Clarke Cochran is an expert on the work of Catholic hospitals and health care providers. His concern is with how Catholic institutions maintain their distinctive purpose of Christian service in the public square. He focuses on four dynamics at work as Catholic institutions collaborate with, compete with, challenge and transcend government and other institutions.

Alaine Gherardi reviews the book Local Ownership, Global Change, which illumines the work of so-called civil-society organizations (CSOs) around the world. These are the nongovernment, nonprofit organizations that represent and develop human relationships and the potential for work and public participation. The editors of this volume are particularly concerned about the contribution that Christian CSOs are and should be making in the Third World.

Stanley Carlson-Thies reviews a two-volume work on the way many countries balance parental responsibility in choosing schools with public accountability. For all of its emphasis on democracy and freedom, the United States is far behind most other democracies in guaranteeing freedom for parents and schools. One of the book's two authors is Charles Glenn, a Center for Public Justice Fellow and past recipient of the Center's Leadership Award.

Readers respond to James Skillen's lead piece (Iraq, Terrorism, and the New American Security Strategy) in the last issue of the REPORT, and he responds. Should the United States try to go around the United Nations? Is the American aim of promoting freedom really becoming a quest for control? Can the Bush administration escape its current predicament in the UN and in conflict with allies?

Feel like you're on a treadmill? Dread weekends? Unhappy even if you have adequate income and many possessions? You're not alone.

David M. Young explains how Montana is trying to address the problems of rural health care in face of national inequities and disparities. One hopeful approach is for the state to hook up more closely with faith-based and community-based organizations in the small towns, taking more fully into account the importance of human relationships and community behaviors for individual health.