When I was a boy, I wanted to be the president of the United States. A lot of us did. Though we were growing up in the 1970’s, we knew little or nothing of Nixon or Watergate, wiretaps or carpet-bombing. Our images were of George Washington crossing the Delaware, Abraham Lincoln freeing the sl

Since I moved to New York City a year ago, I have taken to walking after dinner around the midtown neighborhood in which I live. It’s especially glorious in the summer; the setting sun lends everything a generous glow. Winter brings early darkness, trudging and multiple layers. In the daytime,

I spent a night with friends a few weeks ago. It was an education not only in child care (never lift over your head a child who has just eaten), but also in the state of television today. In the movies these days everyone has a 32-inch flat screen television hanging in the living room, and the feng

Last week I had the opportunity to see the newest Broadway production of the musical “Sweeney Todd.” First performed in 1979, “Todd” unwinds the grisly tale of a barber in 19th-century England who returns to London after 20 years trapped in a prison colony on trumped-up charg

In the sugarplum candyland of Neptune, Calif., the high school student Veronica Mars had it all--smarts, a cute boyfriend, a stable nuclear family and social status. It is true that, unlike most of her peers, she was not wealthy; as sheriff, her dad was actually closer to “the help.” But

The movie fades up to the hushed tones of violins, the camera moving dreamlike through long hallways in an enormous, darkened museum. A guard walks in the distance. We pause; the camera pans left. Before us, next to a sign written in French, is the “Mona Lisa.” She looks down on us with

A commercial plane traveling from Sydney to Los Angeles has communication problems six hours into the flight. The pilots detour toward Fiji. A thousand miles off their original course, things go bad. Turbulence tears off the tail section, then the nose. The middle section crash lands on the beach of

It is hard today to appreciate the significance of the St. Louis Jesuits. Forty years after the Second Vatican Council, the idea of a vernacular liturgy that takes Scripture seriously and attempts to engage the congregation’s participation at every step has become relatively commonplace. But i

On Jan. 6, 2002, The Boston Globe published a front-page story about child abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. The article had the chilling opening line, “Since the mid-1990’s, more than 130 people have come forward with horrific childhood tales about how former priest John J. Geoghan al

At its annual convention in the year 2000, the National Association of Pastoral Ministers celebrated both its 25th anniversary and the retirement of its founder, the Rev. Virgil Funk. The occasion was marked with a special evening of songs by composers instrumental in the development of liturgical m