America magazine

America is a national weekly magazine published by the American Jesuits that contains news and opinion about the Roman Catholic Church and how its positions relate to American politics and cultural life. This article is about the magazine as a published medium. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian community founded by Jesus Christ and led by the Twelve Apostles, in particular Saint Peter. ...

The publication was founded by 1909 in New York, and the Jesuits still maintain and publish the magazine. It has a circulation of 45,000 readers. It describes itself as: "America, the weekly Catholic magazine of news, opinion, book reviews and articles for the thinking Catholic and those who want to know what the Catholic people are thinking." The magazine provides editorials and news on the church, moral and social issues, along with book and movie reviews. The former editor of the magazine, Rev. Thomas J. Reese, called America the "CatholicPBS" [1]. Year 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... NY redirects here. ... Thomas J. Reese, SJ, is a Jesuit author and the former editor in chief of America, a weekly Catholic magazine. ...

Because of its Jesuit origins, "America" is usually seen to present moderate to liberal view on Catholicism, which has led to conflict with the Catholic Church. America has carried a number of articles and opinion pieces which concern matters which are at issue in the contemporary Catholic Church, including homosexuality, priestly celibacy, AIDS and the roles of women in the Church. It has been under some scrutiny by the Vatican and Thomas J. Reese, was replaced in Spring, 2005, probably under prodding by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Catholic administrative office which monitors and enforces adherence to Catholic dogma.^{[citation needed]} As a Christian ecclesiastical term, Catholic - from the Greek adjective , meaning general or universal[1] - is described in the Oxford English Dictionary as follows: ~Church, (originally) whole body of Christians; ~, belonging to or in accord with (a) this, (b) the church before separation into Greek or Eastern and Latin or... The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... Homosexuality refers to sexual and romantic attraction between two individuals of the same sex. ... A vow of clerical celibacy is the promise of a Christian priest or bishop to remain unmarried, or, in some churches, of a deacon or priest not to remarry if his wife dies. ... This article is about the syndrome. ... In general religious use, ordination is the process by which one is consecrated (set apart for the undivided administration of various religious rites). ... The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei) is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. ... For the film Dogma, see Dogma (film) Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek , plural ) is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. ...

Its current editor is Drew Christiansen, SJ.

External links

• America Magazine online (Subscription required for access to full text)
• New York Times article, May 7, 2005, "Vatican Is Said to Force Jesuit Off Magazine"
• Columbian Journalism Review article, November/December 2005 Issue, Articles of Faith: Watchdog or church mouse? The identity crisis in the Catholic Press. By Kiera Butler