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Issue of January 25, 2008

January 25, 2008 -- NCR front cover

 


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   This Week’s Edition: January 25, 2008 

Vol. 44 No. 11

NCRonline.org   
Cover story -- Law in exile
After the fall

By John L. Allen Jr.
Law finds normality in an unremarkable role in Rome.


Full story
In Boston, signs of gradual recovery emerge

By NCR Staff
Five years after Cardinal Bernard Law left Boston in the wake of one the most horrific scandals in the history of U.S. Catholicism, signs of gradual recovery are emerging. Most notably, the Boston archdiocese recently announced that the Catholic Appeal, its principal annual fundraising effort, raised $14.5 million in 2007, a 5 percent increase over the year before.


Full story
St. Mary Major is the right place for penance

By John L. Allen Jr.
Cardinal Bernard Law’s appointment as archpriest of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in May 2004 reflected a consensus that, following his resignation in Boston, he could not remain in the States. The Vatican’s solution: an available post at St Maria Maggiore, or St. Mary Major in English, became Law’s “golden parachute” in Rome.


Full story
World
Catholics line up against mining operations in Peru

By Barbara J. Fraser
On a rainy morning in August, dozens of men and women crowded into the tiny church in the farming community of El Carmen de la Frontera, in the mountains of northern Peru. Foremost among their worries was a mining company prospecting for copper high in the cloud forest near the border with Ecuador.

Full story
Church leaders defend environment despite risks

By Barbara J. Fraser
At a time when Latin American church leaders are increasingly under fire for their defense of the environment, the May 2007 conference of bishops in Aparecida, Brazil, may be remembered as much for its call for stewardship of creation as for its reaffirmation of the option for the poor.


Full story
World -- Analysis
Church leaders faulted in Kenya

By John L. Allen Jr.
African Christianity must come to terms with 'the contagion of tribalism.'


Full story
Nation
Selma nun recalls Dr. King's legacy

By Robert McClory
It has been more than 45 years since Sr. Antona Ebo became the first African-American nun to take part in the historic voting rights demonstrations and marches in Selma, Ala. But Ebo, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, now 83 and battling lymphoma, has lost none of her zeal. She seemed to be almost channeling Dr. Martin Luther King in her impassioned, wide-ranging talk at the Catholic Theological Union Jan. 9. “Why do they tell us to keep the dream alive?” she asked. “That was Martin’s dream, for his time. Where are the dreams now, where are the dreamers for today? He told us we’d waited too long. Well, we’re still waiting.”


Full story
This Gospel-based youth ministry has a definite point to it

By Religion News Service
A few years ago, Dan Meyer, 50, a blond guy with the buoyant energy of a puppy, sat in his Alabama church during Christmas while the preacher encouraged people to see the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as a parable. The reindeer with the nose he was ashamed of finally realized that his odd feature was his gift and his witness.

Full story
Ministries
Finding a way home


By Patricia Lefevere
Dialogues aim to foster healing within church

By Eileen Markey
Chat rooms to deal with problems

By Patricia Lefevere
Serving in the gaps in Savannah


By Patricia Lefevere
The road to making a home


By Patricia Lefevere
NCR Editorials
Baptism leads to ministry

With characteristic understatement and lowercase eloquence, American poet e.e.cummings once began a poem proclaiming: “i am a little church (no great cathedral).” Poem “77” is a song about every person living fully the sacramental mystery of ordinary life. What cummings celebrated is familiar to people who have experienced the power of ministry to uncover God’s power flowing both ways while serving others. By getting involved in the needs of others, they have learned the holy truth that we are all little churches and, as such, sure channels of grace and mystery.

Full editorial
Boston moves on, after Law

It is encouraging to see signs of rejuvenation in the Boston archdiocese five years after Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in the wake of revelations about his handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis.

Full editorial
Quotable & Notable

“We need God to be involved in this upcoming election. ... I believe this year will determine the future of our nation.”

-- Shirley Dobson, chair of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, who is leading a Pray for Election Day campaign


More quotes

Column
Colman McCarthy

Ron Paul is the mutineer candidate

Full story
Viewpoint
The Society of Jesus should renounce all ties to the military

By John Dear
Last fall, when I stood trial for our Santa Fe antiwar witness, I was asked about my mission as a Jesuit priest. I testified under oath that our job was to “save souls, end wars, liberate the poor from poverty, and welcome God’s reign of justice and peace as disciples, friends and companions of Jesus.” “Where does it say that?” the judge interrupted. “In the documents of the Society of Jesus, General Congregations 31, 32, 33 and 34,” I answered.


Full story
Nation
Immigration debate goes online

By Suzanne Manneh
To counter a fierce anti-immigration presence in cyberspace, immigrant rights activists are taking their campaigns online, where they hope to change the tone of the immigration debate. New America Media sponsored a conference call with reporters and editors of ethnic media to discuss this issue.


Full story
Survey: 'Unchurched' say church is 'full of hypocrites'

By Religion News Service
Almost three-quarters of Americans who haven’t darkened the door of a church in the last six months think it is “full of hypocrites,” and even more of them consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than about loving God and people, according to a new survey.


Full story
Life Teen founder begins independent praise center

By Patricia Zapor
The priest-founder of a popular church youth program who has been suspended from public ministry has established a nondenominational Praise and Worship Center in Mesa, Ariz., that is drawing hundreds of participants a week. The local bishop has warned Catholics to stay away from the services and not to support the center.


Full story
Catholic students claim discrimination by university

By Joe Winter
A Catholic student group is suing the University of Wisconsin at Madison, claiming it is being discriminated against because it is a religious organization.


Full story
'Gays and grays' -- so happy together

By Chuck Colbert
Vital San Francisco parish bridges the gaps of age and lifestyle.

Full story
Ministries
Women's shelter offers safety -- and time

By Jeannette Cooperman
Veterans find healing through telling their stories

By Retta Blaney
Cathedral parishioners meet vital need

By Jodi McFarland
One of clinic's tasks: Speak truth to the powerful

By Jodi McFarland
Inside NCR

Rita Larivee

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Few words, big story
When we discuss stories at NCR, we have a tendency to give great attention to the big story. So too with NCR stories. Sometimes the more significant happenings never make it to the front page. Such is the story about Sr. Antona Ebo, the first African-American nun to take part in the historic voting rights demonstrations and marches in Selma, Ala., in 1962.

Full story


Feature
The holy women of York

By Dana Greene
Hild, Margaret Clitherow and Mary Ward possessed remarkable vision and character.

Full story
Variations on a Theme
Calling all writers!

By Joseph Cunneen and Kevin Doherty
Sweeny Todd' is a brilliant adaptation; 'No Country for Old Men' most disturbing; 'Juno' is a touching screwball comedy.

Full story
Media
A world without books

By Raymond A. Schroth
The obsolescence of reading is a looming peril.

Full story
Movies
Cynicism, nihilism and wisecracks

Send submissions for future topics in our “Variations on a Theme” feature.

Full story
Books
A Catholic conscience against the war
A STUPID, UNJUST AND CRIMINAL WAR: 2001-2007
By Andrew Greeley
Orbis Books, 215 pages, $19

Reviewed by Tom Roberts

Full review
 Poetry

Poetry January 25, 2008

 Letters to the Editor

Letters for January 25, 2008
 
Classifieds

Classifieds for January 25, 2008
 
Briefs

News Briefs for January 25, 2008

People for January 25, 2008
 


Last Words
 
'Where are the dreams now, where are the dreamers for today?'

-- Sr. Antona Ebo

A memorable quote from this week's issue.

Correction
Alice Waters is one of three vice presidents of Slow Food International (not Slow Food USA), and Jasper Mirabile is on the board of directors of the Kansas City, Mo., Convivium, not the Slow Food USA board. NCR incorrectly reported their affiliations in the Jan. 11 issue.
   
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