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Time coverI suppose pretty much everything that needs to be said about this month’s controversial Time magazine cover (featuring a young mom breastfeeding her almost 4-year-old while he's standing on a stool next to her) has been said, written, blogged, posted and tweeted. Sadly, much of the conversation—even on Catholic blogs and sites—has been less than charitable. I will try to be more so in my comments about the cover for a story on attachment parenting.

First, the disclaimers: I did not breastfeed my children. Some adoptive mothers do, but I did not choose to. That said, my husband and I did follow a number of so-called “attachment parenting” practices (co-sleeping, “wearing” children in carriers, etc.), in part because experts highly recommend them for adopted children, many of whom do not develop strong attachments in their early months. Some of our decisions put us in the “extreme” camp.

I’m sure there are those who judge how we parent our children, though most people are too polite to say so. (Not so with anonymous online commenters!) Still, I have been spared the wrath that the mom on the Time cover, Jamie Lynne Grumet, has received this past week. The difference: my attachment parenting doesn’t involve my breasts.

Students of St. Therese Catholic School (Courtesy of St. Theresa Catholic School)Seattle's St. Therese Catholic School will hug cutting-edge technology, alter its name and open its 2012-2013 academic year with a mission of reversing a half-dozen years of decline and becoming a financial and educational model for other parish-affiliated inner-city schools across the country.

The venture is being underwritten by half a million dollars in donations -- including $300,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- and guidance from Seton Education Partners, according to a recent story in The Catholic Northwest Progress, the Seattle archdiocese's newspaper.

When it opens as St. Therese Catholic Academy in the fall, the school will become the second West Coast Catholic elementary school to adopt a "blended technology" educational model and partner with Seton, "an organization dedicated to supporting inner-city Catholic schools," wrote The Progress' Kevin Birnbaum.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The lawyer representing the priest at the center of the first criminal trial of a bishop in the decades-long clergy sexual abuse crisis has requested the priest's federal trial be delayed.

The priest, Fr. Shawn Ratigan, is charged with 13 federal felony counts relating to the possession and production of child pornography.

Ratigan's bishop, Robert W. Finn, and his diocese, that of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo., face separate criminal trials in a local jurisdiction on charges of suspicion of child abuse, stemming from questions surrounding when they reported Ratigan to police.

The motion for a continuance, filed in federal court today and first reported by The Kansas City Star, would delay Ratigan's trial from June until Aug. 27. Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Kuchar says in the filing that he only recently received some 1,000 pages of material from prosecutors and needs time to study it.

TEL MARESHA, Israel -- The underground cave in which we are digging for archeological treasures here is domed with rock, cool and a bit damp.

Our Jewish-Christian study tour group has stopped at Bet Guvrin-Maresha National Park in the Judean lowlands to get a sense of the astonishing layers of history in the Holy Land. And the experts who oversee this ongoing archeological dig are letting us do some real digging.

Using small claw-like tools, we churn up soil that has remained untouched by human hands for at least 2,000 years. As we do so, we watch for pieces of pottery, jewelry or anything else that seems not to be chalky rock or simply soil. The burden of not losing history seems palpable.

I soon find a shard of pottery a couple of inches across, and I put it into one of the "save" buckets. Soon, one of the women in our group begins to unearth what turns out to be a large pot that could hold several gallons of liquid. It's quite an amazing find for an amateur, and the professionals helping us are thrilled.

As spring gave way to winter, more than flowers were found sprouting up on the grounds at a Catholic parish and school in Holmdel, N.J.

For St. Benedict Parish and School, the sun’s rays not only give life to their plants and shrubbery, but they now bring power to its buildings.

On April 22, Earth Day, the parish community gathered, amid heavy rain showers, to bless the nearly 1,000 solar panels installed on their property. The panels – set up in two arrangements, one behind the school and one on top of a school building’s roof – will generate enough electricity to power the entire parish campus, as well as symbolize their stewardship to the earth.

Those who heard Ada María Isasi-Díaz's moving keynote address on solidarity during November's Call to Action conference might be stunned to learn that she passed away this weekend.

Isasi-Díaz succumbed to an aggressive cancer on Mother's Day, a touching irony since she is widely considered the mother of Mujerista theology, a theological tradition born out of liberation theology. Isasi-Díaz was born in Cuba and arrived in the United States as a political refugee at the age of 17.

A scholar, activist and mentor, Isasi-Díaz dedicated her life's work to empowering the voices of Latinas and Latinos in the fields of theology and religious studies. She was professor emeritus of theology and ethics at Drew University in New Jersey, where she founded the Hispanic Institute of Theology.

Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Miami and one of Isasi-Díaz's many mentees, offers a tribute in Religion Dispatches that details her impact on Hispanic/Latino theology:

This month, it was the Leadership Conference of Women Religious that bishops were concerned about. Before that, it was Catholic Charities in the United States. Then it was Caritas, the church's umbrella organization for the coordination of international charity. And now it is the Girl Scouts. Each of them has been curtailed, "investigated" or put in some kind of canonical receivership because of their reputed lack of orthodoxy on sexual issues or because of association with other groups that, according to the bishops, have the same problem. And all of that in the face of the sex abuse debacle of the church itself, still to be resolved, never monitored, and totally closed to outside investigation.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I have no answer to the famous tongue twister. But, checking out the cable news shows last nights, I cam up with a question, easier to ask and harder to answer: How myopic can a cable news host be without getting laughed off stage?

These days, it's not hard to find odd stories about strange doings with the name "Catholic" attached. A friend sent this one into my email-box about a crazy dispute in Arizona.

Seems a local high school there, Mesa Prep, won their league championship by default when their rival for title decided to forfeit the big game. That sort of thing -- forfeiting a title match -- usually happens only after something huge, like, say, a tornado sweeping through town, shredding all the team uniforms after flipping the school bus upside-down on Highway 17.

This was not that. Mesa Prep won by default because their rival, Our Lady of Sorrows, didn't want to play against Paige Sultzbach, a girl and the team's second-base person.

I share Mark Silk's reluctance to engage in public disagreement but I have an additional reason that Silk does not. He cites our friendship, which, I also treasure. But, I also know that Silk is far more learned than me so disagreeing with him is perilous as well as distateful.

Former Commander of U.S. Nuclear Forces Calls for Large Cut in Warheads. General Cartwright said that the United States’ nuclear deterrence could be guaranteed with a total arsenal of 900 warheads, and with only half of them deployed at any one time. Even those in the field would be taken off hair triggers, requiring 24 to 72 hours for launching, to reduce the chance of accidental war.

USCCB joins in petition asking US to change 'outdated' nuclear policy

Washington’s Catholic archbishop, Georgetown president spar over graduation invitation to Kathleen Sebelius

In continuing our examination of Tracey Rowland’s book, “Ratzinger’s Faith,” begun yesterday, we turn as she does to one the Second Vatican Council’s most emblematic documents, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, or Gaudium et Spes. Even the title of the document was novel: The document was not, like Lumen Gentium, a doctrinal constitution, but because the Council Fathers wanted to highlight its significance they devised this hybrid name, a pastoral constitution.

The bishop of Davenport, Iowa, has changed his mind and will allow a gay high school student to publicly receive a scholarship awarded by an Iowa organization that supports same-sex marriage.

Bishop Martin Amos never opposed Keaton Fuller of Prince of Peace Catholic High School from receiving the scholarship, awarded by the Eychaner Foundation, but originally barred its presentation by a foundation representative, due to the group's position on same-sex marriage.

An agreement was reached among all sides, and Fuller will receive the $40,000 scholarship May 20 at his graduation from Prince of Peace Catholic School in Clinton, Iowa.

The Quad City Times has the full story.

Most Catholics – clergy and laity – were late to condemn slavery, largely absent in the civil rights movement, slow to denounce the Vietnam War, have long ignored the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in general have remained rather quiet regarding nearly every social injustice facing our world, with the exception of abortion –and even there the vast majority of Catholics are only minimally active at best.

Rosanna Scotto, co-anchor of Fox 5's "Good Day New York," is one of New York's favorite reporters. She's been honored many times for her professionalism, and loyal viewers find her cordial and gracious. I spent some time talking to Rosanna about her life away from the camera, especially in terms of devotion to family and the impact of its traditions upon her.

We’ve all witnessed the worst of religion, how organized religion can hurt us, turn our leaders into cruel, power-hungry authorities, and bless war not peace. Yet many of us continue to plumb the depths of all that is good and positive in religion and spirituality in our search for the Divine, and this proves to be a great blessing. In this search for God and the common good, at some point, many of us have joined local, national and international interfaith programs and projects in our work for peace.

Brother William Brynda, of the De La Salle Christian Brothers in Glencoe, Miss., has sent NCR the following letter for publication, in support of Catholic sisters the Vatican criticizes in a recent report. Brynda said he also sent a copy to Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle, who has been appointed to oversee the Leadership Conference of Women Religious going forward.

Brynda writes:

Garry Wills takes to the online pages of the New York Review of Books, a venue that you would think might require some standards of cogent thought for publication, to make a very curious argument about same sex marriage. He suggests that the Catholic Church's view that marriage is a sacrament is simply a medieval "fiction." He makes this point by way of voicing his support for same sex marriage.

Hmmmmm. I can see that there is an argument, although not a Catholic argument, that there is no such thing as the development of doctrine and so the organic growth of the Church's teaching over the centuries is, per se, invalid. I can see, too, that there is a case to be made, although I have yet to see a convincing one so far, that the doctrine of the Church does develop and that such doctrine should now develop to encompass same-sex marriage. But, I cannot understand Wills' argument which seems to be that the only developments that are legitimate are those that end up agreeing with him. A magisterium of one, and on the pages of the New York Review. Who knew?

Freedom of conscience and religion is the first fundamental right listed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982). Yesterday, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops published a Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion to reiterate the importance of this right in today’s society.

Divided into 18 points, the letter seeks to “affirm the rightful role of religion in the public square; uphold a healthy relationship between Church and state; form conscience according to truth; and protect the right to conscientious objection.” (Point 11)

As with all freedoms, limits on religious freedom, the letter states, must be “determined in each social situation with political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good.” (5) We can propose religious beliefs but we cannot impose them, for that would violate the freedom of conscience of the other. “The right to profess the truth must always be upheld, but never in a way which involves contempt for those who think differently.” (6)

Everyone likes to denounce the increasingly bitter tone of our nation's political life. But, voters in New York's 16th Assembly district are in for a unqiuely ugly fight. The incumbent, State Rep. Michelle Schimel, is being challenged by her husband. The couple separated last year but are not yet divorced. Forget the pay-per-view wrestling: The debates in this election contest are going to be soimething to watch in the annals of human conflict!

Today is the feast of St. Dymphna, patron saint of mental illness and nervous disorders. As you can well imagine, I have long been intrigued by her cult and once made a pilgrimage to her shrine in Geel, Belgium. Obviously, it did not do much good!

Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan Irish king and a Christian woman. When her mother died, her father said he would only marry a woman as beautiful as his deceased wife and the only woman who fit the bill was his daughter. Horrified, she fled with her priest, Father Gereburnus, to the mainland. Her father tracked them down and beheaded her in the town where her shrine is today. In the Middle Ages, a hospital was built to care for the mentally infirm in the town and her cult became associated with the humane treatment of the mentally ill ever since.

I first became acquainted with the writings of Tracey Rowland in the pages of the Tablet, where she is a fairly regular contributor. I am not sure why I did not see her book “Ratzinger’s Faith” when it was published by Oxford Press in 2008. But, I saw it at a local bookstore this past winter, bought it, and put it on my list of books to read. I completed it last weekend and highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the theological pedigree and distinctive theological perspectives of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

Philadelphia -- Archdiocesan lawyer: Church leaders lied to me about secret list

Commentary -- What the Catholic Church in Philadelphia hasn’t learned about silence. By Kevin Cirilli

Editorial: Girl Scouts on defense once again

South Sudan: Episcopal and Catholic Bishops Ready to 'Do All in Their Power' to Realise an End to War

Canada: Bishops urge believers to ensure ‘religious voice’ is heard on abortion, gay marriage. a rising tide of “radical secularism”

Solar stewardship: In 2001, St. Elizabeth parish, in Wyandotte, Mich., won the Energy Star for Congregations award, for its sustainable practices, which included solar panels on the rectory's roof.Too often parishes can feel a pull between witnessing to their mission while dealing with practical matters such as paying their bills. Fortunately, a wonderful partnership has emerged between the faith community, the business community and the federal government where congregations can realize savings while exercising Gospel stewardship, particularly in the area of energy.

Since I began Michigan Interfaith Power & Light back in late 2002, a key resource and partner in helping communities of faith achieve pollution prevention is the EPA’s Energy Star for Congregations program.

"Come to the table of community instead of the table of war."

CHICAGO -- That was the message that 125 Catholic Workers brought to Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago, Ill., yesterday morning. The demonstrators came to invite President Obama and NATO leaders to break bread and discuss ending the occupation of Afghanistan.

From Bloomberg News:

The following piece, titled "Just Thinking," was sent to the National Catholic Reporter, for publication, by Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word Sr. Joan Holden, of St. Louis:

As I listen to the fallout from President Obama's announcement that he supports marriage equality, I have been struck particularly by the argument that marriage between a man and a woman is superior to committed relationships between same-sex partners.

Official Roman Catholic teaching bases this belief on the theory of natural law, arguing that all sex acts must take place within the state of marriage and must have the potential to create new life. This is why, according to the doctrine, sexual intercourse must always be involved in any sexual activity between a wife and husband.

Since same-sex couples do not have "complementing genders" and, therefore, cannot procreate, their relationships are by their very nature inferior. Having read Aristotle's and Aquinas's theory of natural law, I believe that the church has taken a very rich idea and reduced it to purely the level of biological function.