Cover

Homegrown clergy: The case for a new kind of priesthood

By Bishop Fritz Lobinger
With Catholics the world over facing a sacrament shortage, retired Bishop Fritz Lobinger of South Africa proposes a radically traditional solution in Sounding Board: Ordain a local community’s natural leaders. Readers consider the proposed “holy order” in Feedback.

Features

Will work for peace

By Heather Grennan Gary
Philosophy majors are probably most familiar with questions about their job prospects, but students in “peace and justice” programs at Catholic universities are a close second. Heather Grennan Gary explores how they are turning the search for peace into a paycheck.

Sidebar:

Resources for peacemaking

Do you hear the cry of the poor?

An interview with professor Michael Lee
A new generation of Catholics is connecting faith and life by studying the theology of last century’s Latin America. Fordham University professor Michael Lee explains how getting personal with the poor can lead to a new way of thinking about God.

Journey to the center of the church

By Moises Sandoval
Though the first Catholics north of the Rio Grande spoke Spanish, it’s only now that their descendants are finding their rightful place at the U.S. church table. Moises Sandoval documents their remarkable journey.

Sidebar:

The history of Hispanic Catholics in the United States

Essays

(Essays, short stories, and poems may not be available online.)

Via dolorosa

By Janine Denomme
Though her cross comes with a drip bag and her nails are needles, Janine Denomme sees in the stations of Jesus’ suffering and death her way of sorrow.

A slow fast

By Sister Sheryl Chen, O.C.S.O.
Giving up two thirds of her meals for Lent may seem extreme, but Sister Sheryl Chen, O.C.S.O. finds in fasting a recipe for reconciliation and renewal.

Ratzinger on the record

By Meinrad Scherer-Emunds
We continue to mark our 75th anniversary with words from our archives about the professor who would be pope.

Departments

Editors’ Note

You May Be Right (Letters to the Editor)

Signs of the Times (News)

Catholic Tastes (Humor)

Culture in Context: Music, film, and book reviews

At Home with Our Faith  (Family spirituality)

Eye of the Beholder (Art meditation)

Glad You Asked:  Did God cause the earthquake in Haiti?

Columns

The Examined Life: Certifiably Catholic
By Bryan Cones

Margin Notes: More out of Africa
By Kevin Clarke

Culture in Context: Fighting the blues
By Patrick McCormick

Testaments: Sins of the father
By Alice Camille