Imagine a couple in their mid-30’s. These people have a beautiful 20-month-old baby girl. But now, at 18 weeks of gestation, their second pregnancy goes awry. Prenatal diagnosis reveals that the developing baby has a spina bifida and hydrocephalus so serious that, if he survives until birth, h
When I discovered that Ladislas Orsy, S.J., had written such a lengthy response (10/21) to my article on the papacy for a global church (7/15), I wondered how I could reply with reasonable brevity. But when I read his piece, I came to realize that I had in effect answered him already, in the very ar
Aug. 6 marked the 10th anniversary of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. Established by Security Council Resolution 661 immediately after the invasion of Kuwait and solidified in Resolution 687 as terms of the Gulf War cease-fire on April 3, 1991, these measures have comprised the tightest econo
As I write this column, my Jesuit community is preparing to celebrate a number of jubilees, or anniversaries, for three Jesuit priests. The evening’s celebration will consist of what some wags refer to as an L.S.D., that is, liturgy, social and dinner.Apparently, one must be advanced in years
Hard ChoicesIt is times like this that I most regret allowing myself to fall behind in my reading of America. On the eve of the elections, I am about one and a half months behind, and have just read The Faces Behind Us by Robert Heaney (9/30). The call to respond is strong within me.Dr. Heaney&
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
Before you begin to read The Sky Unwashed you think you know what you are in for Both jacket copy and preface explain that the novel deals with the Chornobyl nuclear accident The author born and raised in Chicago is a bilingual first-generation Ukrainian- American who has traveled often to Ukr