Distinctly Catholic

Kirsten Powers, writing at USAToday, asks why the mainstream media is giving so little attention to the trial of Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor on trial for murder in Philadelphia. The story is horrific, just the kind of thing that normally catches the attention of CNN. But, the story also raises some troubling questions for the culture of death such as, why is it wrong to kill a child that has just emerged from the womb, but two seconds prior, killing the child is a constitutionally protected right?

George Weigel’s newest book, Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21^st-Century Church, is not without certain moments of lucidity, but fundamentally the text fails to deliver on what the title promises. Yes, he includes buckets of proposals for reform, but not all have anything to do with the Gospel and many are not exactly deep.

Yesterday, NCR’s Morning Briefing called attention to an article in the Detroit Free Press regarding recent statements by Detroit’s Archbishop Allen Vigneron and Mr. Ed Peters, a canon lawyer, who teaches at Detroit’s seminary and is a consultor to the Vatican Apostolic Signatura, regarding the issue of those who support same sex marriage presenting themselves for communion. Both men made deeply troubling remarks.

James Hohmann, at Politico, makes the case that libertarianism is going mainstream. This is the scariest development in contemporary American politics and members of both political parties need to be on the alert, especially Catholics. You may find yourself agreeing with this or that policy, but the problem with libertarianism is at the root: When they say "human person," they understand that differently from the way orthodox Christians do.

The new pope has indicated several times that he does not want the Church to be "self-referential." If you are not sure what he means by that, I refer you to the blog of Father Zuhlsdorf where he addresses a question from a reader: "Is it a sin to fast during the octave of Easter?" That is what is meant by a self-referential Church.