Commentaries
Students should spend time outside our linguistic empire
Hablas espanol? What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. And three languages? Trilingual. And someone who speaks just one language? An American, of course. It's an old joke that speaks for itself, but behind it there's a long back story. We Americans are victims of our own success -- with a bit of the credit going to our British forebears. By the 19th century the sun never set on the English language. And its world dominance came with the rise of America's military and then economic power in the mid-20th century. It has turned us all into linguistic imperialists.
America shrugged: What we lose without a sense of awe
Renewing our commitment to protect and heal
The theme of the National Safe Environment/Victim Assistance Coordinators Conference in Omaha, Neb., that I attended the week of Aug. 13 was “Chosen to Heal and Protect.” Over five days participants from dioceses across the nation learned from one another and renewed our commitment to protecting children and helping victims of clergy sexual abuse to […]
Thought-provoking issues about death are more than just table talk
What’s a floppy disc? How quickly the world changes
You can often judge a person’s age by learning about the toys he or she played with as a child. Some toys are timeless, such as Barbie. Others will always be associated with a certain moment in time. Children of the 1980s fondly remember the furor over Cabbage Patch Kids and Transformers. Those born a […]
Why should we register to vote?
A long time ago I asked a fellow college student if she was excited to register to vote on her upcoming 18th birthday. My classmate replied, “Why would I do that, I’m not a political science major?!” I never forgot her words. She asks an important question: Why should we register to vote? In Pennsylvania, […]
Our faith should transform our politics
The following guest editorial appeared Sept. 5 on the website of Columbia magazine, a publication of the Knights of Columbus, by Carl Anderson, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus and a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is “Beyond a House Divided: The Moral Consensus Ignored by Washington, Wall Street and the […]
Rest is essential in a busy teen’s life
Some days, I bet you’re absolutely exhausted — can’t-get-out-of-bed, just-five-more-minutes, drowsing-off-in-class exhausted. No, scratch that. I bet it’s more accurate to say “most days.” Teens have a lot on their schedules. A long day of school starts early, and there’s a mountain of homework to complete every night. Sports schedules are particularly demanding and extracurricular […]
Brutality does not have the last word
The serenity of the setting, the graceful branches of old trees beneath a dazzling blue sky belied its reality. We were amid the mass graves of countless Cambodians, children, men and women. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia is part of the “The Killing Fields,” the title of the 1984 Academy Award-winning movie about […]
Get over the fear of exercising in public
My car’s water pump will soon need to be replaced, and between now and when I take it to the mechanic, I have been walking much more: to the store, to meet a friend for lunch, to the pharmacy. One of the reasons I live where I do is that I have the luxury of […]