The Painted Visions of Fra Angelico
Not only did Fra Giovanni paint like an angel; he was, in his personal life, an angel himself. The friar’s “angelic” style and “rare and perfect talent,” Vasari informs us, were the result of a “simple and devout life.”
Biologist and Believer
It is amazing how many people are trying to find problems where there aren’t any. The culprits are prejudice and ignorance. Of course, nobody likes to be called prejudiced or ignorant, especially if it may be true. The creation- versus-evolution controversy is loaded with confusion caused by t
The Historical Mary
What do we really know about the woman we call Mother of God and Mother of the Church, the first of all the saints, the model believer? What do contemporary Scripture studies, archaeological research and analysis of the literature of her time reveal to us about Mary? I invite the reader to reflect w
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
In recent years, even at Christmastime, there has been little good news from the Holy Land, but on Nov. 19 Latin-rite Catholics in the Holy Land had reason to celebrate. That day they welcomed Bishop Fouad Twal, until recently bishop of Tunis, as coadjutor patriarch of Jerusalem. Bishop Twal, a Jord
Letters
Letters
Surprise Memorial
Many thanks to Robert Ellsberg for his scholarship and recent reflection, Five Years With Dorothy Day (11/21). This remarkable woman, arguably the greatest American Catholic of the 20th century, I include in religious education classes at our Catholic secondary college.
A visit to New York this year afforded me the opportunity to seek out her…
Editorials
A Child Is Born
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently offering an exhibition of the work of Fra Angelico (1390/95-1455), one of the most extraordinary artists of the early Italian Renaissance period. His vibrantly hued, finely detailed images of saints, angels and the Holy Family conjure wonder and emanate pe
Faith in Focus
Christmas: Wonderful Exchange
"When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run half of her swift course, your all powerful word, O Lord, leaped down from heaven from the royal throne” (Wis 18:14-15) “…and Mary gave birth to a son, her first born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a ma
Vantage Point
How Consumerism is Destroying Christmas
We might think the battle for Christmas is over words. But the struggle is waged at a far deeper level of our lives.
Books
A Singular Hunger for God
In Blessed Among All Women Robert Ellsberg publisher of Orbis Books has compiled another unorthodox hagiography The book records the lives of 136 holy women Their stories eloquently told in short entries are grouped according to the virtues of the Beatitudes an arrangement that reflects Ells
Not Quite How It Happened
With good reason Steven McKenzie worries that many modern men and women misunderstand the Bible There is confusion between biblical and scientific approaches to creation and a misguided recourse to biblical apocalyptic frequently in fundamentalist circles but not limited to them McKenzie prof
Connected to the World
In this second collection by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Mary Oliver containing 42 new poems the contents run in reverse chronological order the most recent ones first just the way a curriculum vitae starts with the latest accomplishments Publishers must fear a flagging of int
The Word
De-Christianizing Christmas?
In recent years there has been a lively controversy about ldquo de-Christianizing rdquo Christmas We all now speak vaguely about ldquo the holidays rdquo In some circles the greeting ldquo Merry Christmas rdquo has become forbidden speech Whether one regards this debate as serious or silly
What’s In a Name?
Names are important All of us like to be called by our names It indicates recognition and even friendship We are annoyed when someone gets our name wrong We are embarrassed when we do not know or forget the name of someone we should know When others make fun of our name or deliberately misprono
Faith
How Consumerism is Destroying Christmas
We might think the battle for Christmas is over words. But the struggle is waged at a far deeper level of our lives.
News
Signs of the Times
Vatican Condemns Regrettable Incidents’: Attacks on Nuns, Arrests of Priests in China The Vatican has condemned two regrettable incidents in Chinathe beating of several nuns and the continued arrests of underground Catholic priests. The violence used against several defenseless religious women
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts