Quality of TranscendenceThe article by John W. O’Malley, S.J., (8/26) exploring the beatification of Pius IX was informative and, to be sure, helped to provide me with contextual information that I did not get elsewhere. In his article, Father O’Malley reflects on the notion of holiness

On the second full day I was in Nairobi, Kenya, I had the privilege of concelebrating at the funeral Mass for John Anthony Kaiser, a priest of the Mill Hill Missionaries, who had been killed after serving in western Kenya for over 36 years. His as-yet unidentified killers fired a shotgun into the ba

Did you know that: William Styron (The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1967, Pulitzer Prize; Sophie’s Choice, 1979, American Book Award; et al.) was able to read at age five and was publishing short stories as an adolescent? Agatha Christie’s first mystery, published in 1920, sold only 2,000

Roman Theologians Say Condom Use O.K. in Certain CasesThe discussion of whether the Catholic Church should tolerate the use of condoms as a lesser evil in fighting the spread of AIDS resurfaced at the Vatican as a result of an article in America (9/23). In that article, Jon D. Fuller, S.J., M.D., an

Editor’s note: In Germany, candidates for teaching positions in Catholic theology at universities and seminaries must receive a mandatum (nihil obstat) from a bishop. Since these academic positions are state appointments, this use of the nihil obstat arose over the last century in order to pre

Word and ImageIt’s laudable thatwith everything else the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley is able to accomplishhe keeps up with the times and what is going on in the world around him (9/16). Father Greeley has such vital enthusiasm. Would that all of us noticed as well the beautiful skies in the photos

Sometimes the obstacles to peace appear so great and so many that to face them seems humanly impossible. But what seemed unthinkable even a few short years ago is now a reality or at least a matter of open discussion. Pope John Paul II offered that reflection on September 18 as he received a new Isr

Bunnies RuleMore bunnies, please, out of James Martin’s hat (Of Many Things, 8/26)! Peter Cottontail with Karl Rahner and Father Martin’s nephew made me laugh today - again!Mary Anne ZakSuffield, Conn. Manifesting CommunityThomas J. McCarthy’s column (7/29) struck a very famil

In the late 1980’s, Archbishop Thomas A. Donnellan of Atlanta suffered a seriously debilitating stroke, so severe that he was not able to communicate with anyone around him. Archdiocesan officials consulted the then recently revised Code of Canon Law and followed its directions for what to do