The Abuse of Power
Given the stories of sexual abuse that assault us from every direction, it is possible that any public discussion of liturgy could be dismissed either as frivolous diversion or highly ideological sparring. Catholics have serious issues to discuss, moral ground to retake and an obvious evil to repel.
Another Generation Gap
Are the concerns of Catholic theologians changing? It seems so. The concerns of younger Catholics in the academy today are different, perhaps considerably different, from those of my own generation of theologians. First of all, some younger theologians seem uncomfortable with the enormous polarizati
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
For many years I have thought that the book that begs to be written is a book of Jesuit stories. Now, I’m not talking about a compendium of the holy lives of Jesuit saints and martyrs: for this see a fine book by Joseph Tylenda, S.J., entitled, not surprisingly, Jesuit Saints and Martyrs. And
Letters
Letters
Variation
I write to disagree respectfully yet strongly with the position taken by the Rev. Andrew R. Baker in America’s issue of Sept. 30, opposing the ordination of men who happen to be homosexual in their orientation. Though all of the important points he has raised merit substantive discussion, I focus here on two of those…
Editorials
Crisis in Housing
With rents soaring, low-income renters face harsher struggles in their efforts to find a place to live. In its recently released report, Out of Reach 2002, the National Low Income Housing Coalition compares wages and rents throughout the country. Among its findings: at the fair market rate, the nati
Faith in Focus
Vigil
Our Palestinian friend Khaled, a respected elder in the local Arab-American community, called last week: “We’re planning a prayer vigil for peace at a downtown church. Could you call some of your Jewish friends to join us? I don’t know many.”It took a flurry of faxes, e-mails
Books
The Coolest Edwardian
Well he was also a late Victorian born in 1872 He did his most celebrated writing and drawing in the reign of George V and he survived George VI dying in 1956 But as Hall convincingly claims For Max the past remained present From the day he left the London scene in 1910 he was…
Out of This World
This book blends several stories into a rich tapestry The governing story is that of the Carmelite community in Indianapolis from its beginnings in 1922 when three sisters made of a small house in New Albany their temporary quarters for a new foundation to the permanent monastery in Indianapolis
Half a Look at Our Cultural Predicament
Deviance by definition presupposes a society rsquo s way of life bounded by norms and values that justify institutions and induce people to enact institutional and private roles This makes any study of deviance controversial both politically and morally When that study is sociological the cont
She Said, She Said
If you are interested in the Vatican and its workings you will find this a good read Paul Hofmann Austrian by birth was for 35 years a foreign correspondent for The New York Times and for some of those years chief of its Rome bureau He currently lives in Rome and has been an acute…
Moving Ahead in Unity
When The Changing Face of the Priesthood was published two years ago it created a virtual firestorm in the church The Rev Donald Cozzens was praised for his honesty and vilified for his unsportsmanlike conduct He had the nerve to say not only that a substantial number of priests and seminarians
Rock-Solid American
The following expropriation of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself appears in The Partly Cloudy Patriot, a collection of 19 reflective, often witty essays by Sara Vowell, author, radio artist, editor, literary critic, presidential essayist and self-admitted Clinton apologist: “The best description of you [President Clinton] I’ve ever read was published in 1855:
Do I contradict…
The Word
Tax Time in Autumn
At times we are tempted to wish that certain sayings of Jesus were lost or omitted from the Gospels Jesus rsquo sharp answer to the Pharisees and Herodians in today rsquo s Gospel might be one of these ldquo Repay render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God rdquo…
Columns
How Will I Be Remembered?
For 60 seconds or so this past summer, I found myself on the dark side of a capsized kayak being swept along in treacherous, frigid waters. My eventual survival was a mixed blessing, for the whole experience had the predictable but unfortunate effect of intensifying my preoccupation with death. In t
News
Signs of the Times
Vatican Quandary: Complicated Decision on Sex Abuse NormsAs the Vatican debates how it will respond to U.S. norms on clerical sex abuse, it is not dealing only with the finer points of church law. It is also confronting larger issues of church communion—the ties that exist between a bishop and
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
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