It takes great courage to speak candidly in the midst of a crisis. To speak serenely when surrounded by mayhem requires wisdom and tact. To speak at all these days to the members of the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors requires fortitude. Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas, the coadjutor bis

Debbie Lannaman and her 8-year-old daughter, Chelsea, live in Harlem, a legendary New York City neighborhood with 10 public elementary schools. To each of these schools Ms. Lannaman gives an F. The failures in these cases are not the fault of the teachers, who are front-line troops doing the best th

Even death penalty proponents do not want to see innocent people executed. In recent times, though, a number of prisoners have come within minutes of a walk to the death chamber before being exonerated of a capital crime. In Illinois alone, 13 men on death row were freed within the past two decades.

For months Washington and the world have been debating the Bush administration’s professed desire to carry out a pre-emptive war against Iraq. In early August, the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, headed by Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware), opened hearings on the anticipated confli

Anniversaries of great disasters are commemorated mainly for the sake of the living. If the event was recent, an observance of its anniversary may somewhat console those who are still mourning, and that is a great benefit. The sting of death, as the historian Arnold Toynbee once said, is often enoug

Ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, immigrants seeking to enter the United States have faced higher hurdles. This includes asylum seekers, and some have been treated in an especially painful and discriminatory manner. Among them are Haitians currently detained in south Florida. In their de

At Home in the Cosmos, the title of the last book written by David S. Toolan, S.J., can also serve to describe his life. When our longtime associate editor and treasured friend died on July 16, he did not know that his book had recently won an award for theological writing from the Catholic Press As

An antique wooden plaque in one of our offices reads: “It is wonderful that the First Amendment protects freedom of speech. It is even more wonderful that the First Amendment doesn’t make anyone listen.” Most Americans would agree with both parts of the message. But on June 17 the

Ohio’s school voucher program survived in the Supreme Court because five justices took into account all the educational choices Ohio provided for parents, not just the voucher choice. In the 1970’s and 80’s, the court looked only at the individual programs under challenge. Since mo

The charter approved by the bishops at their spring meeting in Dallas on June 13-15 provides for zero tolerance: No priest who has abused a minor in the past, present or future will be allowed to act as a priest againno public Masses, no working in parishes or any other priestly ministry and no wear