In honor of the beatification of Blessed John Paul II an examination of the saints devotion to and purpose of courtesy of Religion and Ethics Newsweekly today nbsp By the way a real question since I was in a Trappist monastery all weekend and missed the coverage Has John Paul been declared a

E J Dionne writing in the Washington Post today and Commonweal wants to fast-track the canonization of another pope John XXIII upon whose legacy John Paul built nbsp Absolutely nbsp May God grant a miracle in response to his intercession so that this nbsp extraordinary man may be venerated

Our editor Drew Christiansen S J nbsp alerted me to the documentary Forgiveness a beautiful two-part series that aired on PBS over the last two Sundays but which will also nbsp be repeated check local listings nbsp So I asked John Coleman Jesuit sociologist nbsp to review what he is cal

I am a liberal Catholic nbsp I am also an admirer nbsp of Blessed John Paul II nbsp Those two things may seem at odds especially with the growing consternation in some circles about the perceived ldquo rush rdquo of his beatification nbsp nbsp In short the Vatican rsquo s Congregation

It s hard to keep up with nbsp the flow of nbsp news about the beatification of Pope John Paul II but I m trying nbsp Here s a brief but by now means complete rundown of some of the more interesting articles and perspectives nbsp First off John Allen who will be covering the beatification f

What do the distinctive spiritualities of Jesus Mary and Joseph have to teach us about our own daily lives nbsp How do their human experiences speak to our human lives nbsp How can the individual lives of each of the members of the Holy Family help us in our Christian journeys nbsp National

Last weekend I caught Robert Redford s new film The Conspirator which uses the case of Mary Surratt a Catholic by the way which the film notes and her complicated involvement with the assassinaton of Abraham Lincoln to draw out some modern-day parallels nbsp John P McCarthy nbsp provides a

I was prepared not to like this nbsp But I did nbsp See what you think nbsp

In 2004 I was invited to serve as ldquo theological adviser rdquo to a production of a new nbsp Off-Broadway play nbsp The Last Days of Judas Iscariot written by the playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis nbsp The playwright put Judas Iscariot on trial for his betrayal of Jesus In nbsp A Jesuit Off-

Here s another take or at least nbsp different perspective from the John Thavis piece below nbsp John Allen NCR s Vatican correspondent is writing in Newsweek on the question of whether the Vatican is rushing the beatification process of Pope John Paul II nbsp Although one could argue from