Search for "cheap airline tickets for a child phone number 1-800-299-7264"

An Unholy Holy Week: Is the All-Male Rule of the Roman Catholic Church Self-Destructing?

By Anne Eggebroten

…o ring hollow. “Call no man father,” warned Jesus in a passionate diatribe against “those who love the place of honor” and like to be called rabbi or teacher (Matthew 23). “Woe to you!” he repeated, describing the leaders of his day as whitewashed on the outside but inside full of “all kinds of filth.” In fact, deference to “Father” is at the heart of this mess. Nuns now report not challenging priests when they spent unusual time alone with childr…

55% of Utah Mormons Believe LGBT People can “Change”

By Joanna Brooks

…e of us who live within the culture know: many, many LDS people live in a parallel universe when it comes to the reality of LGBT experience. Just a few weeks ago, I was visiting with a friend who has a gay adult child. We discussed the nuances of the recent events surrounding Elder Boyd K. Packer’s abrasive and controversial October conference talk which asserted that God would never have people be born with “tendencies” to same-sex attraction, an…

Too Late for Apologies: Three Steps the U.S. Bishops Should Take to Prevent Another Sexual Abuse Scandal

By Grant Gallicho

…o be live-streamed, starting Wednesday, June 15). The bishops will take up a number of issues, from the revised liturgy to assisted suicide, but their conversations are sure to be dominated by an issue that has been dogging them since the mid-1980s: sexually abusive priests and the bishops who enabled them. Ten years after Cardinal Bernard Law became the poster bishop for failed religious leadership, new revelations of episcopal misfeasance threat…

C Street Scandal, the Media, the Future of the Family: An Interview with Jeff Sharlet

By Bill Berkowitz

…onists (Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Senator John Ensign of Nevada, and former Arkansas Congressman Chip Pickering) were all one-time residents of C Street and members of the Family, otherwise known as the Fellowship. As the summer unfurled, the “three amigos” gave mainstream media outlets plenty to talk about, and this highly secretive and powerful right-wing group got a lot of exposure. And then, as is the wont of the media, the stor…

Meeting on the Bridge: Fr. James Martin’s Ministry to LGBT Catholics Becomes a Book

By Kaya Oakes

…eligious media: still working a day job as the editor-at-large of America magazine (where I’m an occasional contributing writer), he’s also become a go-to explainer of Catholic issues to both religious and secular audiences. He’s so successful in this role that in April of this year, he took up yet another job when he was invited by Pope Francis to be a consultor to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications. In the past few years, however, even…

Anonymous Utah Group Distributes Vigilante “Illegal Immigrant” Watchlist

By Joanna Brooks

…s of the United States” has compiled and distributed to government and media a watchlist of 1300 alleged illegal immigrant Latinos, including names, birthdates, workplaces, addresses, social security numbers, names of children, and, for pregnant women on the list, due dates. The list was originally sent to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in April, but when no response was observed Concern Citizens sent the list to a number of Utah sheriffs,…

Why Do Evangelicals And Dems Want Immigration Reform?

By Daniel Schultz

Late last week, Our Dear Overlords at Religion Dispatches demanded an explanation of Dan Gilgoff’s secret intelligence cable listing “Obama’s evangelical cabinet on immigration reform.” Being a humble, craven paycheck blogger, I immediately agree with whatever Our Dear Overlords order, no matter how seemingly arbitrary. And so it was in this case, pausing only for a three-day weekend. It turns out the Overlords have a weakness for the “church and…

By the Way: Religious Right Losing its Grip?

By Randall Balmer

…our politics directing your faith.” What an idea! And from South Bend, Indiana, some equally unexpected news. The University of Notre Dame recently announced that President Barack Obama would give the commencement address this May, and will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree. Unsurprisingly, the announcement was greeted with protests from conservative Catholics who object to Obama’s pro-choice position on abortion and to his recent dir…

Marriage Vote ‘Transforms’ Not-So-Catholic Ireland; Activist to Malaysian PM – ‘Love Is Not Terrorism’; LGBTs Find Growing Acceptance in Colombia, Not At World Meeting of Families; Global LGBT Recap

By Peter Montgomery

…ited Nations Security Council heard testimony about Islamic State violence against LGBT people, an informal session sponsored by diplomats from Chile and the United States at which diplomats heard the testimony of gay men from Syria and Iraq. According to the Washington Blade, “Jessica Stern, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, told reporters after the meeting that her group has documented the execution…

DeSantis is a No-Show, the Right’s ‘Secret Sauce,’ and Final Thoughts on Pray Vote Stand

By PRA Staff

…election scandal has conclusively proven. Voter fraud is a myth. But the data doesn’t deter Snead or his copanelist Hans von Spakovsky from parroting mainstream anti-franchisement myths. To Von Spakovsky, inaccurate voter rolls are an opportunity for fraud. Snead claims the myth of voter suppression is a method the Left uses to “avoid conversations about how to reform and improve the election system.” Conversations on the Left about voter suppres…