On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J.	Tuesday, December 2, 2008
	Vol. 3, No. 3

Advent begins this year in Mark's Gospel with Jesus' command to wake up, stand on guard, be on the look out, and keep watch. It's a strong reminder, perfect for such fearful times as these. As we begin this holy season of preparation, renewal, and prayer, we're urged to awake from the American nightmare, deepen our contemplative roots in Advent nonviolence, reclaim our souls, restart our search for the God of peace, get ready for Jesus and prepare for his Christmas gift of "peace on earth," with all its glorious social, economic and political implications.

In Arlington, Virginia, this past weekend, for the first Sunday of Advent, I preached on that strange Gospel text (Mark 13:33-37), a passage right out of Holy Week. Such an unusual word to begin the Advent season -- not at all a Christmasy theme. Jesus utters the words three days before he's executed.

Recently the Vatican was presented with the 2008 “Euro Solar Prize” for installing a giant bank of 2,400 solar panels atop the roof of the Paul VI Audience Hall, which began generating clean energy for the Vatican’s power grid on Nov. 26. Among other things, the award is a symbol of the strong environmental concern which has emerged as a distinctive element of the social teaching of Pope Benedict XVI, and which has become a cornerstone of the Vatican’s diplomatic efforts around the world.

El Rio Debajo El Rio: The river beneath the river, by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés
Vol. 1, No. 30 - November 28, 2008

What if the Good Samaritan had left the injured man to die by the side of the road... instead of ministering to him? The injured man would have had nothing to say to encourage others to care for Life, for no one had helped him with his own injuries.

Recently, Bishop Robert Hermann, administrator of Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo., gave an interview to his archdiocese newspaper, The St. Louis Review: “If American youth are willing to go to war and lay their life down to defend our freedoms, then every bishop should be willing to give up his life, if it meant putting an end to abortion.”

Bishop Hermann’s personalized call for a seeming pre-planned martyrdom for himself and other bishops raised some eyebrows. But, I noted this part of his report, “...people do not realize that it is 50 million children that we have killed.”

All Things Catholic by John L. Allen, Jr.
	Friday, November 28, 2008 - Vol. 8, No. 10

Any literary scholar will tell you that the key to interpreting a text is identifying its genre. It’s a point clearly applicable to news this week that Pope Benedict XVI has said that “interreligious dialogue, in the strict sense of the term, is not possible” -- a statement which, at face value, would seem to undercut 50 years of official dialogues with other faiths sponsored by the Catholic church, not to mention the theological vision of Nostrae Aetate, the document of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) on relations with non-Christian religions.

Among other things, the Vatican actually has its own Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, whose personnel may be surprised to learn that their work, according to the boss, is a logical non-starter.

Faced with such a puzzling declaration, the first thing to ask is, “What was its genre?”

By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

The late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago used the Biblical image of a “seamless garment” to refer to what he described as a “consistent ethic of life” – beginning with abortion, the family, and other traditional “life issues,” and extending into peace and economic justice. The idea was to unify the church’s “pro-life” and “social justice” constituencies.

To date, the “seamless garment” has struggled to take hold in the American church, which still tends to be fractured at the grassroots between pro-life Catholics (who stress issues such as opposition to abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research) and peace and justice Catholics (who focus more on poverty, war, the death penalty, and the environment). That divide seemed visible in the Catholic vote during the 2008 elections.

If there is a future for the “seamless garment” in 21st century Catholicism, it may well come not from the United States, but from Africa – where a highly traditional approach to sexual morality, both in the broader culture and in the church, often blends with a progressive attitude towards key social justice concerns.

From Where I Stand by Joan Chittister, OSB	November 26, 2008
	Vol. 6, No. 12

The looks on their faces as they went round and round me were something I had never seen before in my religious life. I realized as they all went by that something very different had just happened in this assembly. The Sufi drum beat an even pace while the group sang “La-a-illa-ha” over and over again, then, alternatively, “al-le-lu-i-a,” and then “Amazing Grace.” All of them sung rhythmically, softly, persistently -- full heartedly. Which a person could surely expect of Sufis.