Religion Dispatches
“There are some among you,” the pope wrote, “who conceive of and desire a Church in America different from that which is in the rest of the world.” Apparently unconcerned that on this side of the ocean the word might have a more positive ring than he intended, he used the name by which this heresy had become known in Europe: Americanism.
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Efforts by the hierarchical institution to spin the current controversy as a matter of religious liberty are unconvincing. After all, it is not the Catholic Church whose liberty is impinged upon. Members, even bishops, can still teach and believe what they wish. No one forces them to use contraception. Rather, it is employees of Catholic institutions, including janitors and housekeepers, whose rights to make their own decisions about health care are impinged upon. Blaming the victim is an old trick, but, in this case, few people are buying it.
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If you are the Catholic parent of LGBT daughter or son, you know firsthand that it is your child’s sexual identity, and not a belief in the Immaculate Conception, that puts them at risk for beatings and taunting. We find it reprehensible when a legacy of discrimination is invoked by those who themselves advocate repression. Archbishop Dolan and his colleagues should stop pretending that they face anything like the intolerance that our children do.
Read MoreSame-sex marriage opponents feel “betrayed” by lawmakers.
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This week’s U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops summer meeting in Seattle will be dominated by the ongoing sexual abuse scandal. At this point apologies aren’t sufficient—it’s time for action.
Read MoreWhen bishops really disagree with someone, they are not tepid. Their language glows hot and they follow it up with strong action.
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An awful lot of Catholic priests have been caught embezzling from their parishes lately. Is it a symptom of larger dysfunction in the Church?
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We picketed bishops and Popes, stole their dresses, stood up at the consecration of the Eucharist and said the words out loud. We are the bad girls of Catholic feminism, and we have stood up, over and over again, for women’s freedom.
Read MoreIn a videotaped interview, Archbishop Raymond Burke calls Obama an “agent of death.” But his big mistake was to criticize his fellow bishops in public.
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While some Bishops attempt to spread their views on the denial of communion beyond their fiefdoms, there’s no theological demand for doing so.
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