"The center of my theology? Good Lord, that can't be anything else but God as mystery and Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen One, as the historical event in which this God turns irreversibly toward us in self-communication."

Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J., former editor in chief of America, gave this homily at a memorial Mass for the Jesuits slain Jesuits at St. Ignatius Church in New York on Nov. 22, 1989.

Father Weinandy surely wrote his letter out of a heartfelt desire to help the church. But in doing so, he belied a misunderstanding of one of the basic elements of Pope Francis’ teaching.

“Hugh Hefner, a Chicago man, keeps sending us copies of his magazine, Playboy.”

This article appeared as “Luther and Catholic Historians,” on Oct. 21, 1967. 

America’s editors managed, to a degree, to contain their enthusiasm for John F. Kennedy’s candidacy during the presidential campaign of 1960. Their reaction to his inaugural address, however, was less restrained.