Letter to the Editors
Departments
Laurel A. Dykstra 11-01-2008
The month of November is a lectionary train wreck. The calendars of liturgical and secular feast days collide so that Halloween, All Saints’ Day, Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year, and lighting the first Advent candle all fall within 30 days.
This month we read the entirety of Matthew 25, but the crescendo of this “eschatological discourse”—which precedes the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection—is cut off abruptly by the start of Advent. Before we have faced Jesus’ death in Jerusalem, we are studying the signs that point us to his birth in Galilee. With no closure, we end our intense and bewildering grapple with the gospel of Matthew.
During a month in which there is an excess of consumption and charity but little focus on concrete social change, we hear a gospel reading about economic realities in first-century Palestine that is entirely relevant today: predatory investment, greed, and the accumulation of wealth. “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away” (Matthew 25:29). Perhaps we can keep this verse and “those who have nothing” in our prayers and our actions.
Murray Bodo 11-01-2008
She consoles me as I meditate
before Mass—Julian of Norwich,
that is, who says, “We are clothed,
wrapped in the goodness of God.”
And she consoles me after Mass
when I drive home to the friary and
pass two prostitutes who are sitting
on folding chairs next to the curb
helping each other with makeup.
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
On June 9, armed groups of Zimbabwe’s police, military, and central intelligence raided the Ecumenical Centre in the city of Harare, which houses several Christian organizations.
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
Congress passed legislation in June removing Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela and other members of the African National Congress from the Department of Homeland Security’s “terro
The Editors 9-01-2008
You may recall that the cover of our August issue featured Elizabeth Edwards, spouse of John Edwards, one of the subjects of this month’s cover.
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
Roman Catholic Ingrid Betancourt made herself a wooden rosary while held captive in the Colombian jungle (above).
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
Successful democracies, according to Thomas Jefferson, require an educated citizenry.
Richard Tillinger 9-01-2008
More disappointing than the cheap sarcasm in Ed Spivey Jr.’s column, “One Man, One Clip” (“H’rumphs,” June 2008), was his ignorance of gun owners, evidenced by
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
Access to quality health care has been hindered more often for America’s racial and ethnic minorities than for whites, according to a 2008 report “Lifeline to Health Equity.” Peop
Alexis Vaughan, Rose Marie Berger 9-01-2008
The U.K.-based child protection agency Lucy Faithfull Foundation and the social action wing of the U.K.
Lisa Clark 9-01-2008
Slavery is a lingering scar on North America. Lives were destroyed. People were mistreated. Some died at the hands of cruel masters.
Chandy C. John 9-01-2008
Praise God for all things green
Lime jello, blades of grass, emeralds
Chameleons, the neon river frog
Heavy papayas begging to be picked
Rose Marie Berger, Alexis Vaughan 9-01-2008
“Awake, ye drunkards, and weep” (Joel 1:5) for the hour of the Lord is at hand!
Alexis Vaughan, Rose Marie Berger 8-01-2008
Promoted as the first pope to own an iPod, Benedict XVI is sculpted here in perfect polyresin, standing a towering 7 inches high.
Jonathan Beachy 8-01-2008
In “It’s a Start” (June 2008), Donald Shriver Jr. rightly addresses the issue of slavery and the need to go beyond apologies. He refers to the “scandalously high number—about 38 percent” of prisoners who are African American. But he does not address the reality of slavery in that setting.
Alexis Vaughan, Rose Marie Berger 8-01-2008
In 1994, Iphigenia Mukantabana’s husband and five of her children were brutally murdered by her Hutu neighbors.