This series focuses on the world of devotions in the life of contemporary believers. America asked a number of Catholics to speak about a favorite devotionits history, its place in the writer’s life and its possible role in the life of contemporary believers. In this sixth part of the series w
The United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. on Feb. 26. The question before the court was whether the massive pro-life abortion protest demonstrations of the 1980’s and 90’s constituted acts of extortion under the federal exto
In the cathedral church of Amiens, in Picardy, there is a relic of quite remarkable distinction. It is the head of St. John the Baptist. Or if we are to be precise, the frontal part of the skull. There, set into the wall, is the sacred head that was separated from its body at the behest of a dancing
An overarching crisis in today’s church is a crisis of faith; not faith in God, not faith in Jesus Christ, but a crisis of faith in the institutional church. Members of an older generation have felt a certain testing of faith since the mid-1960’s. They remember their childhood: novenas,
I grew up three blocks from St. Mary, Help of Christians Church in West Allis, Wis. At the time, the parish sponsored no school, so my sister and I were enrolled in the school of a neighboring parish. But with the exception of school events, my entire religious life centered around St. Mary’s.
The autumn and winter have been consumed with the debate about Iraq, but decisions about Iraq are part of a more comprehensive policy vision announced by the Bush administration in its National Security Statement of September 2002. Here is a summary of the major themes of the statement, a survey of
The television coverage of the war in Iraq has been like none other. As soon as President Bush’s deadline of March 19 had passed, TV viewers were offered the opportunity to see, in real time, images from the besieged city of Baghdad. And thanks to embedded reporters, viewers could peer into th