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Home > The Commonweal Interview

Featuring the best of our interviews—including Woody Allen, Jorge Luis Borges, Mary Gordon, (Sister) Elizabeth McAlister, Christian Wiman, and Mario Cuomo—this reading list spans seventy-six years, five popes, and thirteen U.S. presidents. These conversations cover a wide range of topics and sketch the contours of a complicated American Catholic history in dialogue with secular politics, culture, and views of religion.

They also reveal surprising details: Did you know that jazz composer Dave Brubeck got inspiration for his music from Gregorian chant? Or that Elie Wiesel types with only two fingers? German novelist Heinrich Boll once stopped at the railway station for Buchenwald without knowing it. Archbishop Blase Cupich's father always said that you can find something wrong with anybody, "but that doesn’t get you anywhere." And Joyce Carol Oates used to think she was influenced by Flannery O'Connor, but, "She's so religious."

We hope you enjoy reading what these politicians, writers, artists, theologians, and thinkers have shared with Commonweal editors and contributors over the past seven decades.

 

Tags
U.S. Catholicism [1]
Domestic Affairs [2]
Abortion [3]
Academic Freedom [4]
Arts [5]
Bishops [6]
Book Essay [7]
Books [8]
Commonweal at 90 [9]
Continuing the Conversation [10]
Contraception mandate [11]
Death and Dying [12]
Economy [13]
Ecumenism [14]
End-of-life Issues [15]
Environment [16]
Ethics [17]
Fiction [18]
Foreign Affairs [19]
From the Archives [20]
Higher Education [21]
Immigration [22]
Jewish-Christian Relations [23]
Laity [24]
Liturgy [25]
Media [26]
Movies [27]
Music [28]
Poetry [29]
Poverty [30]
Priesthood [31]
Profiles [32]
Religious Life [33]
Secularism and Modernity [34]
Sexuality [35]
Social Justice [36]
Spirituality [37]
Theology [38]
Vatican II [39]
War and Peace [40]
Web Exclusive [41]
Women in the Church [42]

Please email comments to [email protected] [43] and join the conversation on our Facebook page [44].

Share
An Interview with Joyce Carol Oates [48]
An Interview with Christian Wiman [49]
An Interview with Jorge Luis Borges [50]
An Interview with Kirstin Valdez Quade [51]
An Interview with Dave Brubeck [52]
An Interview with Peter Quinn [53]
An Interview with Ernesto Cardenal [54]
An Interview with Elie Wiesel [55]
An Interview with Mary Gordon [56]
An Interview with Heinrich Böll [57]
An Interview with Elizabeth McAlister [58]
An Interview with Alan Wolfe [59]
An Interview with Gregory Maguire [60]
An Interview with Anne Enright [61]
‘Eat the Chard, Say a Hail Mary’ [62]
An Interview with Noam Chomsky [63]
An Interview with Carmen Maria Machado [64]
An Interview with Lawrence Joseph [65]
An Interview with Woody Allen [66]

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Source URL:https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/commonweal-interview

Links
[1] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/us-catholicism [2] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/domestic-affairs [3] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/abortion [4] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/academic-freedom [5] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/arts-0 [6] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/bishops [7] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/book-essay [8] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/books [9] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/commonweal-90 [10] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/continuing-conversation [11] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/contraception-mandate [12] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/death-and-dying [13] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/economy [14] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ecumenism [15] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/end-life-issues [16] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/environment [17] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/ethics [18] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/fiction [19] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/foreign-affairs [20] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/archives [21] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/higher-education [22] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/immigration [23] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/jewish-christian-relations [24] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/laity [25] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/liturgy [26] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/media [27] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/movies [28] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/music [29] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/poetry [30] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/poverty [31] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/priesthood [32] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/taxonomy/term/76 [33] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/religious-life [34] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/secularism-and-modernity [35] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/sexuality [36] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/social-justice [37] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/spirituality [38] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/theology [39] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/vatican-ii [40] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/war-and-peace [41] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/web-exclusive [42] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/women-church [43] mailto:[email protected] [44] http://www.facebook.com/commonwealmagazine [45] http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/commonweal-interview [46] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/commonweal-interview [47] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/print/36593 [48] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-joyce-carol-oates [49] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-christian-wiman [50] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-jorge-luis-borges [51] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-kirstin-valdez-quade [52] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-dave-brubeck [53] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-peter-quinn [54] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-ernesto-cardenal [55] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-elie-wiesel [56] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-mary-gordon [57] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-heinrich-b%C3%B6ll [58] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-elizabeth-mcalister [59] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-alan-wolfe [60] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-gregory-maguire [61] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-anne-enright [62] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/%E2%80%98eat-chard-say-hail-mary%E2%80%99 [63] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-noam-chomsky [64] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/love-not-magic-force [65] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-lawrence-joseph [66] https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/interview-woody-allen