"Our mission statement? When people ask us what it is, we just tell them Matthew 25—the section about welcoming the stranger, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked,” said Mark Zwick. I was speaking with Mark and his wife, Louise, about the Houston Catholic Worker, which this yea
On khokmes as they say in Yiddish but seriously nobody not even a veteran scholar like Professor Sachar could compress the whole of modern Jewish history into a mere 800-plus pages with alas no maps photographs or statistical tables Not if you start roughly with the horrific massacres le
Any organization shrouded in secrecy casts a powerful spell over the imagination Entities as varied as the Mafia and the Central Intelligence Agency inspire fervid fantasies about their hidden powers that only sometimes accord with reality La Cosa Nostra decimated by decades of zealous prosecutio
It is difficult if not impossible to overstate the dramatic changes in American religious life in the mid- to late 20th century Regardless of whether one views them a success or failure no one can argue that Catholic religious sisters burst through the Second Vatican Council rsquo s doors and wi
Long, sweeping shots from the air reveal a sullen winter landscape. Frosty roads hint at a tentative incursion of humanity into this otherwise barren countryside, but otherwise the scene could be taken from a distant planet. The camera slides over the edge of a monstrous crater, fashioned by steel a
Sometimes when I see a movie with a friend in which a mean-spirited character finally gets his (or her) comeuppance, I’ll say jokingly, "It’s like Jesus says in the Gospels, 'What goes around, comes around.’" Usually the friend will smile. But on occasion, the person
For most Christians the First Sunday of Advent is a sign of hope We begin a new cycle in the church year We look forward to celebrating Christmas and getting into the ldquo holiday rdquo spirit And we think about the coming of Christ and what that event has meant in our lives and our history Th