Cover

Men of the same cloth? Parish react to a new style of priest [1]

By Christina Capecchi
With their preference for retro liturgical fashion and their homilies on birth control, today's newly ordained are shaking up the status quo. Christina Capecchi reports on the changes they're bringing in both style and stubstance.
 

Sidebar:

Priestly people skills [2]

 

Interview

It's time to take our medicine [3]

An interview with Sister Carol Keehan, D.C.
The health care debate pitted not only political parties against one another; it caused an argument in the Catholic family as well. The Catholic Health Association's Sister Carol Keehan, D.C. explains why the CHA broke with the bishops in support of health care reform.

Sidebar:

A Catholic doctor's Good Samaritan plan [4]

 

Sounding Board

Seniors need some class [5]

By John J. Donovan
Older adults deserve more than bingo from parishes. They're hungry to keep learning about their faith, argues John J. Donovan. In Feedback readers ask if we are teaching our elders well.

 

Feature

We've got Spirit! [6]

By Heather Grennan Gary
Evangelicals are the cheerleaders of the Christian world, and Catholics could learn a thing or two from them when it comes to a rallying the younger crowd, reports Heather Grennan Gary. But we may need to get out of our bleancer-bound comfort zone and into the game.

Sidebar:

Catholic with an evangelical twist [7]

 

Essays

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

Mother without child [8]

By Vinita Hampton Wright
Mother's Day can be downright miserable for women who have no children of their own, but Vinita Hampton WRight has discovered in her own life a broader understanding of motherhood.

Out of sight, out of mind

By Joseph F. Kelly
Seen any priests lately--outside of Mass, that is? Joseph F. Kelly argues that the priest shortage has no become a self-perpetuating problem.

Practicing Catholic: Heart to heart [9]

By Ginny Kubitz Moyer
The devotion to Mary's Immactulate Heart never appealed to her, writes Ginny Kubitz Moye, until she had her own baby boy.

Poem

Astonishment of heart

By Gwendolyn Brooks
U.S. Catholic marks its 75th anniversary this month by revisiting this 1968 poem for a nation in turmoil.

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 [10]

At Home with Our Faith [11]  (Family spirituality)

Eye of the Beholder (Art meditation)

Glad You Asked: What is theology? [12]

Columns

The Examined Life: Don't forget the flowers [13]
By Bryan Cones

Margin Notes: Working for the common grid [14]
By Kevin Clarke

Culture in Context: Men with a vengeance
By Patrick McCormick

Testaments: Were we at the same meeting?
By Alice Camille