I had the privilege of being present for a breakfast conversation with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam at the center of the storm swirling around Park51 – the proposed Muslim Center near Ground Zero. The conversation was sponsored by, and took place at, the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Our breakfast gathering [...]
Posts from ‘September, 2010’
Not So Easy, your Holiness!
Pope Bendict XVI’s recent efforts to deal with the clergy sexual abuse problem are not only too feeble; they’re downright dangerous. The National Catholic Reporter reported on Benedict’s sermon for his general audience on Sept 8 with this lead: “The problem of abuse by clergy is solved more by a spirit of penitence and conversion [...]
Niebuhr and Buddha – and Obama
With this blog, I’m jumping into water over my head. I may need someone to rescue me, or set me straight. I want to say something about Reinhold Niebuhr and Walter Rauschenbusch (about whom I am in no way specialized, whereas two of my colleagues here at Union, Jim Cone and Gary Dorrien, are) and [...]
The Passing of a Giant: Raimon Panikkar, RIP
Read this beautiful commentary on a man who was one of the greatest influences and inspirations in my life. For me and for my wife Cathy, one of the most telling tributes to the kind of person Panikkar was came from our kids, John and Moira. We visited him in 1991, on the long trip [...]
