The new issue of Vanity Fair includes a brief and eloquent piece by the inimitable Christopher Hitchens on his cancer diagnosis and treatment it is a must-read for anyone who loves or hates Hitchens musings on any number of subjects nbsp The prognosis sounds grim and Hitchens does not flinch

Today s Feast reminded me of an entertaining story about St Ignatius it has been told and retold to the extent that its original author can perhaps no longer be known but I heard it first when I was a Jesuit novice from the great Fr Vinny O Keefe S J nbsp It goes something like this In the e

The key to changing minds and converting hearts is better access to information right nbsp Wouldn t everyone think just like me us if they weren t just so ignorant of the relevant data This interesting essay by Joe Keohane in the Boston Globe from July 11 suggests that the reverse is often the c

Today July 10 is the 85th Anniversary of the beginning of the Scopes Monkey Trial the famous Tennessee court case that was ostensibly concerned with the issue of whether John T Scopes a 24-year old science teacher was breaking the law by teaching evolution in a school but soon and forever

In the course of the day during my summer teaching instructing six Jesuit scholastics from Italy and Mexico in English conversation and reading comprehension we trade a lot of jokes about how Jesuits from different countries perceive each other nbsp Today s zinger came from a perceptive Mexican

When we look at the tragedy in Haiti we all have a common response and I know that many of us have received requests for help from various different groups Following on Fr Martin s post I would like to stress the value of Jesuit Refugee Service on the basis of practicality--we Jesuits have no

Sections of John Irving's new novel are a triumph of storytelling, as if the author is shouting: Look, ma, no hands!

Somewhat unnoticed this past week in the U S media was the passing of Edward Schillebeeckx O P 1914-2009 a Dominican priest who advised the Dutch bishops at Vatican II and became a major figure in the Church s efforts to implement the reforms of that Council in the decades that followed H

Sad news from Boston came yesterday Thomas P O Malley S J passed away on Wednesday November 4 2009 at the age of 79 TPOM was a former editor of America magazine among the many jobs he held in the Society of Jesus He was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston College from 197

It sounds like someone is torturing an animal while Christmas music plays in the background Thus did one of my brothers sum up Bob Dylan s new holiday album Christmas in the Heart And he s got a point Bob sounds more like the guy who stumbles in the back door during midnight mass