America articles from October 2000

America archives from October 2000

Of Many Things.(Henry David Thoreau)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... Walden Pond is, happily, still intact, despite efforts by developers to destroy its surrounding woods and thereby the pervading spirit of Henry Thoreau, who lived on its banks for a year in the mid-1840's. During a vacation week spent in the...

Rating the U.N. Summit.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... The United Nations Millennium Summit last month aroused no enthusiasm at Rupert Murdoch's tabloid, The New York Post. The paper's pundits were heavily sarcastic. In a Sunday roundup of the events of the first week in September, Linda Stasi...

Roman Theologians Say Condom Use O.K. in Certain Cases.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... The discussion of whether the Catholic Church should tolerate the use of condoms as a "lesser evil" in fighting the spread of AIDS resurfaced at the Vatican as a result of an article in America (9/23). In that article, Jon D. Fuller, S.J.,...

Chinese Government Objects to Canonization.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said that most of the 120 martyrs to be canonized on Oct. 1 were agents of Western imperialism who deserved to die. The majority, Sun Yuxi said, "were executed for violating Chinese law during the invasion...

Negative Reaction to Dominus Iesus Continues.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... The Vatican declaration "Dominus Iesus": On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church continues to be criticized around the world, including in Rome. Cardinal Edward Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for...

The Virtues of the Vows : Poverty, chastity and obedience are for everyone.(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... As an apostolic religious sister formed in the post-Vatican II style of religious life, I live my vowed life while engaged quite actively in the world rather than apart from it. Gone are the days of the separation of contemplative sisters by a...

A Great comfort : The Catholic Tradition as a Resource at the End of Life.
October 7, 2000... I am really hoping in that experimental chemotherapy. That's what will beat this tumor! What do you mean my mother is dying? This is your fault! Why won't you put in a feeding tube? Just because he has cancer doesn't mean that it is...

Filling Theological Chairs : It is an affront to a bishop when his recommendation is rejected and the nihil obstat is withheld.
October 7, 2000... Editor's note: In Germany, candidates for teaching positions in Catholic theology at universities and seminaries must receive a mandatum (nihil obstat) from a bishop. Since these academic positions are state appointments, this use of the nihil...

The Myth of Cohabitation : Cohabiting couples lack both specialization and commitment in their relationships.(Research studies)
October 7, 2000... VERY PARISH PRIEST AND UNIVERSITY CHAPLAIN knows the story. The young couple visits their pastor to make arrangements for their wedding. The pastor begins to ask the questions on the prenuptial questionnaire. The young man gives his address and...

ICEL and Liturgical Translations : Seven basic principles for biblical and liturgical translation.(International Commission on English in the Liturgy)
October 7, 2000... The pages of America have lately been filled with articles on the question of liturgical translations. Bishop Donald W. Trautman, former chairman of the N.C.C.B Committee on Liturgy, and Cardinal Jorge A. Medina, head of the Congregation for...

Kansas Dreaming.(Review)
October 7, 2000... ITY POOR KANSAS! Deposited there in the dead center of the country, propping up Nebraska and oppressing Oklahoma, the state has been typecast by Hollywood screenwriters. When a poor girl gets bonked on the head, she hies out of Kansas as fast...

Final Solutions?(Review)
October 7, 2000... That's Not What We Meant to Do Reform and its Unintended Consequences in Twentieth-Century America. By Steven M. Gillon W.W. Norton. 288p $25.95 But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane In proving foresight may be vain; The best-laid...

Who Wants to Be Wealthy.(Review)
October 7, 2000... The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism By Robert William Fogel The Univ. of Chicao Press 383p $25 If Professor Fogel were giving his students a multiple-choice test on the "new egalitarianism," one likely...

letters.(Review)
October 7, 2000... Word and Image It's laudable that--with everything else the Rev. Andrew M. Greeley is able to accomplish--he keeps up with the times and what is going on in the world around him (9/16). Father Greeley has such vital enthusiasm. Would that...

Don't Go Away Sad!(Commentary on Mark 10:17-30)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2000... Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), October 8, 2000 Readings: Wis. 7:7-11; Ps. 90:2; Heb. 4:12-13; Mk. 10:17-30 The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12) THE CLASSICAL MUSIC station...

Of Many Things.(a book club to discuss Christian books)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Among the most enjoyable duties I have at a local Jesuit parish--which you will be unsurprised to learn is named St. Ignatius Loyola--is running a book club for young adults. The parish started the group three years ago as a way of offering...

RU-486.(abortion pill approved)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... PRO-LIFE AMERICANS SUFFERED a serious defeat with the approval of the RU-486 pill by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The pill, which has been used for several years in Europe, allows a woman, under a doctor's supervision, to abort a...

Bishops Dismayed Over RU-486 Decision But Resolve to Fight.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Bishops and other Catholic leaders responded to the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the use of the RU-486 abortion pill with dismay, bewilderment and a firm resolve to continue the fight against abortion in all forms. Cardinal Roger...

Rebels Murder Italian Missionary in Northern Uganda.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Rebels murdered an Italian missionary in northern Uganda, said MISNA, the Rome-based missionary news agency. Members of the Lord's Resistance Army shot and killed Comboni Father Raffaele Di Bari on Oct. 1 as the priest was traveling by car from...

Pope Defends Controversial Vatican Document on Salvation.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Responding to sharp criticism from other religions and other Christian churches, Pope John Paul II defended a Vatican document on salvation, saying its affirmation of Christ as the one true savior was "not arrogance." The pope said the document...

Patriarch Calls Palestinian State Only Way to End Mideast Violence.(Michel Sabbah)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... As Israeli-Palestinian violence increased and the death toll mounted, Latin-rite Patriarch Michel Sabbah said the only way to prevent such conflict is to create a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. "These sorrowful and painful...

Religious Leaders Urge Use of F.H.A. Surplus for Housing.(Federal Housing Administration)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... More than 400 U.S. religious leaders, nearly a third of them Catholic, urged President Clinton and other politicians to use a record $5-billion Federal Housing Administration surplus to build more affordable housing. The interfaith coalition...

Detroit Newspaper Cartoon Called 'Blatantly Anti-Catholic'.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... The head of the Michigan Catholic Conference and a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Detroit have demanded an apology from the Detroit Free Press for its Sept. 26 editorial cartoon, which they described as anti-Catholic. The six-panel cartoon by...

Pope to Travel to Syria Early Next Year.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Although the Holy Year will have officially ended by then, Pope John Paul II is scheduled to continue his jubilee pilgrimages by going to Damascus in Syria early in 2001. The trip, likely to take place at the end of February or early in March,...

Sierra Leonean Victims of Rebel Amputations Urge World Action.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Children and adult victims of forced amputation by rebels in Sierra Leone's civil war urged the United States and the international community to help stop the terrorizing violence. "The war is not tribal, and it is not religious," said...

California Bishops Stay Neutral on Voucher Ballot Question.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... While neither endorsing nor opposing the school voucher initiative on November's state ballot, the Catholic bishops of California have issued a statement criticizing "exaggerated and unfounded claims on both sides of the issue." The bishops...

Archbishop McCarrick at White House Session on Debt Relief.(Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of Newark, N.J., and other religious and congressional leaders joined President Clinton at the White House on Oct. 2 to urge Congress to fund the full U.S. share of an international debt relief plan for the...

Families of Murdered Churchwomen Sue Salvadoran Officers.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... A civil suit against two former Salvadoran military officers involved in the rape and murder of four U.S. churchwomen 20 years ago has renewed interest in the abuses committed during El Salvador's civil war. The relatives of two Maryknoll...

No Surprises Here : `Both Lieberman and Cheney have scored points among parents'.(Lynne Cheney, Joe Lieberman)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... THE MOMENT the names of Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman were added to this year's national tickets, it should have been clear that the entertainment industry would become an issue in the 2000 campaign. Both the senator and Lynne Cheney, wife of...

Why I Kill People.
October 14, 2000... Over the last five years I have killed 11 people. My first victim was a slimy lawyer in Seattle; my last was a misguided evangelist in Yakima, Wash. I once killed a 14-year-old boy. And I shot an old fisherman while he was standing up in his...

The Gifts of Zen Buddhism : An Interview With Robert E. Kennedy.(Interview)
October 14, 2000... ROBERT E. KENNEDY, S.J., is an American Catholic priest and a Zen master (Roshi). Ordained a priest in Japan in 1965, he was installed as a Zen teacher in 1991 and was given the title Roshi in 1997. Kennedy studied Zen with Yamada Roshi in...

A Missionary's Funeral.(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... ON THE SECOND FULL DAY I was in Nairobi, Kenya, I had the privilege of concelebrating at the funeral Mass for John Anthony Kaiser, a priest of the Mill Hill Missionaries, who had been killed after serving in western Kenya for over 36 years. His...

Leaves of Autumn : Recent and Forthcoming Books.(Review)
October 14, 2000... DID YOU KNOW THAT: William Styron (The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1967, Pulitzer Prize; Sophie's Choice, 1979, American Book Award; et al.) "was able to read at age five and was publishing short stories as an adolescent"? Agatha Christie's...

Lessons.(spiritual lessons of the twentieth century)(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... EVERY DECADE, every century, every millennium has its lessons. Here are ten lessons from the past one hundred years that speak to me of spirituality. Whether or not we have learned these lessons and are living them is another matter. (1)...

letters.
October 14, 2000... Quality of Transcendence The article by John W. O'Malley, S.J., (8/26) exploring the beatification of Pius IX was informative and, to be sure, helped to provide me with contextual information that I did not get elsewhere. In his article,...

What, Me Become a Slave?(Brief Article)
October 14, 2000... Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), October 22, 2000 Readings: Isa. 53:1-11; Ps. 33; Heb. 4:14-16; Mk. 10:35-45 "But it shall not be so among you" (Mk. 10:43) OFTEN THE GOOD "NEWS" of Jesus Christ is turned into good "advice,"...

Of Many Things.(Ian Crocker Olympic gold medalist from Maine)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... MAINE'S SECRETARY of state sponsors a Web page offering lively information about this largest of the six New England states. Maine has an area of 33,215 square miles that include 17 million acres of forest and 31,000 acres of blueberries. It...

O Jerusalem!(Ariel Sharon and political activity)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... WE ALL SAW THE NEWSPAPER photos, and some of us caught it live on television: a father desperately calling out "The child! The child!" and the terrified 12-year-old Muhammed al-Durrah dying on the spot. That is not the only thing that has died...

Charities Denied Injunction in Contraceptives Case.(Catholic Charities insurance policy case)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... A Sacramento Superior Court judge has denied a motion by Catholic Charities of Sacramento for a preliminary injunction to block a state law that includes most religious institutions in a requirement that employers pay for contraceptives in...

Bishop Says Kosovars Determined to Pursue Autonomy.(Marko Sopi)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... The top church official in Kosovo said the fall of Yugoslavia's Communist regime has little importance for Kosovar residents, who are determined to pursue autonomy whatever Belgrade thinks. Relations between the breakaway republic of Kosovo and...

More Federal Money Urged for Child Abuse Prevention Efforts.(Catholic Charities USA)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... A Catholic Charities USA official said more federal support is needed for state programs to protect children from abuse and neglect when their families face a crisis involving substance abuse. Sharon Daly, vice president for social policy for...

Cardinal Ratzinger Saddened by Reaction to Document.(Dominus Iesus)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... If the tone of the Vatican's recent document on salvation in Christ was problematic, it "should be explained, not despised," said Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican's doctrinal congregation. The cardinal, responding to criticism of...

African Bishops' Meeting Denounces Corruption, Injustices.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... In a message at the close of their annual meeting, African bishops deplored the state of postcolonial Africa and said independence had ushered in grave injustices against many countries' civilians. Taking African leaders to task for corruption...

Vocations, Immigration Top Concerns for Hispanic Priests.(National Association of Hispanic Priests, annual convention)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... Vocations and immigration were principal concerns at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Priests, leaders reported. Members of the association emphasized their desire to work in solidarity, the leaders said. The...

Two Sides to Story of Iraqi Sanctions, Say Jesuit, U.S. Official.(G. Simon Harak, S.J., and Dan Sreebny)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... The decade-long U.N. sanctions against Iraq has two sides. G. Simon Harak, S.J., said the sanctions are like a siege, "the oldest form of total war...a war on everything that lives in a country." Father Harak said the sanctions "let the country...

Vatican Bioethicist Criticizes U.S. Couple's Genetic Screening.(destruction of fifteen embryos)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... The Vatican's top bioethicist criticized the genetic screening process a U.S. couple used to conceive a child in order to save their older daughter. Bishop Elio Sgreccia, vice president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, said that apart from...

Catholic Groups Get HUD Funds to Aid Low-Income Elderly Renters.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... Several Catholic dioceses and organizations are among the 161 nonprofit groups nationwide that received $597 million in federal grants to create some 6,500 subsidized apartments for more than 8,000 low-income senior citizens. The U.S....

Catholic Statements Urge Care of Environment.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... In separate statements the bishops of northern New England and Indiana have called care of the environment a moral responsibility. "The earth is not being well cared for," said the Indiana statement, which focused especially on agriculture,...

Caritas Calls on Indonesia to Bring End to Moluccas Violence.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... The umbrella Catholic relief organization Caritas Internationalis called on Indonesia to halt anti-Christian violence in the Molucca Islands. In a statement released on Oct. 6, Caritas asked the Indonesian government to "stop the militia from...

Bishops Say E.U. Charter 'Ignores Place of Churches'.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... Catholic bishops from the European Union voiced disappointment at the lack of reference to churches and faiths in a major new human rights document, said a spokesman for the bishops. But the spokesman said church leaders still hoped for...

Amazing Growth : Challenges of Christian initiation of Adults.
October 21, 2000... OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS more than 160,000 adults annually have entered the Catholic Church in the United States. This amazing number--which does not include children coming into the church through infant baptism--coincides with the...

The Papacy for an Ecumenical Age : A Response to Avery Dulles.
October 21, 2000... EVER SINCE THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, the Roman Catholic Church has committed itself irrevocably to the task of restoring the unity of the church of Christ. Then, as it entered into dialogue with sister churches and ecclesial communities,...

Refugees in East Africa : An Interview With John Guiney.(Interview)
October 21, 2000... Originally from the Irish Province of the Society of Jesus, John Guiney is now a member of the Eastern African Province. He has been in Eastern Africa since 1979 and since 1997 has been working among refugees in three large camps in Western...

Plane Crash.(Poem)
October 21, 2000... A blizzard, late winter, pulled the jet down, coaxed it into a wilting roll over the frozen fields. Belly up, its cabin plowed a furrow half a mile long, then fractured open near a stand of trees, a farmer's...

Cat Fights.(teenage girl bullies)(Column)
October 21, 2000... THE GIRL WHO PLOWS into my 13-year-old daughter as we stroll through the park at the annual Mountain Festival is solid. She is pierced with studs in odd places. Her tank top just covers her adolescent breasts. The force of her forward-pumping...

Where's the Debate? 'What good is a conscience, if it is not informed?'.(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... AS JIM LEHRER, after 90 minutes of deadly evenhandedness, brought the first presidential debate to a conclusion, I couldn't escape the fancy that this political campaign was a new television show called, "Who Wants to Be a Presidential...

The Native American Catholic.(Review)
October 21, 2000... Where the Two Roads Meet By Christopher Vecsey Univ. of Notre Dame Press. 400p $40 In the late 19th century and well into the 20th, the Oblates and, later, Jesuit and other missionaries used an illustrated scroll to catechize the...

Undervalued.(Review)
October 21, 2000... America's Forgotten Majority Why the White Working Class Still Matters By Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers Basic Books. 232p $25 The authors of America's Forgotten Majority: Why the White Working Class Still Matters have set out to...

Rootin' Tootin' Highfalutin' Lies.(Review)
October 21, 2000... Buffalo Bill's Wild West Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History By Joy S. Kasson Hill and Wang. 319p $27 Since the last of William F. Cody's Wild West Shows was put on in 1916, scarcely anyone alive today can still remember them....

letters.(Letter to the Editor)
October 21, 2000... Rethink Again I was deeply saddened and disappointed to see the editorial "The Elections and Abortion" (9/16), in which you practically anoint and endorse Al Gore, even though he is blatantly anti-life. By that I mean that he is...

Seeing the Light.(gospel, readings)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), October 29, 2000 Readings: Jer. 31:7-9; Ps. 126; Heb. 5:1-6; Mk. 10:46-52 "Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you" (Mk. 10:49) THE GOSPEL CONCLUDES the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem that was...

What, Me a Saint?(all saints, readings)(Brief Article)
October 21, 2000... All Saints, November 1, 2000 Readings: Rev. 7:2-4; 9-14; Ps. 24; 1 Jn. 3:1-3; Mt. 5:1-12 Beloved, we are God's children now (1 Jn. 3:2) AS THE DAYS SHORTEN and the beautiful autumn colors begin to fade, the church reminds us of both...

Of Many Things.(Eileen Egan)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
October 28, 2000... Eileen Egan--co-founder of Pax Christi USA and a long-time friend of Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day--died on October 7 at the age of 88. It was she, in fact, who introduced the two women, and near her casket at the funeral home was a photograph...

Ecumenical Courtesy.(document Dominus Iesus)(Brief Article)
October 28, 2000... The Vatican document Dominus Iesus has been poorly received by Christians and non-Christians with whom Catholics have been in dialogue for the last 35 years. Although experts will debate its theological arguments in the months to come, it was...

Bush Opposes Abortion, Supports Death Penalty.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2000... Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush reiterated his opposition to abortion and support for school choice but disagreed with Catholic stands on the death penalty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in a wide-ranging interview with...

Gore Sees Hope for `Common Ground' Movement on Abortion.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2000... Vice President Al Gore said he sees hope for "common ground" on abortion at the grass-roots level and said the effort should be respected and empowered. In a wide-ranging 25-minute interview with Catholic News Service on Oct. 14, Gore said,...

A House of Cards : `Imagine what this can mean for you!'.(credit card solicitation)(Column)
October 28, 2000... I've been pre-approved, and that's just the peace of mind I deserve. It's a unique opportunity offered to me, Timothy J. McArty, because I've earned it. As a student of low culture and the written word, I've been collecting credit card...

The Impact of Dominus Iesus on Ecumenism : The strongest reactions have come from other Christian churches.
October 28, 2000... Although the major theme of the document Dominus Iesus, which was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Sept. 5, concerns the role of Christ and his church in the salvation of people who do not share Christian faith, the...

Am I My Sister's Keeper? The Vatican's New Letter on `Sister Churches'.
October 28, 2000... The jubilee year 2000 may well go down in church history as a record year for beatifications and Vatican documents. Despite the frail health of the pope, aides stand actively at attention to help the Holy Father extol holy men, to ban...

Dominus Iesus and the New Millennium : Different religious beliefs, acts and communities are treated generically, as if their differences do not matter.
October 28, 2000... Dominus Iesus, published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, of which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is prefect, is an instruction about the identity of Christ, the integral interconnection of Christ, revelation and the church, and...

Catholics and the 2000 Election.
October 28, 2000... Catholic voters are now a looming presence on the fringe of both parties. The year 2000 elections increasingly look like another turning point in American politics. The old issues that formerly ignited our passions--crime, defense, civil...

`Hey Jesus ... I Love You, Man!'.(Column)
October 28, 2000... The words spoken by the young Appalachian girl evoked in me a response I had not expected. My mouth became suddenly dry as I tried to swallow and fend off the rising lump in my throat. This sweet girl had not threatened me with violence, nor...

Spit.(child behavior)(Column)
October 28, 2000... I was a substitute teacher, and he was a 13-year-old boy. His face, still chubby with childhood, was framed by greased black hair that formed two spit curls at his temples. First he came and told me that he could not participate in physical...

Divining the Conflicts.(R. Scott Appleby)(Review)
October 28, 2000... The Ambivalence of the Sacred Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation By R. Scott Appleby Rowman and Littlefield. 448p $69 (hardcover), $24.95 (paper) Terror in the Mind of God The Global Rise of Religious Violence By Mark...

Fusing Horizons.(Review)
October 28, 2000... Arise, My Love Mysticism for a New Era By William Johnston Orbis Books. 261p $18 (paperback original) The 1986 Assisi interfaith meeting of the pope, the Dalai Lama, Rome's chief rabbi, the archbishop of Canterbury and others heralds...

Back to Basics.(Brief Article)
October 28, 2000... Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (B), Nov. 5, 2000 Readings: Dt. 6:2-6; Ps. 18; Hb. 7:23-28; Mk. 12:28-34 Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today (Dt. 6:6) People often wonder, "What does it mean to be a good...

letters.(Letter to the Editor)
October 28, 2000... Predecessors in Faith My sincere and heartfelt congratulations on the article about Mother Katharine Drexel by Dennis M. Linehan, S.J., in your religious education issue (9/16). I appreciated your evident pleasure with the material we...