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Pope Francis and the American Sisters

By Mary E. Hunt

…agna). We endured stories of a sumptuous 80th birthday party for disgraced Boston Cardinal Bernard Law at one of Rome’s four-star restaurants. We know that Benedict and his colleagues were harsh on nuns whose lifestyles they would do well to emulate. I expect a good deal more from Francis than the friendly but still largely cosmetic changes he has instituted. Gradualists will disagree with me, but I think it is time for Catholics to grow up and re…

No to Church, Yes to Jesus?

By Elizabeth Drescher

…“I think of Jesus first and foremost as a healer,” a secular humanist from Boston who had been educated by Jesuits in Brazil told me. “He’s such an icon for reaching out to people most in need. That didn’t end up making me believe in a supernatural being who gives out miracle cures,” he made clear, “but it’s a big social lesson. It’s really the best side of Christianity.” Indeed, so compelling is this understanding of Jesus to many Nones that in c…

Has American Conservatism Abandoned the Christian Right?

By Bradley Onishi

…late of similar laws over the past century,” writes Michael Bronski at the Boston Review. “In significant ways, ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws—and obsessions with ‘grooming’ more broadly—are old Christian fears about sin and danger given a new face, and express this by recycling medieval anti-Semitic tropes of the blood libel, simply substituting LGBTQ people for Jews as the supposed threat to children.” In sum, Mr. DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” campaign is not…

Bush’s Favorite Catholic Departs The Scene

By Peter Laarman

…they gave us Iran-Contra (they all lionized Ollie North, and one of their number—the execrable Elliott Abrams—is still running our disastrous Middle East policy as Assistant Secretary of State). They also tried, unsuccessfully in this case, to discredit the anti-apartheid forces in South Africa and their allies here in the United States. They orchestrated a pretty effective pushback against affirmative action programs at every level and against E…

Netanyahu Patriarch Dies at 102, Leaves Hawkish Legacy

By Shalom Goldman

…period when the two ambitious young businessmen were working for the same Boston consulting firm in the 1970s. The elder Netanyahu’s death has given Romney yet another opportunity to position himself as ‘pro-Israel’—or in his words, a champion of “all who care about Israel.” The implication, of course, is that Obama, and liberals in general, do not care about the Jewish state. This most recent opportunity to praise Israel’s right-wing leadership…

Is New Pope’s Take on the Poor All That New?

By Silvia Alves Fernandes and Manuel A. Vásquez

…ey, a Franciscan who has been credited with cleaning up the Archdiocese of Boston, which witnessed some of the most egregious cases of sexual abuse and cover up under Cardinal Bernard Law. Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras and head of Caritas International, will serve as the panel’s coordinator. Among the proposals that the council will consider is one that sets term limits for positions within Vatican bureaucracy…

Not Only is the Right Unapologetic For Violent Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric — It’s Doubling Down

By Thomas Lecaque

…hose targeted anti-trans rhetoric led to multiple bomb threats against the Boston Children’s Hospital), ignored the Club Q attack. The next day, however, she virtually put a target on a drag show education organization and the Colorado State Representatives who’ve appeared at their events—whom she called out by name. She followed it up with posts attacking gender affirming care facilities, drag shows, and an individual’s TikTok profile, writing, “…

Thanksgivukkah, With a Side of Christmas Envy

By Jodi Eichler-Levine

…ot running from the Red Scare. In fact, the mayor of a major American city—Boston’s Mayor Thomas Menino—issued a proclamation in honor of Thanksgivukkah. I have deeply ambivalent, uncomfortable feelings about state displays of religion, but you have to feel a bit of awe: the city that won the World Series this year (fear the beard!) is also acknowledging our minor festival. Combining traditions is not a new thing in any religious tradition or cult…

Vatican Equates Women’s Ordination with Priest Pedophilia?

By Mary E. Hunt

…second break with Catholic institutional action is found in the increasing number of Catholics living their faith according to their consciences, ignoring the Vatican entirely. At the recent memorial mass for William R. Callahan, one of the founding directors of the DC-area social justice-oriented Quixote Center, such new practices were in evidence. Bill Callahan was a Jesuit priest. A feminist before most men could even spell the word, he was dis…

Did Catholic Church Abuses Amount to “Organized Crime”?

By Patricia Miller

…ey’re out, they get pulled back in. First, it was Spotlight’s focus on the Boston-area abuse scandal that proved to be the tipping point for public awareness of widespread abusive priest-shuffling. It also reminded people of just how hard senior Vatican officials like Cardinal Bernard Law worked to keep the church’s complicity covered up. And just when the publicity over Spotlight’s Academy Award dies down, now comes a hard-hitting report chronicl…