The steel was cool and smooth under my hand. I was lying atop an X-ray machine, awaiting yet another test for an undiagnosed illness. Slowly, I realized I was taking comfort from the machine’s presence. My first reaction was an amused, Gadzooks, what a geek! Deeper reflection, though, made me
"Well, he did it.” It has been two years since my brother-in-law’s voice over the phone ended a three-day vigil of what I can only call “hope against hope.” My handsome 34-year-old nephew Rich had hanged himself in a park 20 minutes from his parents’ home. Remembering h
Throughout the season of Lent the Scripture readings emphasize the themes of repentance conversion and forgiveness of sins They offer a consoling and hopeful message that we all need to hear at various times in our lives Today rsquo s passages develop those themes and challenge us to understand w
Today we took our infant son to the doctor for his regular checkup and vaccinations. We do not relish these visits. We gang up on the baby; I restrain my son’s hands, my husband pins his legs, all so the nurse can administer four different vaccine shots. The baby screams, later becomes letharg
The books discussed in this article illustrate how Jews and Christians have repeatedly gone back to the Bible to shape their present and future. Though it is an ancient book, the Bible has always been and still remains a source of life, renewal and challenge. Alan D. Callahan’s The Talking Boo
Possibilities of DiplomacyFor some observers who take a dim view of the Bush administration’s foreign policy record, the most encouraging aspect of the recent agreement reached with North Korea concerning its nuclear program was the negative reaction of John R. Bolton, the ham-handed former U.
Haughey Receives Intellectual Achievement AwardOn Feb. 3 the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities presented its Monika K. Hellwig Award for Outstanding Contributions to Catholic Intellectual Life to John Haughey, S.J., senior research fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at George