In ancient Israel, a jubilee year was a time to build the kinds of social relationships expected of God’s people. It was the season to liberate slaves who lost their freedom through debt and return land to those who had sold it to pay off debts. It was a year to erase debts altogether. So it i
Could a pope resign? Would a retired pope still be infallible? If a pope resigns and another is elected, are there in effect two popes?
Learn a new language at the advanced age of 60? Surely madness even to try. But having come to New York in 1994 to work for America, I moved after my first year of living at America House to a Jesuit parish on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Knowing that Nativity Parish is primarily Hispanic, and
Country Held HostageYour editorial Send the Boy Home to Cuba (3/11) has many inaccuracies:1) The title makes Elián look like a parcel or inanimate object that could be easily shipped to Cuba. He is a young human being, whose feelings must be taken into account. After almost four months in the Unite
In the first Sunday of Lent, Pope John Paul II asked forgiveness for sins committed by Catholics over the last two millennia. For 20 minutes he listed and prayed about sins against various groups, including Jews and Muslims. "Christians have often denied the Gospel; yielding to a mentality of p
From 2000: In a "multicultural" society shouldn’t anti-Catholicism be a dead issue?
In early spring several years ago, I helped to lead a retreat for college students. The weekend felt intense and emotional, but also very loving and accepting. One speaker introduced his talk by requesting that we not clap for him, or hug him, or discuss his words when he finished. He would prefer