| Cover
story -- Ordaining women |
By
Pamela Schaeffer
“What a day. What an occasion. What a rabbi!” The speaker was Patricia Fresen, a bishop in the Roman Catholic
Womenpriests movement. The day, Nov. 11; the occasion, a jubilant ceremony at a
Jewish synagogue, during which Fresen would ordain two women -- the latest of a
series of such ceremonies, aimed at helping women to fulfill what they say is
their calling: to serve the church as Catholic priests.
Full story
Profiles of five women priests
By
Pamela Schaeffer
Bridget Mary Meehan, Joan Houk, Judith McKloskey, Jean Marchant and Kathy Redig.
Full story
By
Pamela Schaeffer
No one was more surprised than Patricia Fresen herself when she agreed
to become a bishop in the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement.
Full story
Ethical, scientific breakthroughs seen in new stem-cell studies
By
Catholic News Service
Scientists and ethicists hailed as a breakthrough two studies showing
that human skin cells can be reprogrammed to work as effectively as embryonic
stem cells, thus making it unnecessary to destroy embryos in the name of
science.
Full story
By
John L. Allen Jr.
A Nov. 24 consistory in which Pope Benedict XVI created 23 new
cardinals, including two Americans, reflected several key global concerns of
the Catholic church, even as church officials struggled to respond to charges
that the makeup of the College of Cardinals does not represent the global
Catholic population.
Full story
By
NCR Correspondent
Aid agencies working in rural Matebeleland in the arid southern parts of
Zimbabwe report a growing number of malnutrition-related deaths as the nation
battles acute food shortages.
Full story
By
UCA News
Reluctant to ask people for money, a priest in southern Vietnam relies
on a God-given talent to help him carry out his housing ministry.
Full story
By
Wire Services
While millions of Americans are stocking their kitchens for holiday
feasts, many groups are concerned about those who will go hungry in the weeks
and months to come. Inflation has made food more expensive, making it harder
for families to put food on the table and more difficult for food banks to keep
their shelves stocked.
Full story
Christians, Muslims pledge to seek common ground
By
Religion News Service
A wide range of Christian theologians and leaders have endorsed a
document calling for increased efforts to work with Muslims for peace and
justice. The move responds to an earlier call from Muslim leaders seeking
common ground.
Full story
Archdiocese turns school over to grass-roots group
By
Chuck Colbert
After a successful grass-roots campaign, the Presentation School
Foundation took possession of a former parochial elementary school in October,
bringing closure to a two-and-a-half year battle pitting the Boston archdiocese
against residents of the Allston-Brighton neighborhood over a school building
that came to be viewed by many as a vital institution.
Full story
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Finished playing by the rules
Given that the Vatican has banned Catholics from so much as talking
about women deacons or priests, is it surprising that some women are opting to
fast-forward to action? They aren’t discussing whether women should be
ordained; they aren’t asking for permission to be ordained; they are just
doing what, as they see it, a church crying “priest shortage” needs
them to do. These are women who have faithfully served the church in many ways,
putting their own wishes on hold. Until finally, they have said,
“Enough.”
Full editorial
SOA protest as relevant as ever
Some would say time and reality have passed by the School of the
Americas protest, held annually outside Fort Benning, Ga. The name of the
school has been changed to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security
Cooperation. Latin America is no longer dotted with hot wars in which
SOA-trained officers oversee massacres, assassinations and death squads.
Full editorial
“Any holiday that prescribes serving fried foods is guaranteed
for success.”
-- Food writer Matthew Goodman on the Hanukkah latke. Originally made
with cheese, latkes are now made with an assortment of vegetables fried in oil,
symbolizing the miraculous oil in a lamp that lasted eight days when Jews
recaptured the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C.
More quotes
A peace bell rings in Hwacheon County
Full story
By
Michael True
Immersed in Catholic higher education for 40 years, I have heard
administrators and clerics, though few academics, speak about something called
the Catholic intellectual tradition. The presumption is that there is one, or
that it’s obvious which of various and conflicting traditions within
Catholicism the person is referring to.
Full story
By
Paul Winner
As a young man, John Kiser sat in a classroom with Fr. Gustavo
Gutiérrez and posed a direct question: Are Christians called to be
pacifists?
Full story
As numbers grow, SOA protest evolves into teach-in
By
Patrick O'Neill
In 1990, Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois convened a handful of mostly
Catholic veterans for a fast at the gates of Fort Benning on the first
anniversary of the murders of six Jesuit priests and two others at the
University of Central America in El Salvador.
Full story
By
John L. Allen Jr.
The Vatican’s point man on education has described the lack of
government support for Catholic schools in the United States as a
“disaster,” and suggested that it reflects a lack of “full
democracy” that would enable parents to choose the educational option they
desire for their children.
Full story
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FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Telling 'the truth of events'
As this issue goes to press, NCR is hosting the fall meeting of
its board of directors. As every nonprofit does, we will review budgets and
strategic plans and assess the overall operations of the company. But at the
end of the day, one focus will get the most attention -- fidelity to mission --
NCR ’s 44-year-old commitment to provide our readers with the
information they need to assess and engage the life of the church in the world.
It is not always an easy task. In the words of our first editors, “Among
other things it will require the putting of awkward questions and the printing
of awkward facts.”
Full story
By
Dick Staub
The wild man of literature was obsessed with God.
Full story
By
Erin Ryan
Author and atheist Philip Pullman's complex trilogy comes to the wide
screen.
Full story
By
Raymond A. Schroth
The media monitor a run-up to possible war with Iran.
Full story
Letters for December 7, 2007
Classifieds for December 7, 2007
News Briefs for December 7, 2007
People for December 7, 2007
Last Words
A memorable quote from this
week's issue.
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