Voices
John A. Coleman S.J., is an associate pastor at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. For many years he was the Casassa Professor of Social Values at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His books and other writing have focused largely on areas connected to sociology of religion and also to social ethics. His most recent work has concentrated on issues of globalization.
In All Things
The Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley has mounted the west coast premiere of Matthew Lopez 39 s play quot The Whipping Man quot The play won the 2011 John Gassner new play award from the New York Outer Critics 39 Circle It played there at the Manhattan Theatre Club It is set at the end o
In All Things
I came across a moving document which appeared on Vatican radio--letters from detained young prisoners in California organized by Mike Kennedy S J If the right wing Catholics did not get the pope 39 s gesture these young prisoners did Quite lovely reading You can find it here nbsp
In All Things
Most of my adult life since Vatican II at every parish I have either worshipped or celebrated Holy Thursday the priest and others have washed the feet of men and women boys girls and elderly people I have never in my life given much extra thought to this practice because it struck me that Jesu
In All Things
On April 11 we will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Pacem in Terris Peace on Earth which appeared in 1963 just months after the Cuban missile crisis Pope John had served as an important mediator between the Americans and Russians during that crisis Later Premier Kruschev said of John q
In All Things
nbsp On Saturday last I attended an intriguing seminar sponsored by The Vatican Observatory Foundation Its topic was astrobiology Astrobiology is a compound science which relies on astronomy biology chemistry to ask about the origin evolution distribution of life in the universe Are there h
In All Things
I was reminded of John Milton 39 s famous line from his poem On Blindness quot They also serve who only stand and wait quot when I recently saw a stellar production of Samuel Beckett 39 s famous play Waiting for Godot at the Marin Theatre Company In fact waiting can be counter-productive to
In All Things
nbsp I am often asked by people to help them understand and or enter into Ignatian spirituality It would be a mistake for most people to go directly to a copy of The Spiritual Exercises to try to simply read them As they exist the Exercises essentially are the retreat notes Ignatius himself took
In All Things
nbsp Often I find the period after Christmas as we move into what is called ldquo ordinary time rdquo a rich time to turn to nurturing spiritual reading I want to recommend a book I find very helpful and illuminating Richard Rohr rsquo s Falling Upward A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Li
In All Things
It is that time of year Television will show probably twice around Christmas and once on Christmas Eve Frank Capra s now classic film It s a Wonderful Life When it first appeared in late 1946 the film was not a best-selling standout It actually initially lost money Now it is regard
In All Things
I had occasion earlier this month to spend a day with over a hundred representatives of Catholic health systems I had been invited to give a talk to the Illinois Catholic Health Association on the topic of religious liberty What I came away with from that meeting however was a heightened sense o