic activists. They expect that they and their institutions will succeed and succeed quickly. When they run up against a hard question, they want the answer tod

Election night proved to be the most exciting moment of the 2000 presidential campaign as American voters split almost perfectly over the candidacies of George W. Bush and Al Gore. The closeness of the race had been anticipated, but the networks added to the roller-coaster excitement by first predic

Criminal justice is on the agenda of the U.S. bishops at their annual fall gathering in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13-16. They will be discussing the draft of a pastoral statement entitled Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice. Their comm

Do Americans think their public schools are in what Gov. George W. Bush has been calling an education recession? It depends. Which Americans and which schools? Parents in Scarsdale, Grosse Pointe, New Trier Township and Beverly Hills do not seem to think their local public schools need radical overh

The Vatican document Dominus Iesus has been poorly received by Christians and non-Christians with whom Catholics have been in dialogue for the last 35 years. Although experts will debate its theological arguments in the months to come, it was the general tone of the document that upset most of our d

We all saw the newspaper photos, and some of us caught it live on television: a father desperately calling out The child! The child! and the terrified 12-year-old Muhammed al-Durrah dying on the spot. That is not the only thing that has died in Gaza and Nablus and Jerusalem. It is hard to believe th