National Catholic Reporter back issues from July 2007:
What we're all about.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(Essay)
Jul 06, 2007; ... My hope for the next few months is to share with you more about NCR: who we are, what we think and why we do what we do. As editor-in-chief, I work with the day-to-day concerns of the editorial staff. But as publisher, I take more time to study the broad questions of mission and NCR's ...
Clearing mines.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... Lebanese women of the Swedish Rescue Service Agency search for cluster bombs east of the Lebanese port city of Tyre Feb. 22. During the 34-day conflict last summer, Israel is believed to have dropped more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon. Typically, cluster bombs open in midair and ...
Poll: trust in religion shrinks.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... WASHINGTON -- Only 46 percent of respondents said they had either a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the church and organized religion, a new Gallup Poll says. This compares with 69 percent who said they trusted the military and 54 percent who trust the police. ...
Religious call for end to torture.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... WASHINGTON -- More than 100 religious and secular leaders demanded at a rally June 26 an end to what they called a "continuing authorized pattern" of U.S.-sponsored torture. Members of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture rallied to support congressional efforts to restore the ...
Tridintine Mass authorized.(WORLD BRIEFS)
Jul 06, 2007 ... VATICAN CITY -- A document from Pope Benedict XVI authorizing wider use of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass was released to representatives of national episcopal conferences, the Vatican press office confirmed June 28. The document and an accompanying letter from the pope are ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... "It was quiet as a church. I realized at that moment, wow, there is something about me that is a little different." --Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to Gongress, recalling the moments after he replied to King Abdullah II of Jordan with wa 'aleikum ...
In 'leap of faith,' Catholic parish builds Protestant church.(IN THE BEGINNING)(St. John Parish, St. Paul Parish, New Heights Church of God)
Jul 06, 2007 ... FRANKLIN PARK, Pa. -- Sts. John and Paul Parish in Franklin Park, north of Pittsburgh, and its immediate neighbor, the New Heights Church of God, shared the same problem: They each needed to build a church. But the Catholic parish didn't have enough usable land on its 12-acre ...
Lutherans elect woman bishop.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Susan Johnson )(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- At its biennial gathering in June, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada elected Susan Johnson as national bishop, the first woman to hold the post. On June 23, 52.5 percent of delegates to the gathering of the 175,000-member church also voted against ...
Papal election rules changed.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... VATICAN CITY -- In a decision published June 26, Pope Benedict XVI said that popes must always be elected by a two-thirds majority of eligible Catholic cardinals. The change undoes a reform by Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, which permitted election by a simple ...
Tony Blair in Vatican confab.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... VATICAN CITY -- Four days before he was to leave office, British Prime Minister Tony Blair had a 25-minute, closed-door discussion with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Then, in an unusual move, British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor of Westminster was invited to join the two for 10 more ...
Starting point.(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007; ... There is an open space behind my mom's assisted living facility in Covington, La. She has not been well, so I went home recently to visit. The nurse came in to change her so I walked outside. There is a new building under construction not far away but the space offers a generous ...
Theresa Chu Wan-chi.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... A lawyer from Taiwan who is active in the Falun Gong movement was denied entry to Hong Kong ahead of the 10th anniversary of the city's return to Chinese rule on July 1. Theresa Chu ...
St. Augustine of Hippo.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... St. Augustine of Hippo just got a whole lot hipper. The fifth-century doctor of the church, perhaps known best for Confessions, an autobiographical account of his conversion to Christianity, now has a MySpace page. Michael Dolan, the ...
Thomas Johnson.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... Christian Brother Thomas Johnson from the U.S. Midwest District was elected vicar general of ...
Gordon B. Hinckley.(PEOPLE)(missionaries reached 1 million)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints announced June 24 that 1 million missionaries have served the church in its 177 years of history. Though the church is not sure exactly who the millionth missionary is, church President Gordon B. Hinckley said ...
John Foley.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 06, 2007 ... Pope Benedict XVI has named Archbishop John Foley pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, a fraternal organization that supports Catholics in the Holy Land. Foley, a priest of the Philadelphia archdiocese, was ...
Green acres: Catholic Rural Life Conference works to fix the 2007 Farm Bill.(FOOD AND FARMS)(Cover story)
Jul 06, 2007; ... Every five years the nation's farm and food policies are tweaked by the U.S. Farm Bill, one of the largest compendiums of legislation with direct implications for social justice, food safety and security, and land stewardship. It could rightly be monikered the Farm, Nutrition, ...
Connecting in new ways.(FOOD AND FARMS)(local farmers and Keith Kudej of Madrid Home Communities, Sue Ernest of Bethany Manor in Story City, Iowa and Beth Wisecup of the Madrid facilities)(Cover story)
Jul 06, 2007; ... CeCe Arnold, rural sociologist and director of the Rural Community Support Program of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, sees herself as a "rural yenta," saying a big part of her work is connecting people who need to talk with one another. Recently she helped bring ...
Healing disputes, finding new farming enterprises.(FOOD AND FARMS)(Cover story)
Jul 06, 2007; ... When some Iowa farmers took up large-scale hog-raising operations, neighbors soon complained about the pervasive stink and water pollution threats. Lawmakers heard about it. Hearings followed. "When farmers and neighbors got together, there would be acrimonious, emotional ...
After Vatican criticism, Amnesty defends new policy on abortion.(WORLD)
Jul 06, 2007; ... Amnesty International has defended its new policy on abortion after a Vatican official said Catholics might need to withdraw their financial support of the organization. "Amnesty International's position [NCR, May 25] is not for abortion as a right but for women's human rights ...
English, Welsh bishops say chimeras should be given human status.(WORLD)
Jul 06, 2007; ... Chimeras--human embryos injected with animal cells--should be accorded human status under proposals to be considered by the British Parliament in the fall, said the Catholic bishops of England and Wales. They also said politicians should reconsider a proposed ban on the ...
Victory for same-sex marriage advocates.(WORLD/NATION)
Jul 06, 2007; ... After more than five years of contentious debate over the definition of marriage in Massachusetts, lawmakers handed same-sex marriage advocates a victory June 14 by defeating an amendment that would have rolled back civil-marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. On Jan. 2, ...
Reject 'partisan rhetoric' as counterproductive, theologians told.(ALL THINGS CATHOLIC)
Jul 06, 2007; ... It's the nature of my job that I attend far too many conferences. Over the course of a decade's reporting, I've sat through thousands of papers, lectures and speeches, in various languages and on various continents. Even measured against that volume of material, however, Daniel Finn's ...
A look at the cases.(NATION)
Jul 06, 2007; ... The total number of abuse cases involving civilian military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan is unknown, but human rights observers believe cases to be in the hundreds, and to be but a fraction of the number of cases involving military and CIA personnel. The Justice ...
Justice Dept. skirts prosecution of military contractors.(NATION)
Jul 06, 2007; ... As ongoing congressional investigations into the firings of nine U.S. attorneys raise questions about the extent to which law enforcement has been politicized during the current Bush administration, related concerns are surfacing that prosecution of abuse cases involving military ...
'Absolute political fidelity above all'.(NATION)(United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia's )
Jul 06, 2007; ... The political connections between the Bush administration and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia have recently received attention because of the involvement of a number of persons from the office in the ongoing scandal over firings of U.S. attorneys in the ...
Where kids thrive: two nuns run daycare supercenter.(NATION)(Sr. Berta Sailer and Sr. Corita Bussanmas of Operation Breakthrough)
Jul 06, 2007; ... It started with a couple of nuns deciding to take care of a few kids before and after school. Then one of the kid's mothers said the biggest need she and others like her had was for daycare. "We were young and stupid," said Sr. Berta Sailer. "'How hard can that be?' we thought ....
Kucinich versus the Democrats.(VIEWPOINT)
Jul 06, 2007; ... When Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, the corporate media either treated as him as if he didn't exist or as if he came from another planet. The same is happening in the current Democratic primary season. It's ironic, given that polls ...
The dilemma of Pope Pius XII.(A Special Mission: Hitler's Secret Plot to Seize the Vatican and Kidnap Pope Pius XII)(Book review)
Jul 06, 2007; ... A SPECIAL MISSION: HITLER'S SECRET PLOT TO SEIZE THE VATICAN AND KIDNAP POPE PIUS XII By Dan Kurzman DaCapo Press. 286 pages, $26 Reviewed by DARRELL TURNER It's easy to pass judgment on someone's response to a moral dilemma when the person doing the judging isn't the ...
Growing up: is comically gross but moving; 'Once' tells of two lonely outcasts.(Movie review)
Jul 06, 2007; ... Knocked Up is the early summer comedy hit, a raunchy story about Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl), a pretty and successful young woman who drinks too much one night, shares her bed with an overweight slacker, Ben Stone (Seth Rogen), and immediately becomes pregnant. Plausibility, one quickly ...
A road map for contemplation.(A Book of Hours)(Book review)
Jul 06, 2007; ... A BOOK OF HOURS By Thomas Merton; edited by Kathleen Deignan; illustrated by John Giuliani Sorin Books, 223 pages, $78.95 Reviewed by CHRISTOPHER de VINCK Many years ago America magazine began to publish my poetry because of the interest of the poetry ...
A priest who flexed his muscles.(COLUMNS)(Horace McKenna )(Obituary)
Jul 06, 2007; ... There was rarely a time in his priestly life when Fr. Horace McKenna wasn't defying either the play-it-safe customs of his fellow Jesuits or government apathy toward the poor. Now, 25 years after Fr. McKenna died in Washington at age 84, his work and ideals were remembered with ...
Reviving the sanctuary movement.(COLUMNS)
Jul 06, 2007; ... Nineteen years ago this spring I was preparing to go to trial to fight federal charges of conspiracy against the U.S. government. Accused of aiding the entry and transport of "illegal aliens" into the country, I faced a potential 25 years in prison. I had accompanied a Lutheran ...
The play's the thing: hope about sports is hope about life.(VIEWPOINT)(Viewpoint essay)
Jul 06, 2007; ... In the final stages of emphysema and liver cancer, my father-in-law, Tom Gallagher, shuffled with great effort from the bedroom to the den, grasping chair backs along the way for support as he pushed a small oxygen tank ahead of him. Collapsing into an armchair to watch a little football ...
Mary.(POETRY)(Poem)
Jul 06, 2007; ... <Pre> Mary He sat shirtlesson the idling Steiner tractor,the Virgin tattooedacross his back. She breathed along with him,her lips parting for airwith each rise ...
Homeward.(POETRY)(Poem)
Jul 06, 2007; ... <Pre> Homeward (for Sean Dunne) The oarsman dipsA glittering blade, inscribesA rough and ready crossUpon the crest of a receding wave,This unassuming act of faithThe starting point for eachAnd every journey,In that undoubting age; She ...
Song for the 100.(POETRY)(Poem)
Jul 06, 2007; ... <Pre> Song for the 100 A truck heading for the slaughterhousewith 5,000 rabbits overturnedin Hungary, Most were killedor recaptured but 100 rabbits escaped Free at last! Free at last!Ring the joyous, jangling bells,They'll be no man's repast! ...
The single life.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Thank you for the articles on "Being Single" as part of your "Variations on a Theme" feature (NCR, May 25). It is so rare to even have our single friends alluded to by the institutional church or mentioned in print. All we have heard over the years--and even hear often today--are ...
Capitalism and poverty.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Regarding your article, "Benedict in Brazil," reiterating the church's position on the "preferential option for the poor" (NCR, May 25): I suggest that Western democratic capitalism, even with its imperfections, has done more to relieve poverty than has the preaching of the popes and ...
The death of sin.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Re: "The Disappearance of sin" (NCR, June 8), a good article by Jerry Ryan: The greatest sin today as always is the denial of sin. In our day, flawed catechetics on the part of bishops and priests who for decades stopped teaching the Catholic faith in its totality, which confuses and ...
Ending abortion wars.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * I must laud your courage for printing the full-page ad, "How to end the abortion wars" (NCR, May 25). It put into words, as I hadn't been able to do, my thoughts and feelings concerning this most vital issue, about which our church lays upon us a different opinion. I live in a diocese ...
False God.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * The ongoing destruction of God's creation highlighted in the recent Ecology special section (NCR, June 22) illustrates the unmistakable truth that we are living in a society that justifies its activities by creating a false God, an idolatry. Our "sacred" economy has become a substitute ...
SNAP's role.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * I'm saddened and troubled when I read and hear remarks such as those in Mark Shirilau's letter to the editor (NCR, May 25): "Maybe if you stop reporting everything SNAP does, it, like the sex scandals themselves, will fade into the past." These scandals are not a thing of the ...
Catholic Supreme Court judges.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Dr. Martin Sheldon, commenting on the Supreme Court's April 18 ruling upholding Congress' ban on so-called "partial-birth" abortions in Gonzalez v. Carhart, wrote, "Isn't it best left to doctors, not politicians, to determine the safest procedure for the mother?" (NCR, June 8). This ...
Henry Kissinger.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * The fact that in April Henry Kissing was "a featured speaker at the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences" (NCR, May 11), where he participated in a panel discussion titled "Charity and Justice in the ...
'Herstory' in the church.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Margot Patterson's "Finding herstory" (NCR, June 22) was an informative article regarding the suppression of early church women's history in order to create a male-only clergy. Women were deemed as "impure" because of menstrual fluid, the broken down lining of the womb, which science ...
Military chaplains.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Jul 06, 2007; ... * Anthony Flaherty's letter to the editor disturbed me greatly when it castigated America magazine for allowing recruiting advertisements for chaplains (NCR, June 8). I, too, served in the military during the Vietnam War, as a nurse. His attitude reminded me of the vocal opposition to ...
A Catholic vision for farm and town.(EDITORIALS)
Jul 06, 2007 ... It's not well known that Catholics have been way ahead of Willie Nelson or Wendell Berry when it comes to a populist, environmental vision for rural America. "Environmental history intersects with American religious history in the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, with ...
What we're all about.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
Jul 20, 2007; ... Who's right? Who's wrong? This week's announcement by the Vatican to lift restrictions for the Latin Mass has ignited emotional outbursts from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some are jubilant; others are fearful and concerned. As with most announcements of this type, the middle is ...
Outreach to China.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Pope Benedict XVI's letter to Chinese Catholics)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... A Chinese Catholic holds a religious book while attending the Church of the Savior--known to local Catholics as Beitang or North Church--in Beijing. Pope Benedict XVI issued a groundbreaking letter to Chinese Catholics June 30 that established new guidelines to favor cooperation between ...
Army drops Cherry court martial.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- The U.S. Army has dropped plans to court-martial Specialist Eugene Cherry, who was facing a year in prison for being away without leave (NCR, May 25). Cherry left his post last year in search of mental health counseling that he said he could not get from the military for ...
Youth forums draw thousands.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- More than 5,500 Catholic teens participated in youth conferences on the campus of Franciscan University of Steubenville during three consecutive weekends in June. They were among the 39,000 teens attending 17 Franciscan University youth conferences being held this ...
Priest sent to prison for abuse.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... CHICAGO -- Fr. Daniel McCormack, the 38-year-old Chicago pastor whose sexual abuse case made national headlines in 2006, was sentenced to five years in prison July 2 after pleading guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse against five boys. The sentence was part of an agreement worked ...
Child soldier recruitment to end.(WORLD BRIEFS)
Jul 20, 2007 ... BANGKOK, Thailand -- Talks between a senior United Nations envoy and Burma's acting prime minister, Thein Sein, in Rangoon last month may bring an end to the recruitment of children into the armed forces, reports Interpress News Service. Following the five-day visit to Burma of ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... "I want Texas to look like Texas, and Vermont to look like Vermont. I just hate to see the land homogenized." --Lady Bird Johnson, wife of former President Lyndon B Johnson, explaining the impetus for founding a wildflower research center in Austin, Texas, in 1992 She died July ...
Ministry hopes to make fishers of men--literally.(IN THE BEGINNING)(International Fishing Ministries)
Jul 20, 2007 ... SURREY, British Columbia -- Ed Trainer's ministry is taking men and boys out fishing on the waters of British Columbia, Alaska and beyond. His group, International Fishing Ministries, rose up out of Trainer's own passion for fishing, his frustration with traditional worship, ...
Muslims reject violence.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Only 2 percent of Indonesian Muslims believe their religion allows violence against non-Muslims, according to a survey by private pollster Indo Barometer and the Wahid Institute. The survey also found that 93 percent of Muslims in the world's most populous Muslim ...
PM won't choose bishops.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Gordon Brown )(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... LONDON -- New British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has relinquished his right to choose diocesan bishops in the Church of England and turned the whole business over to the church itself. It was one of Brown's first moves since taking office last month. Until now, when diocesan ...
Jordan River on endangered list.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... JERUSALEM -- The lower Jordan River is so polluted that the World Monuments Fund has designated it an "Endangered Cultural Heritage Site." The World Monuments Fund, the leading international body for the protection of monuments, placed the river, revered by Jews, Christians and ...
Starting point.(vegetable garderns in prisons)
Jul 20, 2007; ... It's midsummer. The gardens are flourishing. Deep trenches mark the rows of potatoes. Peas are thigh-high. Cabbages as big as soccer balls bask in their purple splendor. One of the gardeners reported a turnip "as big as my head!" The radishes almost heave themselves out of the ground. Come ...
Larry Gelbart.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... Larry Gelbart, the writer-producer of the 1970s TV show "MASH," was given the 2007 Humanitas award for lifetime achievement. The 33-year-old Humanitas prizes, created by the late Paulist priest Fr. Ellwood "Bud" Kieser, honors film and TV scripts with spiritually uplifting themes ....
Gemma del Duca.(PEOPLE)(awards)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial honored American Charity Sr. Gemma del Duca with its Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education July 1, the first non-Jew and non-Israeli so honored. A former ...
Bradley Schmeling.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... An openly gay Lutheran pastor from Atlanta has been defrocked after a church appeals court ruled that he should be removed from ministry. The Rev. Bradley Schmeling, 44, had led St. John's Lutheran ...
Christian von Wernich.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Jul 20, 2007 ... A former Argentine police chaplain, Fr. Christian von Wernich went on trial July 5 for of complicity in seven murders, 31 cases of torture and 42 kidnappings during Argentina's 1976-83 dictatorship, in which an ...
Eugenio Poma.(PEOPLE)
Jul 20, 2007 ... Methodist Bishop Eugenio Poma, an indigenous Aymara Indian ...