National Catholic Reporter back issues from December 2008:
Where to put the sign of peace?(NATION)
Dec 12, 2008; ... One of the most popular features of the Catholic Mass, yet one that also figures prominently among the pet peeves of many bishops, liturgical experts and even ordinary Mass-goers, may soon be relocated. In response to a worldwide consultation requested by Pope Benedict XVI, the ...
Numbers of needy are climbing at an alarming rate.(NATION)
Dec 12, 2008; ... OLATHE, KAN. -- Tamra Brandes, site manager for Catholic Charities here, was accustomed to seeing the same numbers month after month, an average of some 600 to 700 needy people coming for food or assistance with rent and utilities, or to purchase prescription drugs. Then last ...
Stone by stone: cistercian architecture of silence, contemplation coming to America.
Dec 12, 2008; ... VINA, CALIF -- Cistercian architecture has been called the architecture of silence. Austere and simple, it shuns color, sculpture and decoration to focus on light, space, proportion and harmony. Contemplation is the object of the minimalist design; at its heart, the quiet of Cistercian ...
Give the gift of NCR.(EDITOR'S NOTE)(National Catholic Reporter)(Editorial)
Dec 12, 2008; ... As we approach Christmas, please consider giving NCR as a gift. It's a present that lasts the whole year. And what a time to share NCR! At this moment, our nation is energized with new leadership in Washington. And at the same time, lay Catholic leaders are taking positions in the church ...
Untying the strong woman.(NCRonline HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, writes a weekly ...
New web columnist.(NCRonline HIGHLIGHTS)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Young Voice" is a new online feature offering reflections on church, life and wirk for the under-30 set. New columns ...
A semblance of normal life.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Serafin Nyanzaba, 17, who has been displaced by war, has her hair done in a traditional Congolese style at the Don Bosco center in Goma, Congo, last month. Fighting in eastern Congo has displaced nearly a quarter-million people, and more than 1,500 people ...
Mass. diocese pays $4.5 million.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- The Springfield, Mass., diocese announced Dec. 2 that it has paid $4.5 million to 59 alleged victims of clergy abuse, including two men who named former Springfield Bishop Thomas L. Dupre as their abuser. The payments went out Nov. 20 and ranged from $5,000 ...
Bush awarded for AIDS aid.(U.S. BRIEFS)(President George W. Bush)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... WASHINGTON -- President Bush was recognized Dec. 1 for his efforts to. fight the spread of AIDS. "No world leader has done more for world health than President George Bush," said California megachurch pastor Rick Warren on the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. "Literally millions of ...
Vatican makes clear its opposition to U.N. homosexuality declaration.(IN THE BEGINNING)
Dec 12, 2008 ... VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican's spokesman has said that the Holy See's ambassador to the United Nations clearly expressed the church's and the Vatican's position when he opposed a U.N. draft declaration that condemns discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and endorses ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... "We need to stop hurling names like 'bigot' and 'pervert' at each other. And we need to stop it now." --San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer in an open letter Dec. 1 appealing to people on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue to be tolerant of each other, to ...
Zoo ends museum partnership.(U.S. BRIEFS)(The Cincinnati Zoo)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Zoo has dropped a business arrangement with the nearby Creation Museum after it received numerous complaints about a joint Christmas promotion. The institutions had planned to offer a reduced price on a package of tickets for the zoo's "Festival of ...
U.N. to honor slain nun Stang.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Dorothy Stang)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... UNITED NATIONS -- A U.S. nun who was murdered in 2005 while she worked to defend the rights of poor farmers in the Brazilian Amazon region will receive a prestigious U.N. human rights prize. Dorothy Stang, who was a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, is one of seven recipients of ...
Disney 'exploits spirituality'.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... LONDON -- A top Roman Catholic cleric in England has accused Disney of corrupting children, encouraging greed and turning its make-believe world into a latter-day pilgrimage site. Christopher Jamison, the abbot of Worth Abbey, in southern England, charged Disney with "exploiting ...
Christian couples reclaim sex in seven-day challenge.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... GRAPEVINE, TEXAS -- In a sermon titled "Seven Days of Sex," Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church here challenged all married couples in his congregation to have sex every day for seven days. Young told his congregation last month that society promotes promiscuity and he wants ...
Magdi Allam.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... Magdi Allam, the former Muslim whose baptism as a Catholic by Pope Benedict XVI made world news earlier this year, launched a political party, Protagonists for Christian Europe, at a news conference in Rome Dec. 1. The party will run candidates in the June 2009 elections to the European ...
Cyprian Lamar Rowe.(PEOPLE)(Obituary)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... Cyprian Lamar Rowe, a leading figure in the African-American Catholic community, died Nov. 25 after a long illness. He was 74. The former executive director of the Washington-based National Office for Black Catholics (1978-80), and the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus (1981-83), Rowe ...
Sandra Samuel.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... The Indian nanny who saved the 2-year-old son of a Jewish couple slain Nov. 26 in Mumbai, India, may receive a residential permit to live in Israel. Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivkah, 28, were emissaries at the Chabad House, known as Nariman House in Mumbai, a ...
Aram I.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... At a Vatican meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, Lebanon-based Armenian Orthodox leader Aram I has proposed that the world's churches set a common date for Easter. "There are no special doctrinal problems to achieve this goal, but only ...
Queen Elizabeth II.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 12, 2008 ... A campaign has been launched in Britain to try to persuade Queen Elizabeth II to grant a royal ...
Freedom of Choice bill unlikely to get anywhere in Congress.(ANALYSIS)
Dec 12, 2008; ... About the only thing everyone with a stake in it is likely to agree on about the Freedom of Choice Act is that the legislation has languished in Congress for 20 years. What's harder to nail down is whether the bill, known as FOCA, is going anywhere under the 111th Congress that ...
In this economy, hard work isn't enough.(NATION)
Dec 12, 2008; ... Ron and Lisa Johnson were never well off, but in the years they both worked for a small restaurant in Olathe, Kan., they were able to pay bills, rent a home and provide adequately for their three children. Unfortunately, they exemplify how close two hard-working parents can be ...
U.S. fails to sign international ban on cluster bombs.(WORLD)
Dec 12, 2008; ... Some 100 nations signed a major anti-cluster bomb treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, during a conference that began Dec. 3 in Oslo, Norway. It is a move that supporters hope will shame the United States, Russia, China, Israel and other non-signers into abandoning weapons blamed ...
Books for Christmas: harder economic times are leading to renewed interest in spirituality.(Opinion & ARTS: OPINION BOOKS LETTERS ARTS)(Book review)
Dec 12, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Navigating my way through the rather subdued hustle and bustle of this holiday shopping season, I visited our largest book emporium to pore over Christmas titles in the religion and spirituality section. With the cheerful ringing of the Salvation Army's ...
A soldier's story: after eagerly joining the Marines, Chantelle Bateman now speaks out against the war.(Opinion & ARTS: OPINION BOOKS LETTERS ARTS)(Interview)
Dec 12, 2008; ... At 17, Chantelle Bateman was a military recruiter's dream. A senior in 2002 at Friendly High School in Prince George's County, Md., she was the Junior ROTC commanding officer overseeing 305 students. During her four years in the program, leadership came naturally. Off campus, she was the ...
Midwife for the spirit.(Spirituality)
Dec 12, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Writer, retreat leader and spiritual director Sr. Joyce Rupp lives in a rich world of images--fresh bread, cups, goodbyes, doors, invitations, dancing, sorrow and sauntering. "The wonder of images, symbols, metaphors," she said, "helps us ...
Suffering, redemption and Dr. House.(SPIRITUALITY)
Dec 12, 2008; ... That glass of Merlot--maybe my second--set off the last episode. Like the approaching shark in "Jaws," I could sense it coming--baba-ba-bum ba-ba-ba-bum--the oncoming anguish. Soon, 10 minutes, maybe 20, my right eye would tear up. Then the sharp unrelenting throbbing would ...
A return of love for love.(SPIRITUALITY)(Reprint)
Dec 12, 2008 ... Modern science teaches us about the fundamental interdependence of all life on Earth--an insight that St. Francis of Assisi grasped centuries ago, and his life and teachings offer Christians a spiritual grounding to help them respond to today's environmental crisis. So argue Franciscan Sr ....
Spirituality steeped in incarnation.(Christ of the Celts: The Healing of Creation; Awe-filled Wonder: The Interface of Science and Spirituality; Common Sense Spirituality: The Essential Wisdom of David Steindl-Bast; An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith)(Book review)
Dec 12, 2008; ... CHRIST OF THE CELTS: THE HEALING OF CREATION By J. Philip Newell Published by Jossey-Bass, $19.95 English poet. William Blake remembered as a boy "seeing a tree filled with angels of light," writes author J. Philip Newell in Christ of the Celts. "He rushed home with ...
All the holy men and women lend a hand.(SPIRITUALITY)
Dec 12, 2008; ... On a sunny fall day Emily and Chris bicycled down a historic trail following what once was an old railroad track. The ride was part of a weekend away to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa were in town to care for their three boys, Brendan, Patrick and ...
Steps to better prayer.(SPIRITUALITY)(Interview)
Dec 12, 2008; ... Fr. Richard Fragomeni is associate professor of liturgy and preaching at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He holds degrees in theology, religious studies, liturgy and music, and is in great demand across the country as a lecturer and advisor on the topics of spiritual renewal, ...
Abbot Davis pursues a 50-year dream.
Dec 12, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To a great degree, the Abbey of New Clairvaux's reconstruction of a medieval chapter house owes itself to the vision and determination of one man. In 1955, Thomas X. Davis, a young monk from the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, traveled to San Francisco to ...
Small community adjusts to changes.
Dec 12, 2008 ... Set in California's fertile Sacramento Valley, the Abbey of New Clairvaux is a tranquil spot where two dozen Trappist monks earn their living cultivating walnuts and plums. In 2000 the monks decided to cultivate grapes as well, a step that is bringing them into increased contact ...
The great inertia.(Letter to the editor)
Dec 12, 2008; ... * Eugene Kennedy's essay "The Great Inertia" (NCR, Nov. 14) was absolutely correct in its examination of the pathology of the church's pedophile scandal. His reasoning is learned as he examines the exhaustive list of socio-psychological explanations for our bishops' disgraceful response to ...
Wills and Bourgeois.(Letter to the editor)
Dec 12, 2008; ... * Garry Wills seems to personify an increasingly large segment of the Catholic population when he counts himself among "people who are totally disaffected from the hierarchy, but who still believe and still go to church" (NCR, Nov. 28). Except that omits the also increasing number of those ...
Good news.(The Word: Scripted for Life)
Dec 12, 2008; ... The following Sunday commentaries by Patricia Datchuck Sanchez appear in full in Celebration, the worship and homiletic resource of the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company. To receive a full copy of the December 2008 issue in PDF format, go to ...
Holy spaces.(The Word: Scripted for Life)
Dec 12, 2008; ... DEC. 21, 2008: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT Patricia Datchuk Sanchez 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8-12,14-16; Rom 16:23-27; Luke 1:26-38 Israel's first holy spaces were places where a human being had experienced God. That encounter could have occurred anywhere, from a ...
Taking community out of Communion.(Column)
Dec 12, 2008 ... As happened in 2007 when rumors circulated that Pope Benedict XVI would restore the Tridentine Mass as an option for Catholics unhappy with the Second Vatican Council, trial balloons are once again going up about another change to the Mass most Catholics celebrate and find meaningful. ...
The future of conservatism in a nation of mutts.
Dec 12, 2008; ... Conservatism RIP? American conservatism has crashed and burned and its carefully constructed religious cornerstone, based on an uneasy alliance of white evangelicals and "blue collar Catholics," sits atop the ash heap. This reality is not attributable solely to ...
Biotechnology: with new document, Vatican extends pro-life agenda.(WORLD)
Dec 26, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a resounding confirmation that the Catholic church's pro-life concern extends to the brave new world of biotechnology, the Vatican issued a tough document Dec. 12 condemning the freezing of human embryos, genetic engineering, human cloning, animal/human ...
'Terrorist' nuns put spotlight on homeland security.(NATION)(Ardeth Platte, Carol Gilbert)
Dec 26, 2008; ... The two Dominican nuns had mixed it up with federal authorities before. For more than 30 years they've protested against U.S. militarism. They've each spent several years in prison for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience. They've known what it is to be under surveillance. ...
Living the Incarnation.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
Dec 26, 2008; ... Fr. Ed Hays, author, spiritual guide and "God spy," lives in and writes from a space without borders. Words like "natural" and "supernatural' don't fit into his One Spirit universe. In Hays' place, the Christmas story, the Incarnation of Jesus, this fusing of spirit and matter, soul and ...
Immigrants' posada.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] More than 550 people joined Las Posadas in Boston Dec. 7, which was organized by the Paulist Center in Boston and a coalition of churches and immigrant-rights groups. Organizers said that reenacting the journey of Mary and Joseph on the eve of the birth of ...
Two priests excommunicated.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Msgr. Dale Fushek and Fr. Mark Dippre)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... PHOENIX * Two Phoenix Catholic priests have been excommunicated because of their continued involvement with a small faith community called the Praise and Worship Center in Mesa, Ariz. Msgr. Dale Fushek and Fr. Mark Dippre, neither of whom has been active in the Catholic church in recent ...
Degree, insurance anger some.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... IN FRANCISCO * The Jesuit-run University of San Francisco has drawn the ire of conservative Catholics for its student and employee health insurance policies and the awarding of an honorary degree. The university Dec. 11 gave an honorary degree to Irish President Mary McAleese, ...
Quotable & notable.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... "My father had a great sense of humor, but it absolutely stopped at the threshold of the church." --William F. Buckley Jr.'s son Christopher, quoted in a 7,200-word feature about the Buckleys in January's Vanity Fair "I think the tradition is that they use all three ...
Leaders' declaration endorses a world without nuclear weapons.(IN THE BEGINNING)
Dec 26, 2008 ... Events seem to be moving toward the abolition of nuclear weapons faster than anyone could have imagined a few years ago. One hundred world political, military, business and civic .leaders launched a new initiative Dec. 9 in Paris to eliminate nuclear weapons globally in order to ...
Nuns support Fr. Bourgeois.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Fr. Roy Bourgeois)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... DETROIT * More than 100 Catholic women--religious from 22 orders have signed a letter addressed to the Vatican's doctrinal czar pleading the case of Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who has been threatened with excommunication for his support of women's ordination. The letter, ...
Hindus plan Christmas strike.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... BHUBANESWAR, INDIA * The government of violence-racked Orissa state, eastern India, says it will not allow a general strike on Christmas Day, but church leaders are apprehensive as Hindu radicals are determined to go ahead with the plan. Faced with threats, churches in this ...
Episcopal head calls for review of public funding.(IN THE BEGINNING)(Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori)
Dec 26, 2008 ... WASHINGTON * Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori called on religious leaders to play a prophetic role in the public square but criticized faith groups that use government money to forward a sectarian message. "The idea that faith-based groups should have special ...
Keith Ellison.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... The first Muslim elected to Congress has become the first sitting member of that body to travel to Mecca for the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest sites. "It was transformative. It was a wonderful experience," Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., told ...
John Foley.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... Jesuit Fr. John Foley, founder of the Cristo Rey Network, joined Henry "Hank" Aaron, Muhammmad All, Elizabeth Taylor, Senator Bob Dole and pioneering HIV researcher Dr. David He as a recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal bestowed on him at the White House Dec. 10 ....
Alexei II.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... Thousands of Russians stood in line for hours outside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior to pay final respects to Patriarch Alexei II, who died after leading the ...
Joseph H. Smith.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... Joseph H. Smith, 52, the former financial and legal secretary of the Cleveland diocese, will spend a year and a day in federal prison for failing to report income he claimed was additional compensation in an off-the-books arrangement with ...
Sarah Palin.(PEOPLE)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... The Alaska evangelical church that former Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin calls home was severely damaged Dec. 12 by a fire that has been ruled suspicious by authorities. "Our building was damaged by a fire, and will need repairs before we can resume worship there ...
Thirty years of speaking peace to power.(NATION)
Dec 26, 2008; ... Among the heavily censored documents that Sr. Ardeth Platte and Sr. Carol Gilbert received from the Maryland State Police is one that identifies their activities the week after the United States began bombing Afghanistan in October 2001. The two Dominican nuns, who were ...
A bailout for the 'back street'.(NATION)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Chrysler assembly workers in Detroit leave work Dec. 12 after their shift at the Detroit Axle Plant. Five days later, Chrysler announced it was closing all 30 of its U.S. plants for a month in a move to stave off ...
Catholics face quandary on how to fight abortion: new administration may mean new laws to oppose.(NATION)
Dec 26, 2008; ... The political battle over abortion, tightly focused for years on overturning or upholding Roe v. Wade, is about to splinter into an array of smaller fights waged across the federal legislative, regulatory and budgetary terrains. The fight is shifting, according to recent ...
Slavery comparisons on the rise in pro-life rhetoric.(ANALYSIS)
Dec 26, 2008; ... In a stroke of pro-life rhetoric that may have particular resonance in the United States, senior church officials are increasingly comparing the defense of unborn life today, including opposition to abortion and the destruction of human embryos, to the struggle against slavery and racism ...
Avery Dulles, 'giant' of theology, dies at 90.(NATION)(Obituary)
Dec 26, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cardinal Avery Dulles, a Jesuit, a scion of one of America's most prominent political families, and widely considered a giant of 20th-century Catholic theology in the United States, has died at the age of 90. Dulles was in residence at ...
Evangelicals' green leader forced to resign.(U.S. BRIEFS)(Rev. Richard Cizik)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... WASHINGTON * The top Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, who had already faced criticism for his embrace of environmental activism, resigned Dec. 11 after signaling support for same-sex civil unions. The Rev. Richard Cizik, who had worked in the ...
Catholics meet Obama team to discuss policy.(NATION)(Barack Obama)
Dec 26, 2008; ... Representatives of 15 Catholic organizations met with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team Dec. 16 in Washington. The Catholic groups presented members of the transition team with a list of policy concerns in the areas of international development and trade, health ...
When does a person become a person?(REACTION)
Dec 26, 2008; ... Scientific research and medical applications arising from such research should be guided by a moral framework that both values human life and protects the dignity of individuals. Dignitas Personae, the new Vatican bioethics document issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ...
Echoes of Poland's Jewish past: progress has been made against anti-Semitism since the war, but today's religious climate remains a mixed bag in this mostly Catholic country.(WORLD)
Dec 26, 2008; ... WARSAW, POLAND * As a student at Warsaw University in the 1930s, she was scorned by her anti-Semitic classmates because she sat with the Jewish students in the segregated lecture halls. The Nazis sentenced her to death for saving Jews. The postwar communist government shunned her. Today, ...
Traditionalist to lead Vatican liturgy office.(WORLD BRIEFS)(Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera)(Brief article)
Dec 26, 2008 ... VATICAN CITY * Traditionalist Catholics will have a sympathizer in the new head of the Vatican's liturgical office. Pope Benedict XVI has named Cardinal Antonio Canizares Llovera, currently archbishop of Toledo, Spain, as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of ...