[In this lecture, delivered originally at the Catholic University of America, Washington, the Archbishop of Strasbourg develops a question close to his heart, namely theology’s responsibility and tasks in today’s Church and world. After having enunciated as a principle the embeddedness of this responsibility in faith considered as a total entity, he then outlines the

[The author describes three challenges that the current cultural, religious, and political contexts of the United States present to the Church’s mission: cultural diversity caused by new waves of immigration, religious pluralism by the increasing presence of non-Christian religions, and political hegemony by the collapse of the Soviet Union. With insights from the experiences of

[Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk of Cincinnati has appropriately criticized the attempt to judge by today’s standards those bishops who in the past routinely reassigned clerical sexual predators to other parishes. This article explores whether our theological tradition points to standards according to which the bishops could be held accountable. Drawing primarily on the theology of the

[The author explores the intersection of history and theology, focusing on a theological analysis of the American Catholic response to slavery. The article places 19th-century episcopal Catholic teaching and practice on slavery in the context of memory and repentance. Using current papal documents calling for repentance of the Church’s past failings, the article reflects on

[On several occasions in recent years, the Catholic bishops of the United States have sought to present the Catholic position in matters pertaining to crime and punishment. While in many ways laudable, these statements pay insufficient attention to important historical and conceptual foundations of criminal justice in the Catholic tradition and reflect an inadequate understanding

[The author discusses Christ’s presence as perceived and symbolized when an assembly gathers to celebrate Eucharist. Her article consists of four parts: (1) a brief review of recent official church documents on the modes of Christ’s presence; (2) an examination of how the relationship of Christ’s presence in the eucharistic species to his presence in

[As the United States prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1955 act of civil disobedience by Rosa Parks, it is critical that any false emphases and flawed cultural myths associated with that December day be challenged and corrected. By exploring some of the historical-political, social, and personal influences that encouraged Parks’s refusal to