Although the number of women prisoners is far smaller than the number of men, the rate of incarceration for women is rising at a much faster rate than for men. Over 200,000 women are now behind bars throughout the country, most of them African American and Hispanic. And according to the nonprofit Se

Prayers for ChinaWhile the situation of the Catholic Church in China has not been normal for many decades, in very recent times it appeared that the lot of Chinese Catholics was improving. It became known that many bishops of the official Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association were, in fact, also in

Mother Nature’s fury, as we have experienced in our own nation in the aftermath of hurricanes and tornadoes, devastates communities. But Mother Nature’s worst pales when compared to the disasters created by man’s furyand folly. A hurricane of hatred has created in Darfur a human-ma

As the nation moves beyond the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, difficult choices lie ahead. While it has become increasingly clear that the war in Iraq has not made the United States more secure or the world a safer place, future U.S. policy in Iraq is not nearly as clear. Would the prema

Professionals and PatriotsWashington has rumbled for years with rumors of professional dissent at the Pentagon and C.I.A. from Bush administration policies in the war on terror and the invasion of Iraq. Occasionally the dissent has become public, as when Gen. Eric Shinseki, then chairman of the Join

The investigative reporter Seymour Hersh broke the story just as Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that his country had succeeded in enriching uranium. The Bush administration, Hersh wrote, is planning a preventive military attack against Iran, possibly with the use of tactical nu

Massive rallies around the country demonstrate a groundswell of popular opinion pressing for comprehensive immigration reform. Encouraged by the church, these have been peaceful events by primarily hardworking, family-oriented people. The demonstrators want to see undocumented people given the oppor

Sant'Egidio Comes to AmericaThe most important Catholic group that you may never have heard of is the Sant’Egidio community. Their anonymity may lessen with an upcoming convention, Religion and Cultures, to be held at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., on April 26-27. It will be t

Hunger here in the richest nation in the world? Impossible, one might think. But the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ annual Hunger and Homelessness Survey makes it clear that hunger and food insecurity (not always having access to enough food to meet basic needs) not only exist, but are on the rise

Reality CheckIn recent weeks, plans for school and parish reconfigurations have been disclosed in a number of dioceses. It is reality-check time across much of the Northeast, where changing demographics have occasioned these realignments. However poignant and evocative the stories of my grandmother