Defending human rights pays off not only in terms of justice but also in ways that can include greater economic growth a more protected environment better public health and a generally less violent world Such is the basic theme of this important book Written by someone who knows the human right

In his brief foreword to Ghislain Lafont rsquo s Imagining the Catholic Church Archbishop Rembert Weakland O S B calls attention to something that makes Lafont rsquo s voice different from other voices speaking today about the church Father Lafont does not think in words sentences and paragrap

quot The world is on the verge of new and great changes Mr Scrooge You agree quot --Jacob Marley upon meeting Ebenezer Scrooge in George Minter rsquo s 1951 film A Christmas Carol The above epigraph alluding to the social economic cultural and political upheaval of the Industrial Revolutio

I rsquo m always drawn to books that tell of people who step out of their comfort zones and live on the edgeespecially for the sake of the Gospel Spiritual passion is an amazing power and these stories of St Ignatius himself and his faithful sons in prison show that spiritual power at work We se

Nearly a century ago W E B Du Bois predicted that the problem of the 20th century would be the problem of the color line This was no less the problem of the 19th century But the contours of racism drastically changed in the 20th century as blacks moved north to Detroit and Chicago from the pla

Anyone who thinks that biblical scholarship is a dry academic discipline dealing with ancient texts whose privileged position has long been accepted and whose interpretation over the centuries is pretty well established should read this book The interpretation of the Bible is in fact in ferment m