Free for all to read:

• Our editorial on what the U.S. bishops ought to be considering during this week's meeting in San Antonio: Episcopal Vacancy
• Cathleen Kaveny's column on "empathy," and why it might be a good quality for a judge to cultivate: Rules Are Not Enough
• William Bole's look at the state of capital punishment in the United States, and the progress of efforts to repeal it: A Slow Death
• Michael Peppard's report on confirmations of religious abuse at Gitmo: Disgrace (a follow-up to his December article on religious abuse, "The Secret Weapon")
• an analysis of the success of Canada's banks, and the lessons we can learn from Canadian regulation, by Leslie Schreiber and Mark I. Seltzer: Northern Light

Subscribers can also enjoy: a clear breakdown by John W. Weiser of how and why the U.S. economy collapsed; Christopher Thornton's Last Word on encountering the locals in Syria; Richard Alleva's review of the documentary film Tyson; book reviews of Andrew J. Cherlin's The Marriage-Go-Round (by Daniel Cere), Slavoj Zizek and John Milbank's The Monstrosity of Christ (by Paul J. Griffiths), and Alan Wolfe's The Future of Liberalism (by Kevin Mattson); poems by Samuel Menashe and Anna Harrison; and Summer Reading recommendations from Lauretta O'Connor, Kurt Luchs, David Heim, and Nicole Benevenia. (Tell us about your own summer reading plans in the thread below.)Of course, no beach bag or carry-on should be without an issue of Commonweal -- subscribe now and get your own. And if you're headed to a graduation party or two this month, don't forget: a gift subscription to Commonweal is an excellent present! (It's good for Father's Day too.)