Last March I argued in these pages (Neither Person nor Property, 3/26/01) that approaching stem cell research in terms characteristic of the abortion debate has slowed progress in sorting out the complex moral issues raised by such research. The announcement on Nov. 25, 2001, that the first human em
On Oct. 30, 2002, the Pontifical Biblical Commission, established by Pope Leo XIII at the very end of his unexpectedly long pontificate, will be 100 years old. Though probably few Catholics have ever heard of this commission, its importance in promoting a deeper understanding of the Bible within the
How do you go about learning Spanish in New York City if you live in a parish where most parishioners speak only that language? The question led me to enroll in a solidly useful program sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York. It meets three hours each week, and though far from fluency, I now manag
Better Preaching
I would like to participate in the discussion regarding the preaching in our parishes after the events of Sept. 11 (Letters, 11/26/01). I was not scheduled to preach on the Sunday immediately following the tragedy. I did preach on the Sunday following that with
For its first 174 years, the federal government was, as one writer put it, only a benevolent spectator of what the states were doing in elementary and secondary public schools. In some cases, not much was done. As late as 1914, six Southern statesAlabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolin
In January 2000 the Smithsonian American Art Museum until recently known as the Smithsonian Museum of American Art closed until 2004 for major renovations to its home in the historic Old Patent Office Building in Washington D C Instead of storing all of its collection in vaults inaccessible to
Though it has its flaws this book should nevertheless be read and pondered by every Catholic educator It is flawed because it fails to overcome the limitations of the sociological genre Despite that it is important reading because it is faithful both to church teaching and to the testimony of th