Thank goodness for Youtube among other graces in the papal visit so that we can hear President George W Bush utter what are sure to be oft-quoted words addressed to the Vicar of Christ Thank you Your Holiness Awesome speech The response of the Successor to St Peter is not audible Ja

Here s my take over at A Papal Discussion on the pope s landmark speech to the U S Bishops on a variety of topics including the abuse crisis Benedict and the bishops See if you agree James Martin SJ

Pope Benedict decided to end speculation about whether he will discuss the abuse crisis even before he lands Aboard the plane en route to Washington D C he said this according to the Associated Press It is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the church in general

Here s Associate Editor Matt Malone SJ on NPR today along with a seminarian from St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia Pa on All Things Considered considering the shortage of priestly vocations and why a person would choose to enter a seminary or religious life Besides bein

Equal time for Senator McCain After a plea to our readers to provide In All Things with a list of the Republican Senator s Catholic Advisors a kindly soul pointed us to this link McCain s Catholics We would list all the personages as we did below with Senator Obama but Mr McCain

Here s the first post from yours truly on the New York Times s special blog A Papal Discussion Be sure to check out the very first comment which shows that while dissent is frowned upon within the church in the blogosphere anything goes Great Expectations In addition to Laur

In the Star-Ledger today David Gibson religion journalist and author of The Rule of Benedict has a well-researched piece on the increasing regularity with which Benedict has been sporting far more traditional vesture Gibson on Benedict Keith Pecklers S J looked at the same phenomenon--m

Today Senator Barack Obama announced his national Catholic advisory committee The names are a fascinating mix of well Catholics--and include some regular and recent America contributors like Mary Jo Bane Lisa Cahill Richard Gaillardetz Cathy Kaveny and David O Brien And congratulations t

Robert Ellsberg currently the publisher of Orbis Books has pulled off the journalistic equivalent of a double-play scoring recent cover articles in both Commonweal and The London Tablet The reason After several years of dedicated scholarship Ellsberg has put the finishing touches the first

Our most regular blogger Michael Sean Winters has a provocative article on Slate com on how Benedict s papacy has disappointed neo-cons and theo-cons Here s Winters Three years after Benedict s election as American Catholics prepare for the pope s visit next week those same conser