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After 50 years, the Thomas Merton Center will cease operations but has pledged to continue its work through its community-run thrift store in Garfield. The center, named for the 20th century American trappist monk, activist and writer, announced it will close due to budget constraints.

Not many films can claim as their source material a novel published by the CIA and distributed by the Vatican. In fact, as far as I know, there is only one: Doctor Zhivago.Banned from publication in its native Russia for its unglamorous portrayal of the rise of communism, Boris Pasternak’s manuscript was smuggled from the country by British Intelligence and passed on to the CIA. Restrained by politics from publicly distributing the novel themselves, the agency sought help from one of communism’s most fervent foes, the Catholic Church. That’s how it came to pass that Russian citizens were able to...

Nobel economist Merton to open new hedge fund Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:36AM BST Email this Article |Print this Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] By Elzio Barreto CAMPOS DO JORDAO, Brazil (Reuters) - Robert Merton, the Nobel Prize winner who co-founded the failed hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, said his new firm plans to start an asset management business and open new hedge funds. Trinsum Group, the firm created when Merton's Integrated Finance merged with Marakon Associates, will launch the new business before the end of the year, he said in an interview on Thursday. The firm, which already...

Folks, things are almost back to "normal." Tomorrow, Pope Benedict XVI will be formally installed during a Mass at St. Peter's; it will be the end of an era and the beginning of another. I'm excited for what is to come, to see where the Lord will take his Church next. I want to share with you a picture of the late Pope John Paul the Great, which really captured for me the essence of the man. It appeared in the Newsweek magazine commemorative issue. It's the picture you see at right. Let me describe for you what I see....