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.
I see that several comments are concerned that I was speaking out of school in my morning post when I mentioned the fact of Mary Johnson's affairs. To be clear, these sexual affairs are the subject of her book as Chris Matthews explained to me. I was not passing on gossip here. I apologize for not making that clear.
Over at Huffington Post, Michael Novak interviews George Weigel about his new book. Well, perhaps interview is not the right word in this context as there is more fawning than questioning in the text. But, is it not ironic that Weigel denounces solipsism in an article that is almost a perfect example of the phenomenon?
The Washington Post's Michelle Boorstein has a nice profile of Rocco Palmo in today's Style section. It is remarkable what Rocco has accomplished, working on his own, in such a relatively short time and good for the Post for noticing it.
Those of us who are fans of Msgr Lorenzo Albacete are such because of commentaries like these two from Sussidiario. They demonstrate why he is the acknowledged chaplain of the Mystery Party here in the U.S. Church.
The first is on two pictures, the one of an emerging planet being born and the other of Pope Benedict's helicopter leaving the Vatican.
From this morning's Playbook:
Last night, my friend Chris Matthews had me on his show “Hardball” to talk about the issues facing the Church at this moment of transition. The other guest was a woman named Mary Johnson, a former nun who has a new book chronicling her decision to leave her order, and – I have not read it but Chris told me about this – her sexual affairs first with a woman, then with a man.
Regular readers will know that Michael Gerson is one of my favorite voices on the right, not least because of his principled stance against libertarianism. But, I also admire Gerson because of his ability to deliver a hard blow of reason in the face of over-heated rhetoric. In his essay this morning about Senator Rand Paul's filibuster about the Obama administration's drone policy, Gerson notes that Sen.
The group Accuracy in Media has come out with another bizarre article that casts Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley as embracing the "Far Left." I find it especially curious that an organization called "Accuracy in Media" cites a website run by people who decline to use their names!
Yesterday, NCR reported on a talk given by Archbishop John Quinn, the Archbishop Emeritus of San Francisco, at Stanford University in which he called for two significant reforms in the Church, the adoption of patriarchal forms of local governance and making the Synod of Bishops a deliberative and responsible governing actor in the Church, not merely a consultative body.
Over at LawFare, Benjamin Wittes explains why Senator Rand Paul's filibuster on the issue of drone strikes was nothing more than a publicity stunt. I agree with Wittes. What is more, I expect this kind of paranoid foolishness from the likes of Sen. Paul. But I was appalled by, and call down shame upon, those lefty commentators that applauded his antics. Really people? One does not advance a serious issue by discussing it in unserious ways.
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