Welcome to Distinctly Catholic, a blog by Michael Sean Winters that examines politics, religion and the estuary where the two meet, all from a distinctively Catholic point of view. The blog is small "c" catholic as well as big "C" Catholic, examining a wide range of issues but always from the perspective of Catholic history and theology.
Here is a video of E.W. Jackson has secured the GOP nomination for Lt. Gov. in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Here is a video of him a couple of years ago when he ran unsuccessfully for the GOP Senate nomination. Scared yet?
This article at HuffPost is making the rounds. Steve Krueger, head of Catholic Democrats, charges Cardinal Sean O'Malley with "moral relativism" because of his decision not to attend Boston College's graduation ceremony yesterday. I do not think Cardinal Sean needs any lectures on caring for the poor from anybody.
From the press release from our friends at NETWORK:
Joining with labor, civic and fellow faith leaders, NETWORK’s “Nuns on the Bus” are hitting the road for a 6,500-mile, 15-state tour to raise their voices for bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform. The trip is scheduled to begin across from Ellis Island at Liberty State Park in New Jersey on May 29 and conclude with a rally in the shadow of San Francisco’s Angel Island on June 18.
If you work at the Mideast desk at the State Department, one of the most useful pieces of information to know would be the attitudes of young Egyptians. The revolution that toppled longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak has produced a fast-changing political climate in which the long-term problems afflicting the society are not susceptible to quick solutions, but revolutions produce expectations in abundance.
At the Tidings Online, news that Pope Francis wrote back to the incarcerated young men at a prison in Los Angeles who had written to thank him for going to a prison in Rome on Holy Thursday. The article includes a copy of the letter. How can you not love this guy?
In this editorial, the editors at Investors' Business Daily accuse Pope Francis of having a "blind spot" on the economy. Something tells me, that the pontiff will not find these arguments persuasive. He has seen with his own eyes.
The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity most difficult to get our minds around. We all understand Fathership and Sonship and see, throughout the Gospels, the intimacy that characterizes their relationship. But, the Spirit absconds from our intellect and receives less attention and focus in the life of the Church that the first two persons of the Trinity. Even Voltaire, in his famous deist quip, after watching a beautiful sunrise at Fernay, praised the Creator God - “I believe! I believe in you!
Mark Silk at RNS beat me to the punch of answering a column by Phil Lawler in which Lawler disparaged Papa Francesco's intellect compared to that of his two predecessors. I do think it is fair to say that the Roman Church has not had a pontiff with Benedict's theological intellect in a very long time, perhaps ever. But, Papa Francesco is certainly a match for John Paul II and both men deserve to be considered intellectuals.
Robert Jones and Daniel Cox write over at Monkey Cage on the changing composition of those who support same-sex marriage. Jones and Cox are two of the best researchers on the attitudes of believers in the business, and they continually ask questions that do not seem to occur to other polling outfits but are critical to understanding how Americans view contentious issues.
Over at Commonweal, Luke Hill looks at the changing face of the Catholic church in Boston. A good primer for the coverage that will be expected with Cardinal Sean O'Malley's 10th anniversary as archbishop this summer.
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