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story -- PeaceWomen |
By
Renée LaReau
Women have their own way of avoiding war and creating
peace.” These are the words of Samsidar, an Indonesian activist who was
one of 1,000 women collectively nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
Full story
Women's center tackles big issues in cozy space
By
Renée LaReau
The women’s center where 1,000 PeaceWomen is on display is a new
initiative for Xavier, a Jesuit university in Cincinnati with more than 6,600
students. Jennifer Wies, director of the center, said the exhibit provides an
opportunity to publicize the center among the wider community.
Full story
By
Penny Edman
With the first item of business in the first post-election session of
Parliament, Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd completed an item of
old business left undone for more than a decade. Rudd apologized to the Stolen
Generations.
Full story
By
Mohammed Omer
A stream of dark and putrid sludge snakes through Gaza’s streets.
It is a noxious mix of human and animal waste. The stench is overwhelming. The
occasional passerby vomits.
Full story
By
NCR Staff
The new chairman of the German Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference
has promised continuity with his sometimes controversial predecessor. He was
delivering on that promise within days after his election, speaking against
clerical celibacy and for greater ecumenism.
Full story
By
UCA News
Acknowledging that the presence of women in Indian
church structures is still “inadequate,” India’s bishops have
decided to reserve 35 percent of seats in church bodies for women.
Full story
Imagining the perfect papal visit
By
Richard R. Gaillardetz
If he pays attention, Benedict will find great diversity in the
American church.
Full story
Study finds fluid religious affiliation
By
Adelle M. Banks
If you’re Buddhist in the United States, you’re most likely a
white convert who lives in the American West.
Full story
Catholics lose more members than any other group
By
Greg Trotter
In the marketplace of American faith, Catholicism is the big loser.
Full story
Chosen few get stadium tickets for papal Masses
By
Religion News Service
Christine Larrabee is grateful there were witnesses. Otherwise the news
would have been a tough sell at her Catholic church in Cranford, N.J.
Full story
Film argues for gentler church approach to divorce
By
Religion News Service
Divorced people no longer feel as if they are wearing a scarlet
“D” on their chests when they walk into most houses of worship.
Full story
By
Emilie Lemmons
Rewarding heroes $1 million at a time.
Full story
By
Emilie Lemmons
As Gerald Rauenhorst was shaping his vision for the faith-based, $1
million Opus Prize, he drew inspiration from two giants in the world of
religious philanthropy: Mother Teresa and financial investor Sir John
Templeton.
Full story
Full story
By
Emilie Lemmons
When it was time for Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst’s children to
go off to college, it came as little surprise that all seven of them chose
Catholic colleges.
Full story
By
Abra Pollock
Investing in young women and girls in developing regions must be a top
priority for governments, multilateral agencies and the private sector, say the
authors of a report released in January.
Full story
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Beautiful, powerful women
As film aficionados ease away from the glitter of
Oscar Night, we might all take note of the world’s need for beautiful people.
What would our stories be without the perfect faces to embody our own
aspirations, the lithe forms to carry us vicariously into the romance and drama
the movies depict? A Web site displays in seamless morphed succession the
history of the faces of Hollywood’s leading film actresses, their high
cheekbones, full lips and alluring eyes -- accepted and familiar standards for
beauty.
Full editorial
Examine the Catholic exodus
Among the many fascinating findings of the recent study by the Pew Forum
on Religion and Public Life showing the porous borders of the country’s
religious denominations and the diversity of religious expression in this
country, is the sobering note that the Catholic church has been hemorrhaging
membership in recent years.
Full editorial
“So what’s a pro-life, pro-family, antiwar, pro-immigrant,
pro-economic-justice Catholic like me supposed to do in November?”
-- Joe Feuerherd, former NCR Washington correspondent, writing a
Washington Post op-ed that criticizes the U.S. bishops’
election-year document “Faithful Citizenship” and some individual
bishops for exalting abortion over other social concerns
More quotes
A Compact Lenten practice
Full story
A lesson from Egypt
By
Brad Hirschfield
A U.S. rabbi meets members of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Full story
No neat fit for social ministry message
By
John L. Allen Jr.
Perhaps the most memorable image in recent Catholic life to express the
church’s social teaching is that of a “seamless garment,”
invoked by the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago to capture what he
called a “consistent ethic of life,” including antiabortion efforts
as well as support for the poor and opposition to the death penalty and
war.
Full story
By
Michael Humphrey
The sit-in, the boycott, the prayer vigil and the video game -- no,
it’s not a Sesame Street exercise about which of the four doesn’t
belong. This is a wake-up call to activists about what is going to create
social change in the digital age.
Full story
Vatican supports Boston area parish closing
By
NCR Staff
A Vatican ruling that backs Boston Cardinal Sean
O’Malley’s closing of a Lowell, Mass., church doesn’t bode well
for other area parishioners appealing the archdiocese’s decisions to close
their parishes.
Full story
By
David Briggs
There are a lot of differences between the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass at St.
Ambrose Catholic Church and the regular morning Masses at other local Catholic
churches.
Full story
By
Eileen Markey
As the specter of recession looms over the U.S. economy and Americans
begin to tighten their belts, managers of major Catholic charities are
preparing for the possibility of smaller donations at a time of increased need
for the services they provide.
Full story
By
Daniel Burke
Financial news powerhouse Dow Jones & Company has launched new
“dharma indexes” to track the stocks of companies that observe the
values of dharma-based religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Full story
Bishop calls for carbon taxes in rich countries
By
Catholic News Service
Carbon taxes in the world’s richest countries should be used to
ameliorate the effects of global warming in the world’s poorest countries,
said an Irish bishop.
Full story
Poll: Many perceive economic unfairness
By
Jim Lobe
An average of nearly two out of three people in 34 countries around the
world believe that the benefits and burdens resulting from changes in their
nation’s economy over the last few years are not being distributed fairly,
according to a multinational survey released by the British Broadcasting
Corporation.
Full story
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FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Responsible citizenship
“Wealth & Responsibility” is the title of a special
section we introduced a few years ago with the goal of raising questions about
individual accountability and the use of resources for the common good. Our aim
was to heighten awareness that, as partners in both a secular society and the
Christian tradition, we are required to respond to the needs of the human
family. Simply put, “How do wealth and Christianity fit
together?”
Full story
By
NCR Staff
Feminist theologian and expert on Karl Rahner and
Thomas Merton, Sr. Anne Carr died at her home in the Hyde Park neighborhood of
Chicago Feb. 11. She was 73.
Full story
By
Religion News Service
Fr. Walter J. Burghardt, a Jesuit priest known for his electrifying
preaching style and commitment to social justice, died Feb. 16 in a Jesuit
infirmary in Merion, Pa. He was 93.
Full story
Heroes of our time
By
Greg Gaut
We fight each war twice -- once in real life, and a second time with
words, as contending forces try to mold our collective memory of the conflict.
The Vietnam War, for example, ended decades ago, and today the United States
enjoys friendly relations with the communist government of Vietnam. But
Americans still battle over the meaning of the war and what lessons it teaches.
The same is true of the Cold War, the great standoff between the United States
and the USSR, which provided the rationale for American intervention in
Vietnam.
Full story
Calling all writers!
Send submissions for future topics in our “Variations on a
Theme” feature to themes@ncronline.org. (We prefer e-mail.) Or you can
send them by regular mail to: Themes, Rich Heffern, NCR, 115 E. Armour Blvd.,
Kansas City MO 64111 or fax them to (816) 968-2280.
Full story
By
Raymond A. Schroth
The story of HBO’s sensation “The Wire” -- not extremely
popular but acclaimed by the media as “The best show on TV” -- goes
back to 2000, to a TV semi-documentary, “The Corner,” based on the
1997 book The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood.
Written by journalist David Simon and retired policeman Edward Burns, the book
was about the beatings, shootings, drug dens and family failures in one
wretched Baltimore neighborhood in 1993.
Full story
Gems from home and abroad
By
Kevin Doherty
and Joseph Cunneen
'Praying with Lior' is a poignant documentary; 'Caramel' depicts
sisterhood in Lebanon; 'The Band's Visit' a charmer from Israel.
Full review
Lenten reading
Reviewed by
Rich Heffern
Full review
Poetry March 7, 2008
Letters for March 7, 2008
Classifieds for March 7, 2008
News Briefs for March 7, 2008
People for March 7, 2008
Last Words
A memorable quote from this
week's issue.
Correction
Mother Theodore Guerin, founder of the Sisters of St. Mary of the Woods
in Indiana, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. A caption below a
reproduction of a painting of the saint, in the Religious Life section of the
Feb. 22 issue, referred to her as Blessed rather than St. |
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