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.
Law Professor Charles Reid, of St, Thomas University, has a post up at Huffington Post that shares some of the concerns I raised to Archbishop Vigneron's comments about Catholics who support same-sex marriage in civil laws refraining from Communion.
Distinctly Catholic: Those who have entertained wild expectations of change need to consider the implications of what they expect.
Vatican Radio reports on the Holy Father's homily this morning which he focused on the Holy Spirit pushing us forward, and the ways we resist the Spirit's promptings. He called Vatican II a great work of the Holy Spirit and said there could be no "turning back the clock."
Dear readers. Please listen to the Holy Father's words and before you think of how they might be a challenge to others, think of how they might be a challenge to yourself.
Over at MillennialJournal.com, Sarah Christian shares her reactions to reading about the case of Kermit Gosnell. And, she raises the tough questions the pro-choice crowd chooses to ignore.
Meghan Clark, one of the rising stars in the theological community, has a great post up at CatholicMoralTheology.com about the preferential option for the poor. Good stuff.
I highly recommend readers to this masterful article by Melinda Henneberger on the lack of coverage of the Gosnell case in Philadelphia. I find it especially curious that the editors at the Post entitled the article "Why Kermit Gosnell hasn't been on Page One." In the event, Henneberger's article did not make page 2, where her columns usually appear. It was only published online. This makes Henneberger's arguments even more damning.
Evil. Its ugly face showed itself anew yesterday as two bombs exploded on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The images were searing, the first blast followed by billowing smoke and a runner falling to the ground, then another burst of smoke down the street, people running frantically, the screaming, the sirens, the confusion, the blood on the street. Then, the news: two people are dead. Then, the worse news: one of the two was an eight year old boy. Then, still worse news: a third person had died and more than a dozen were still in critical condition.
Michael Gerson's tribute to Margaret Thatcher noted that she was no libertarian, that her commitment to free markets was tempered by her Methodism. Good for him for noting this. But, Gerson flinches before the task of wrestling with the real question here: Are the values the market requires, and which Thatcher championed, are they Christian values?
"I'm his daughter-in-law elect." We have all met her. And, as for the Mikado, the line "my morals have been declared particularly correct" is simply too splendid.
Okay, okay. I know the Holy Father does not want us to be "self-referential" but I must confess my disappointment that not a single person, in the comments or by email, picked up on one line in my review of George Weigel's new book. I wrote that Wiegel held up Pope John Paul II as the "model of a major modern papacy." I had in mind the great song from Gilbert & Sullivan's "Pirates of Penzance." Here is the song:
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