Yousif Thomas Mirkis, O.P., is an Iraqi Roman Catholic priest. He recently welcomed me to his community home in Baghdad, the convent of the Dominican friars. In the courtyard, he pointed to the ground. Look, he said. A cross lay molded into the tiles. This is to remind us that the cross is down here
As one of the world’s last industrialized nations to be without a national health care system, the United States is beleagured by a host of public health problems and contrasting proposals to solve them. Yet all the discourse appears to have generated no great public outcry for universal cover
Both the developed and developing worlds are facing a critical moral choice in the controversial issue of genetically modified food, also known as genetically modified organisms and genetically engineered crops. Critics of these modifications speak dismissively of biotech foods and genetic pollution
Medieval Practice
Thank you for your well-reasoned editorial about the number of innocent people condemned to death in America, and the public’s growing distrust of a flawed death penalty system (2/7). Wrongful convictions, however, are not the only problems evident with this medieval
As expected, President George W. Bush used his State of the Union address to praise the successful election in Iraq and argue for his private investment model of Social Security reform. The Iraqi election certainly merits great attention. The images of long lines of people waiting to vote, even retu
"Put not your trust in princes," the Psalmist advises. Friendly Israeli civil servants have given similar advice to Catholics dealing with today’s Israeli politicians. Given the recent history of relations between the church and the Israeli government, it is a counsel born of hard ex
To celebrate my 50th birthday, my sister, brother-in-law and their three kids took me on vacation for two weeks to Alaska. It was a wonderful summer vacation, with spectacular scenery and memorable moments. Midway through the vacation, my sister Mary Beth, her husband, Dominic, and I had the opportu