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Female Deacons: Pope Francis Walks It Back, Women Clergy Weigh In

By Kaya Oakes

…f a Roman Catholic woman. Last year, Father Jack McClure was sanctioned by San Francisco Archbishop Cordelione and prevented from saying mass for appearing at a women’s ordination gathering. Any Roman Catholic woman who pursues ordination in an independent Catholic Church (not considered to be in communion with Roman Catholic Church) is considered automatically excommunicated for breaking church law; members of the Roman Catholic Women Priests, wh…

Nuns Pray, Rangers Lose

By Lisa Webster

San Francisco was bedlam last night after the Giants broke a 53-year drought to win the World Series; you could hear the sound of the streets from way up in the hills over the Mission district. And near the ball park? Forget it. But amid the din, and my own rarely-elicited hometown pride, I found myself wondering about those elderly nuns who have been praying for so many years for the Texas Rangers. They’ve had a few minutes of fame this season,…

U.S. Bishops’ Silence on Guns and Gays

By Patricia Miller

…. We must stand for that. By comparison, in his statement on the massacre, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone revealed the dark heart of what so many in the church’s leadership believe to be the truth about LGTB individuals: …we stand in solidarity with all those affected by this atrocity, regardless of race, religion, or personal lifestyle. That’s right, it’s too bad your “personal lifestyle” got you killed. Just as the Catholic Church…

Sit Down and Shut Up: Pulling Mindfulness Up By Its (Buddhist) Roots

By Max Zahn

…t are called Buddhism’s three jewels; the other two are the Buddha and the sangha, or monastic community. As such, mindfulness makes up a small segment of the immense ethical, philosophical, institutional and ritual latticework that constitutes the totality of Buddhist practices, which themselves vary widely from place to place and era to era. The modern emphasis on mindfulness and meditation is a fairly recent phenomenon. Historian Eric Braun not…

Bishop Says Gay Couples Cannot Be Part of Parish Life; Does Rising Evangelical Political Power in Brazil Contribute to Anti-LGBT Violence?; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…LGBT activist speaking favorably about the Cardinal’s successor, Monsignor Francisco Ozoria Acosta of the Diocese of San Pedro, calling him “a man who is known for his moderation and prudence in the management of religious and social issues,” An addition, Francis DeBernardo at New Ways Ministry responds to reports that Emeritus Pope Benedict claims in his memoir to have dismantled a “gay lobby” within the Vatican: Since there had been so much spec…

“He Got Away With It”: Conversion Therapy Survivor on Dr. Joseph Nicolosi’s Legacy

By Sunnivie Brydum

…d other “reparative therapy” practitioners used. As a fact witness for the San Francisco City Attorney’s office, Kendall’s 2010 testimony in the case known as Hollingsworth v. Perry was so pivotal that (now-retired) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker cited Kendall’s story as proof that sexual orientation is immutable in his landmark decision. That ruling, which overturned the California proposition that revoked marriage equality in that state, was…

Why Kaepernick’s Refusal to Stand Is an Act of Religious Dissent

By Benjamin E. Zeller

This past Friday night, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick made the audacious choice to remain seated during the playing of the national anthem as a form of political protest against police violence and racism in America. The response against him has been swift, angry, and in many cases ugly. A series of commentators—mostly in the athletic and political spheres—lined up to rebuke him. So did the general public. For a taste of the so…

#HijabiLivesMatter: The Burkini Ban, Black Hair and the Meaning of “Natural”

By Shaina Hammerman

…aim BLM, not all French citizens can proclaim #JeSuisParis and be believed. This is because, as one of the women interviewed in the Times made explicit, “My heart is 100 percent French, but it feels like I have to prove my ‘Frenchness.’” As a white, Jewish woman in liberal San Francisco, there is a chasm between my experiences of privilege and the discrimination felt by Muslim Frenchwomen and black Americans. This is why The New York Times was rig…

HitchBot Meets His Maker: What a Robot’s Murder Tells Us About Ourselves

By Michael Schulson

…ago, the Canadian-built hitchBOT left Marblehead, Massachusetts. The goal: San Francisco. It was supposed to be an On the Road-meets-Wall-E jaunt, and a testament to the goodwill of human beings. Instead, over the weekend, somebody in Philadelphia destroyed hitchBOT. Game over. The timing for hitchBOT’s destruction felt oddly appropriate. Late last week, the New York Times published a startling article about Xiaoice, a Microsoft chatbot that’s gai…

Even Amid Controversy, ‘My Soul Still Sings,’ Says UMC’s First Lesbian Bishop

By Sunnivie Brydum

…stained glass ceiling” at the 12,000-member Glide Methodist Church in San Francisco, becoming the first woman to serve as a senior pastor at any of the denomination’s 100 largest congregations in the U.S. It was there that she experienced first-hand the expectation that she would bring her whole self to lead worship. “I have been blessed to be out because my congregations expected it of me,” she explained. “And here’s what I’ve found: Whenever an…