Nostra Aetate

Young Voices: It was not a literal cheap plastic princess tiara my 4-year-old placed on my head. No, for me, it was a jewel-encrusted papal tiara. Here's how my day as pope would go.

We say: There's no rationale at all for inviting hate speech into our sanctuaries. Fr. Michael Pfleger went over the edge into ugly territory when he handed over St. Sabina's sanctuary to his longtime friend, Minister Louis Farrakhan, who unleashed — unchallenged — a hateful invective against Jews.

Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: French bishops stand against anti-Semitism; changing Catholic geography; the pitfalls of challenging an incumbent.

That many religions exist in the world is a fact, but what that plurality communicates to believers about God is a question that theologians are still discussing.

Perspective: As Catholics confront the pathology of sexual abuse among their clergy, I urge them not to abandon or divert attention from two specific aspects of modern Roman Catholicism that I admire: the revolutionary change in the church's relationship with the Jewish people and Judaism, and its remarkable and steadfast commitment to social justice.

With all of the dualistic face-offs Catholics are engaged in, we wondered if there was a third party who could join our dance to change the dynamic. So we asked three Jewish writers what value they see in Catholic thought, art and ministry, even amid the tensions and embarrassing scandals within our community. 

Non-Catholics talk to NCR about the challenges and unique opportunities they experience while teaching at Catholic colleges and universities.