Here at America we have been talking about the central role white ethnic Catholics will play in the election for over a year They are the quintessential swing voters pulled towards the Democrats on economic issues pulled towards the GOP on social issues The fastest growing demographic in the

I ve spent the last 60 hours amidst the wild diversity that is the Catholic Church and that is manifest so beautifully here at the annual Religious Education Congress Five students from Santa Clara University have traveled here with me and have been taking in all that the Congress has to offe

The LA Religious Ed Congress is not only a great place to hear fascinating speakers the most popular for the past few years seems to be Timothy Radcliffe O P the former master general of the Dominicans an unassuming and friendly man ho draws huge crowds with his talks on spirituality but also

Jesuit scholastic Ryan Duns SJ recently read Anne Rice s new book on the life of Jesus Christ the Lord The Road to Cana and found much to praise in a review on his blog A sequel to Rice s Christ the Lord Out of Egypt it suggests this famous author and recent convert has found Jesus

One of the benefits of spending a little time in another part of the country means that you see how Catholics elsewhere do things and do things very well Last night I participated in an innovative adult-ed program called The University which is based in the northern part of the Archdiocese

No matter who wins the Democratic nomination he or she will be facing a decorated war hero former prisoner-of-war son and grandson of admirals who speaks with such fluency and emotion when discussing the U S military that he virtually owns the issue Neither Obama nor Clinton can match John Mc