According to classical economic theory, here is how a corporation is supposed to work in the capitalist system. Owned by its shareholders, a corporation is run by a board of directors, who are voted into office by the shareholders. The board, in turn, appoints managers, led by a chief executive offi

For its first 174 years, the federal government was, as one writer put it, only a benevolent spectator of what the states were doing in elementary and secondary public schools. In some cases, not much was done. As late as 1914, six Southern statesAlabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolin

Goals and outcomes are two favorite words of managers and planners, right up there with projections, delivery dates and customer satisfaction. Planners try to envision the transformation of a market, a policy, a school, that may flow from their ideas and activity. Similarly, but perhaps more certain

Most Americans were in a party mood on New Year’s Eve two years ago. Although they had been admonished that 2000 was, properly speaking, the closing year of the 20th century, they generally celebrated its first day as the start of a new millenniumand celebrated with carefree exuberance. There

Our Christmas cover this year, painted by Ansgar Holmberg, C.S.J., depicts children from around the world adoring the infant Jesus. When Sister Ansgar first mailed us a rough draft of this painting, she wondered: Should Jesus be receiving the world from us, or should he be offering it to us?Christ d

Since Sept. 11 not a day has passed without reminders of the tragedy being thrust before us. Grief, loss and mourning remain part of our national consciousness, like a dull ache that sometimes becomes acute. Advent, Christmas and the coming of a new year, the first without lost loved ones, will be a

Military tribunals have been around for a long time in the United States, and they have often been controversial. The very idea of such courts is now provoking dissent both here and abroad. On Nov. 13 President Bush signed an executive order permitting individuals who are accused of terrorism and ar

The pastoral message Living With Faith and Hope After September 11, which the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued during its meeting in mid-November in Washington, D.C., promises to be a landmark document. It certainly provides inspiring material for preaching in the months ahead, as

Thomas Friedman, a New York Times columnist, must have found Oct. 26 a gratifying day. That Friday morning his column, under the heading We Are All Alone, expressed sharp criticism of what Mr. Friedman considers to be footdragging by most members of the antiterrorist coalition.That evening, Jim Lehr

Amnesty International’s wide-ranging report, Torture Worldwide, was issued last fall, but it remains sadly current as new accounts of torture continue to come to light through Amnesty and other organizations, like Human Rights Watch. In May, for example, the latter documented the torture of et