The Good
We have been mulling over “the good” around our Catholic Worker community in South Bend recently, tending to attach to that abstract notion memories of our flesh-and-blood friend, Mike Lawson. He was murdered just before Christmas. His body was discovered over two weeks later along with
Evil: Good Corrupted
I remember watching a television episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I would like to say I was watching it with my kids, but actually I was watching for my own interest, without them. Mr. Rogers was interviewing the Wicked Witch of the West from the classic film The Wizard of Oz. For the b
The Lesser Evil
In a Dilbert cartoon, “Mike the Vegan” takes pride in claiming that he uses “no animal products whatsoever.” Dilbert reminds him, though, that his clothing was made on sewing machines that use electricity produced from fossil fuels. The last panel shows Mike walking down the
Of Many Things
Of Many Things
As I rode Amtrak’s Regional from Washington to New York one cold February afternoon, I was reminded that for me one of the delights of train travel is getting the lay of the land. Gazing out the window, I had just noted how one semi-rural settlement lay on the flood plain, and I wondered how…
Letters
Letters
Vital Care
The reasons given in your editorial for the condition of the homeless of our country (Homelessness: A Solvable Problem, 3/5) are on target. Many of the homeless are mentally ill and in need of care that would provide a structured setting and promote recovery in most instances. Taking medication for mental illness, under supervision,…
Editorials
A Tough Subject
The current scandal of sexual abuse at a juvenile facility in Texas is but one example of a phenomenon that has long been a dark underside of the U.S. prison systemthe rape of prisoners. The Texas case involves the abuse of youths by staff members at a state-run school. But nationally the abuse has
Books
A Communion of Subjects
In future years when the history of our lagging environmental consciousness is written there may well be a special place devoted to the work of Thomas Berry.
Magic in the British Isles
E M Forster wrote in Aspects of the Novel 1927 that fantasy asks us to pay something extra that is first to accept the fantasist 8217 s impossible story as a whole and second to accept the specific beings say fairies and events say miracles that are in it Those who can do this howe
Poetry
Modern Warfare
A cockroach clicks
The Word
The Best Example
The long and rich readings for Passion Palm Sunday usher us into Holy Week and prepare us for the Sacred Triduum and the celebration of Easter Sunday Each reading can contribute to our appreciation of Jesus rsquo sufferings and their significance for us nbsp The Old Testament passage from Isaia
Columns
Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
Lent can be a disorienting, dislocating time, and sometimes it seems that it observes us more than we observe it. Twice recently I had the feeling that Lent was observing me and gently tweaking at my mind and heart, not without a smile on its face. The first of these moments happened in the middle…
Culture
The Art of Believing in Things Unseen
The summer solstice was around the corner, but our seasonal fog had not yet appeared. Instead, we were experiencing day after day of clear, brilliant skies. Without any shades on our second-story bedroom window, I could raise up my head at first light and survey from my pillow what seemed to be a ne
Current Comment
Current Comment
A Report From Los AngelesAnyone lamenting the health of the Catholic Church would have been cheered by this year’s Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the largest Catholic convention in the country, held every year since 1967. This year’s gathering attracted nearly 40,000 pastoral
News
Signs of the Times
Vatican Criticizes Jon Sobrino, Liberation TheologianThe Vatican has strongly criticized the work of Jon Sobrino, S.J., a leading proponent of liberation theology, saying some of his writings relating to the divinity of Christ were not in conformity with the doctrine of the church. In publishing a d
Politics
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Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts