The story is told of the Irish woman, 40 years married and the mother of seven, who left church after hearing a sermon from a young priest on marriage and motherhood and remarked, "Sure and I wish I knew as little about it as he does." Having spent the last 17 years working on Bible transl
When I was about six years old, I went to my dad and asked him, “Where do babies come from?” He told me to take a look at the guppies in our fish tank. My mom says I stood transfixed in front of the fish tank for several hours each day for a week.Seven years later I tried asking my dad t
Bishop James Hoffman of Toledo, Ohio, recently cancelled more than $1.38 million in delinquent debts owed by 24 parishes and institutions in his diocese. The parishes had incurred these obligations by not paying assessments—for example, for insurance coverage secured on their behalf by the dio
This generation has witnessed many proposals for school choice, but only a few have taken root in law and practice. What do states such as Wisconsin and Ohio understand that remains opaque to their sisters? Though the 10-year-old Milwaukee program is effective and popular, its vital insight has so f
Visiting Cemeteries might seem an odd way to spend a vacation. As an obsessive, lifelong English major, however, I have an interest in the final resting places of those who made notable contributions to literature. During a week’s respite in the Boston area, I accordingly spent several hours a
"Here Comes the..."As I read the article by Thomas Sweetser, S.J., (7/2) on behalf of his 50 fatigued pastors, I couldn’t help but feel sad that this group apparently can no longer differentiate between a job and a vocation. A job can be quantified by the hours, but a vocation—
However generous individual Americans may be toward those in need, as a nation we do not rank high when it comes to providing development assistance to poor and hungry people in other lands. This is one of the observations made by the Washington, D.C.-based Bread for the World Institute in its annua