National Catholic Reporter back issues from October 2008:
For doubters and devout alike.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
Oct 03, 2008; ... When I started reading through Kerry Kennedy's Being Catholic Now, I was reminded of a scene in Mary Gordon's novel Final Payments in which the main character describes her newly dead father's Catholicism as a rigid practice in which "truth and beauty could be achieved only by a process of ...
Empty coffers.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Meat and frozen-food cases stand empty Sept, 17 at a grocery in Houston. The store was operating on generator power as residents searched for food and necessities following Hurricane Ike. The storm hit the Texas and Louisiana coasts Sept, 13, causing ...
Presbyterians to fast monthly.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... WASHINGTON -- The Presbyterian Church (USA) is inviting its members to join a monthly church-wide fast for "repentance, reflection and coordinated actions" to empathize with those suffering from hunger and famine around the world. Over the next year, the denomination will study ...
'Lars,' 'Diving Bell' honored.(U.S. BRIEFS)('Lars and the Real Girl' and 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly')(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Hollywood's annual Humanitas Prizes went to eight spiritually compelling film and TV scripts, with a combined $95,000 given to screenwriters at the awards luncheon Sept. 17. Two scripts tied in the feature film category and will split the prize's $10,000 ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... "I don't feel like I can change the world .... I don't even try. I only want to change this small life that I see standing in front of me." --Somaly Mam, who was forced to serve in a brothel as a teenager and today heads a 150-employee organization that rescues and shelters sex ...
Former Washington staffer named NCR publisher.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Joe Feuerherd)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... Joe Feuerherd, who has filled a variety of roles at the National Catholic Reporter during the past 24 years, ranging from intern to Washington correspondent, has been appointed NCR publisher and editor in chief. The appointment was announced Sept. 15 by Patrick Waide Jr., ...
Episcopal bishop removed.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Bishop Robert Duncan)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... PITTSBURGH -- Episcopal bishops voted Sept. 18 to remove Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh from ministry, saying the leading conservative has renounced and abandoned the Episcopal church. Eighty-eight bishops voted to remove Duncan; 35 voted against removal and four abstained ....
Crisis shows failure of policy.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... VATICAN CITY -- The financial crisis pummeling the United States and beyond is a sign that the so-called "new economy" and its risky investments have failed, the Vatican newspaper said. Booming financial markets did not correspond to real growth or concrete development for society because ...
Rosh Hashana cards cause stir.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... TORONTO -- Canada's governing Conservative Party is facing questions about religious profiling and privacy after Jewish Canadians received Rosh Hashana greeting cards from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. This is the second consecutive year the cards were mailed out, and critics ...
When Wall Street starts tumbling, chaplains rush in.(IN THE BEGINNING)
Oct 03, 2008 ... With Wall Street in mayhem, dazed financial sector employees who have lost faith in the economy are turning to religious leaders for guidance. "People who still have their jobs are asking, 'Am I next?' They are much less certain of their place in their company and in the ...
Luis Cristobal Alejo Fernandez.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... The Bolivian Evangelical Lutheran Church has marked its 70th anniversary by ordaining women as pastors for the first time. Two women and five men were ordained at an anniversary service. "It is only after 70 ...
Susan Talve.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The St. Louis chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women gave Rabbi Susan Talve of Central Reform Congregation its founder's award as part of its Celebrating Women event last month. Waive was cited for "courage, conviction and commitment ... to social ...
Dmitry Medvedev.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was Sept. 12 the first person to ring a set of treasured bells after their return to the Danilov Monastery, the seat of the Russian Orthodox church. The 18 bells ended up at Harvard ...
M. Gerald Hartney.(PEOPLE)(Obituary)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... Holy Cross Sr. M. Gerald Hartney, who was a pioneer in the development of health care financial management systems, died Sept. 10 at St. Mary's Convent in Notre Dame, Ind. She was 98. Hartney began her "finance ministry" in 1932 as an accountant at Holy Cross Sanatorium in Deming, N.M ....
Shear-Yashuv Cohen.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... Israeli Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen has welcomed a Vatican invitation to participate in next month's Synod of Bishops on the Bible. Cohen, co-chairman of the Israeli-Vatican dialogue ...
Civilian deaths spike in Afghanistan, U.N. reports.(WORLD)
Oct 03, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Seven years ago this month President Bush, addressing an America still fumbling in the fog of the unreality of Sept. 11, announced the commencement of the invasion of Afghanistan, one of the world's poorest and most war-damaged nations. He called it ...
France greets Benedict with enthusiasm: but many obstacles still hinder revival of ailing French Catholicism.(WORLD)
Oct 03, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Just before Pope Benedict XVI arrived in France in mid-September, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris got into a verbal sparring match with local reporters over whether French Catholicism could be described as the "Sick Lady" of Europe. To most, the ...
Indian Catholic leaders speak of conspiracy behind violence.(WORLD)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Church officials and others say there is a "clear conspiracy" behind the sudden upsurge in the atrocities committed against Christian targets in different parts of India. Since mid-August, more than three dozen Christians have been killed; 4,200 Christian houses along with ...
Blueprint for a sustainable nation.(NATION)
Oct 03, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] THE GREENS have been active as a third party since the mid-1980s, gaining nationwide recognition during Ralph Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. The party has won elected office mostly at local levels. The highest-ranking Green ever elected in the ...
Meet Cynthia McKinney: Green Party presidential candidate.(THE CANDIDATE)(Interview)
Oct 03, 2008 ... CYNTHIA McKINNEY, former U.S. Congresswoman, is the Green Party candidate for president in 2008. McKinney served as a Democrat in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, representing Georgia's Fourth Congressional District. She left the Democratic Party in 2007 and became a Green ....
They rarely win but they have influence.(THIRD PARTIES)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Historically, the United States has had a two-party system since organized parties began to coalesce in the early 1800s. The Republicans and Democrats have dominated American politics since the 1860s. Every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or Democrat. The ...
Reforming an 'untenable' system.(CAMPAIGN FINANCE)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Look no further than the two major party presidential candidates this election and you may feel disheartened by the progress toward campaign finance reform. Money is playing a larger role than ever in this election--Obama and McCain raised a combined $78 million, in July alone--and the two ...
Catholic institutional investors feel sting of financial crisis.(NATION)
Oct 03, 2008; ... The upheavals in U.S. credit markets this year, which intensified in September, have left those responsible for some of the nation's largest Catholic institutional investments a bit leery. "I must admit, I do check the corner" of the CNN screen that shows the latest stock market ...
Dean Hoge dies, spent decades studying American Catholics.(NATION)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Dean Hoge, an unparalleled figure in the field of sociology of religion who spent decades studying American Catholics, especially the priesthood, died Sept. 13 after a lengthy bout with cancer. He was 71 years old. "While he was first and foremost a scholar, I'd have to say ...
Kerry Kennedy's catholic calling.(Opinion & ARTS)
Oct 03, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the preface to her new book, Kerry Kennedy writes of growing up in a family battered by tragedy for whom the Catholic church served as a lifeline, "the one place that could make sense of all this suffering." "Prayer sustained us," she writes ...
Will libertarians count in '08?(Opinion & ARTS)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Whether or not you hear their name invoked on election night, this was a rare political year when libertarians mattered. Small-government, free-market, government-off-my-back voters roiled the Republican electorate, broke fundraising records, and made the 36-year-old Libertarian Party ...
Jimmy "Spoon Man" Cruise.(CORNERED)(Interview)
Oct 03, 2008; ... The driving, castanet rhythm of the spoons subsides. The video goes black. Words appear and slowly scroll upward: "In 1986, Jimmy 'Spoon Man' Cruise became the first American to play spoons in the Soviet Union. How do you think Gorbachev got that spot on his head?" In truth, Mr. Cruise has ...
The Catholic Thing.(POETRY)(Poem)
Oct 03, 2008; ... <Pre> The Catholic Thing I like the carnality of Catholicism. --Mary Karr Catholicism isn't for lotus-eaters:We put a body on the cross.Like all dysfunctional familieswe tear flesh, spill blood before we eat. To celebrate ...
A Haiku for Marilyn.(POETRY)(Poem)
Oct 03, 2008; ... <Pre> A Haiku for Marilyn For Marilyn Donnelly the lovely ladydreams of ...
Genre films that break new ground: 'A Girl Cut in Two' is a thriller with surreal twists; 'Appaloosa' is an offbeat Western.(MOVIES)
Oct 03, 2008; ... For many of us, our experience of a movie is determined even before we enter the theater. From the pre-release hype, reviews or word of mouth, we know in advance the basic outline of what we are about to see. Probably the strongest motivator to get us to stand in line and buy a ticket is ...
Obama is just another democrat.(Barack Obama )(Column)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Like all American politicians, and indeed the rest of us, Barack Obama is a blend of positives and negatives. Problem is, his positives are about personality and his negatives are about policy. Mr. Obama has been threshing political hay with his youthful good looks, quick wit, ...
Mauritania's coup is a setback for democracy.(Column)
Oct 03, 2008; ... The overthrow in August of what arguably constituted the most democratic government in the Arab world marks a serious setback in Africa as well as the Middle East. There had been great expectations for Mauritania when the country had its first free elections in 2006. As one of ...
The 'excited bases'.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Oct 03, 2008; ... * It's difficult to put into words the outrage I experienced when I read your "Election '08: Special Report" (NCR, Sept. 19). In your fascination with what you perceive to be the "two excited bases" of the major party candidates, your coverage presented an extremely distorted view of ...
Sacramentals.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Oct 03, 2008; ... * As I read the beautiful symbols that were presented as sacramentals, I could not help but remember the one actual sacrament that Jesus did directly institute and which he commissioned his disciples to do for each other, the washing of feet. This is a real sacrament by our definition, ...
Papal infallibility.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Oct 03, 2008; ... * I am in the midst of reading Catholicism at the Crossroads by Paul Lakeland, reviewed in a previous issue (NCR, Oct. 5, 2007). Until the sex abuse scandal, I guess I was flying with blinders on and basically took everything the Catholic church said on faith, never thinking for myself ....
Religious identity.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Oct 03, 2008; ... * Arun Pereira, in his essay "The rally round religion" (NCR, Aug. 8), ignores the fact that non-European and non-Christian immigrants have been coming to the United States during the entire history of the country. The great thing about America is that people do not have to compromise ...
Presidential candidates.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
Oct 03, 2008; ... * Douglas Kmiec, dean of the law school at The Catholic University of America, who teaches classes on Catholic social justice teachings, says if Barack Obama were in his class, Obama would be getting an A (NCR, Sept. 5). The same article points out how in states with caps on the number of ...
The inferno of the vanities.(Editorial)
Oct 03, 2008 ... In only a matter of days, the bonfire of the vanities has grown into an inferno. Giants of the U.S. financial empire have tumbled, and old presumptions about the free market are trader free. Seeking government intervention, the high priests of unfettered capitalism have suddenly ...
Don't forget Burma.(Editorial)(Brief article)
Oct 03, 2008 ... In late September a year ago, thousands of Buddhist monks left their temples and took to the streets to lead massive nationwide demonstrations against the military regime that has run their country amuck since 1988. Pedestrian cell phone cameras captured the peaceful protests, ...
From intern to publisher.(Personal account)(Column)
Oct 03, 2008; ... Twenty-four years ago, as a Catholic University of America junior, I began what has become the longest and most fulfilling professional association of my career. As an NCR Washington intern, I made the coffee, sorted mail, answered phones, clipped newspapers--and grabbed whatever reporting ...
The noonday demon casting its shadow over time.(Acedia and Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... ACEDIA & ME: A MARRIAGE, MONKS, AND A WRITER'S LIFE By Kathleen Norris Riverhead Books, 336 pages, $25.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Just before Chapter 1 of her new memoir-meditation, Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life, poet and ...
Delightful & delicious.(Food: The History of Taste)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... FOOD: THE HISTORY OF TASTE Edited by Paul Freedman University of California Press, 368 pages, $39.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On a cave wall, a prehistoric artist has depicted a human who has shimmied up a tree trunk, or perhaps a rock face, and ...
On both sides of the Reich.(Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau)(Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... PRIESTBLOCK 25487: A MEMOIR OF DACHAU By Jean Bernard Zaccheus Press, 772 pages, $74.95 HITLER'S PRIESTS: CATHOLIC CLERGY AND NATIONAL SOCIALISM By Kevin P. Spicer Northern Illinois University Press, 569 pages, $34.95 ...
From faith to unbelief and back.(Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS: A SPIRITUAL CONFESSION By Anne Rice Knopf, 246 pages, $24 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Readers savor stories about how people resolve doubts when confronting the ineffable. Such testaments can offer hope to those struggling ...
Catholic in many ways.(Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... BOOK INFORMATION Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning By Kerry Kennedy Crown Publishers, 247 pages, $24.95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] One of the strengths of this ...
Studying the church as a sacrament.(The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... THE CHURCH: THE EVOLUTION OF CATHOLICISM By Richard McBrien HarperOne, 528 pages, $29,95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fr. Richard McBrien has given us a work breathtaking in its scope and yet manageable in its presentation. The book is not ...
Litigating clergy sex abuse.(Holding Bishops Accountable: How Lawsuits Helped the Catholic Church Confront Clergy Sexual Abuse)(Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children)(Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... HOLDING BISHOPS ACCOUNTABLE: HOW LAWSUITS HELPED THE CATHOUC CHURCH CONFRONT CLERGY SEXUAL ABUSE By Timothy D. Lytton Harvard University Press, 286 pages, $35 JUSTICE DENIED: WHAT AMERICA MUST DO TO PROTECT ITS CHILDREN By Marci A ....
Making sense of Islam.(Islam Considered: A Christian View)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... ISLAM CONSIDERED: A CHRISTIAN VIEW By Margot Patterson Liturgical Press, t18 pages. $12,95 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] During the past decade and especially since 9/11, the book market has been inundated with titles aimed at helping readers ...
Domestic life under Soviet terror.(The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... THE WHISPERERS: PRIVATE LIFE IN STALIN'S RUSSIA By Orlando Figes Metropolitan Books, 740 pages, $35 [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A dwindling number of Americans can remember the time, more than half a century ago, when Josef Stalin was a major world ...
Religion that is not afraid of science.(Ancestral Grace: Meeting God in Our Human Story)(When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist)(Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World)(Book review)
Oct 03, 2008; ... ANCESTRAL GRACE: MEETING GOD IN OUR HUMAN STORY By Diarmuid O'Hurchu Orbis Books, 288 pages, $22 WHEN GOD IS GONE, EVERYTHING IS HOLY: THE MAKING OF A RELIGIOUS NATURALIST By Chet Raymo Sorin Books, 760 pages, $21.95 ...
Back from the compost pile.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
Oct 17, 2008; ... I was turning the compost in my backyard, or maybe that's the way I now remember it, when my wife told me Sr. Rita was calling. Then NCR publisher, Rita Larivee asked me if I might "step in" to help out for a while because executive editor Pamela Schaeffer was taking a job closer to her ...
A sleeper issue this election.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, right, talks with Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl as they and others leave the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington Oct. 5 following the Red Mass. The liturgy is traditionally held before the start of ...
Priest endorses gay marriage.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Geoffrey Farrow)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... FRESNO, Calif. -- In his Sunday homily Oct. 6, Fr. Geoffrey Farrow, a diocesan priest, criticized church leadership for supporting a state ballot measure that would make it unconstitutional for same-sex couples to marry. "In directing the faithful to vote 'Yes' on Proposition ...
Knights disagree with leader.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Knights of Columbus, Carl A. Anderson )(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... WASHINGTON -- Upset with a letter from their supreme knight critical of Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Biden, some Knights of Columbus have launched a Web site backing Barack Obama for president. Led by Rick Gebhard, a member of Knights of Columbus Council 853 at ...
Episcopal church apologizes for its role in slavery.(IN THE BEGINNING)
Oct 17, 2008 ... PHILADELPHIA -- In an unprecedented public act of remorse for centuries of support for slavery, the Episcopal church Oct. 4 held a dramatic service of repentance at one of the nation's first black churches. Punctuated with the sound of a gong and the sung refrain of "Lord have ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... "The problem is that the people who are asked to clean up the broken furniture didn't get invited to the party." --Rep. Lloyd Dogget, D-Texas, responding to President Bush's explanation of the financial crisis as "Wall Street got drunk and has a hangover" "People are ...
Minister cleared in gay wedding.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Rev. Janet Edwards )(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... PITTSBURGH -- A Presbyterian court in Pittsburgh ruled Oct. 2 that a minister did not violate scripture or church law by officiating at the wedding of two lesbians because the ceremony was not a marriage under church or state law. The Presbyterian Church (USA) permits ministers ...
Survey: Europeans are religious.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... WARSAW, Poland -- While fewer Europeans are going to church than ever before, a large majority still consider themselves religious, recent research by the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Germany's largest privately operating foundation, found. "Although everyone has been talking about ...
Vatican rejects gay ambassador.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Stanislas de Laboulaye)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... VATICAN CITY -- Although the Vatican recently agreed to the appointment of Stanislas de Laboulaye, currently French ambassador to Russia, to represent France to the Holy See, it reportedly refused several earlier candidates, the last one because he is openly gay, according to French and ...
Exhumation comes up short, no bones to retrieve.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... LONDON -- Plans to transfer the remains of Cardinal John Henry Newman from a humble country graveyard to a posh marble sarcophagus have been abandoned because there is no body. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When church officials sought to exhume the bones of the ...
Scott Pomfret.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... Scott Pomfret has been removed as lector, eucharistic minister and trainer of lay ministers at Boston's St. Anthony Shrine, following the publication of his memoir, Since My Last Confession: A Gay Cqtholic Memoir, earlier this year. Pomfret, a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange ...
Cosme Hoang Van Dat.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Jesuit Fr. Cosme Hoang Van Dat was ordained bishop of Bac Ninh, Vietnam, Oct. 7. Hoang becomes the first Jesuit bishop in Vietnam more than ...
Hikaru Nakamura.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... The author of a series of popular comic strips in Japan that portray the Buddha and Jesus as friends on holiday and renting an apartment in Tokyo's western dormitory city of Tachikawa said her work is meant to honor both religious figures. "I like both Jesus and Buddha," ...
Nikanor.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... Until he entered the Tsurnogorski monastery, some 30 miles west of the Bulgarian capital Sofia, Brother Nikanor was a Nasdaq broker. The trader turned monk is now advising ...
Benzion Twerski.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Oct 17, 2008 ... Dr. Benzion Twerski, a psychologist and Orthodox rabbi, has resigned from a task force investigating sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community out of fear for his family, The New York Jewish Week reported. Twerski said that since being appointed to the task force by New York State ...