Cover

From the grounds up: Can fair trade grow beyond just coffee?

By Daniel P. Smith
Coffee and chocolate sales have become seasonal staples at parish Christmas bazaars, but how much of a difference is fair trade really making? Daniel P. Smith explorews whether this movement is sustainable.

Sidebars:

The future of fair trade

Trade, from farmer to cup (PDF)

Interview

Internal medicine

By Daniel Sulmasy, O.F.M.
The human side of health care has been replaced at the bedside by burdensome technology, especially at life's end, says physician and ethicist Daniel Sulmasy, O.F.M. But Catholic wisdom that predates even antibiotics holds the key to rediscovering the art of dying well.

Sidebar:

Do I need an advanced directive?

Sounding Board

Let's bury the eulogy

By Father James Field
A funeral is no place for an open microphone, argues Father James Field, speakng from experience. The Mass for the dead shouldn't be a tribute to the deceased but a thanksgiving for a disciple's life in Christ. In Feedback readers discern the boundary between appropriate remembrance and too much information.

Essays

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

Visiting hours

By Sue Fox McGovern
Sue Fox McGovern discovers lessons for living as she walks with the dying in their final days.
 

Day by Day

By Robert Ellsberg
There was more to Dorothy Day than bread, soup, and picket lines, writes biographer Robert Ellsberg. As her personal letters reveal, the energy for her activism had deep roots in spiritual discipline.
 

A rite to remember

In Person: A good rep

By Heidi Schlumpf
From a war-torn Saigon to a Katrina-ravaged New Orleans to a divided Capitol Hill, U.S. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao's experiences of suffering have truly made him a man of the people, writes Heidi Sclumpf.
 

Word of God, Word of life

By Meinrad Scherer-Emunds
Though not quite a rock star, the late Eugene LaVerdiere, S.S.S. helped U.S. Catholic readers find in the Bible rock-solid faith, writes Executive Editor Meinrad Scherer-Emunds.

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: Is Dia de los Muertos the same as All Souls Day?

Columns

The Examined Life: America the anxious
By Bryan Cones

Margin Notes: Take the next exit
By Kevin Clarke

Culture in Context: Hope against hope
By Patrick McCormick

Testaments: Soul searching
By Alice Camille