It struck without warning on working families in poor fishing villages and on vacationing tourists in upscale resorts. The tsunami, caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake 155 miles southeast of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Sumatra, killed more than 150,000 people and left millions homeless al

The Great Seal of the United States, reproduced on the dollar bill, has a mediocre design but an upbeat message. One side shows a bald eagle grasping in its talons arrows of war and an olive branch of peace. The reverse side pictures an unfinished pyramid surmounted by a great eye that represents di

In the Liturgy of the Hours, the church salutes the expected Messiah as the Orient from on high (Lk 1:78). The appellation pictures the sun rising from the East to shed its glory on a world enshrouded in darkness. The French term Levant uses the same metaphor to refer to the eastern littoral of the

Out today, back behind bars tomorrow: high rates of recidivism remain one of the most troubling aspects of our criminal justice system. Referring to released prisoners, President George W. Bush noted in his State of the Union speech in 2004 that we know from long experience that if they can’t

The debate about stem cell research focuses on money and morality, on how to pay for this enterprise and how to guarantee that it is guided by ethical principles. In California last month, 60 percent of the voters dealt with the first of these concerns but not with the second. They passed Propositio

The signing of the new European constitution in Rome on Oct. 29 was a bittersweet moment for Catholics on the continent. It is the latest achievement of a movement initiated by postwar Christian Democrats, like Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi, which began with the European Coal

Thanksgiving will be for many in the United States an occasion to gather around tables groaning under the weight of food in celebration of this quintessentially American holiday. But as we give thanks, we also pray for those who are hungry. Not only does hunger remain a primary cause of mortality in

The re-election of President George W. Bush by more votes than he received in 2000 puts to rest questions about the legitimacy of his administration. This time he won not only the electoral college but also the popular vote, by more than three million votes. Most states went for the same party as th

Like yeast in dough, for 40 years ecumenism has been quietly leavening the life of the churches. It is so much taken for granted that we often do not recognize how different the shape of Christian life is today from 50 years ago and how close the churches have grown. For centuries, hymnody divided C

Gregory Lee Johnson turned up in Dallas, Tex., for the Republican National Convention in 1984. To show his contempt for the policies of the Reagan administration, Mr. Johnson burned an American flag, while other demonstrators shouted approval. A Texas criminal court convicted Mr. Johnson of flag des