In the January issue, this section carried a commentary titled “The Catholic Church as Interest Group.” Among the points made was that, despite the bishops’ declared intention, a statement such as “Political Responsibility,” issued by the United States Catholic Conference (USCC), is in . . . . Continue Reading »
No, the situation could hardly be more serious, unless Diocletian reclined still in his palace, and martyrs still faced night arrest and torture in the amphitheaters. The situation could hardly be more dire, unless the old Roman law still survived that stated flatly, frighteningly, “It is unlawful . . . . Continue Reading »
Catholics must take their place in defending the American . . . . Continue Reading »
How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theologyby George HunsingerOxford University Press, 298 pages, $32.50 There are two types of guidebook to a major gallery. One is designed for the occasional visitor who wants to find his way about with minimal effort and wishes to emerge with a general . . . . Continue Reading »
Democracy is still very much a minority phenomenon among the nations of the world, but it is hard to deny that there appears to be something like a democratic revolution afoot. According to Samuel Huntington of Harvard University (writing in The National Interest ), there have been three . . . . Continue Reading »
I propose a “rereading” of Pope Leo’s Encyclical by issuing an invitation to “look back” at the text itself, but also to “look around” at the “new things” that surround us, very different from the “new things” at the final decade of the last . . . . Continue Reading »
Has the Catholic Church lost its place in the public . . . . Continue Reading »
We are nearly two years into the post-Cold War era—an era as yet without a name—and we have awakened to the sobering reality that democracy is easier to desire than it is to sustain. The painful experiences of nations as disparate as Czechoslovakia, Nicaragua, South Africa, and the . . . . Continue Reading »
In a recently published book, Sergio I. Minerbi, formerly of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaks of the Catholic Church as “the chief opponent” of the Zionist movement past and present, and he identifies “the real reasons underlying” this “hostility” as “immutable . . . . Continue Reading »
Newman did not regard himself as a theologian, and it would distort his accomplishments to call him one. He was that rarer and more comprehensive figure, a Christian humanist, who set his face against utilitarians of both the mind and the spirit. The spirit of Newman sought wholeness of vision: the . . . . Continue Reading »
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