I seems inevitable that the People’s Republic of China and the Holy See will eventually establish formal diplomatic relations. Whether this takes months or years, both China and the Vatican have reached an understanding of their mutual interests. China, for its part, seems intent on resolving
The Denver Post reported that a few hours before he died, Jim Sunderland, S.J., asked his family and friends to put on his shoes, because I want to walk into heaven. Just like him: a flinty realism, a bit of humor and an undying faith. A Visitation sister, his friend for over 40 years, wrote, "
"Our daily Mass was at the center of all we did,” said one of the Christian activists who set out for an 11-day pilgrimage to Cuba during the Advent of 2005. It was undertaken as a prayerful protest of the treatment of prisoners held incommunicado at the Guantánamo military base. Those w
On July 7, 2005, The New York Times published on its Op Ed page an essay by Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, O.P., the archbishop of Vienna, entitled: Finding Design in Nature. In it the cardinal stated:...ever since 1996, when Pope John Paul II said that evolution (a term he did not define) was more
The victory of Hamas in Palestinian elections two weeks ago sent the diplomatic world into turmoil. The United States and the European Union immediately demanded the victors renounce terrorism and recognize Israel’s right to exist or suffer the loss of economic aid. Later, the remaining two me
Who Owns What?
Forgive me if I am confused on the current question of who owns and/or controls assets of Catholic parishes. Two items in the Signs of the Times section (2/6) seem to express contrasting viewpoints on this issue.
First, Archbishop John G. Vlazny of Portland,
In his State of the Union address on Jan. 31, President Bush called for greater civility in our public debates about national policy. Our differences cannot be allowed to harden into anger, he said. While it may prove to be an elusive goal, a restoration of civility in our public debate could have i