Hummes now at the bat on laicizations
The letter below, to be published in the Association of Chicago Priests' publication, contains an interesting take on the Vatican's approach to non-laicized priests.
NCR Today
NCR Today is the group blog of NCR. Each member of our diverse team of bloggers writes on different topics, including the politics of the church and secular society (and the interaction between the two), culture, management of the church and more.
Washington DC children scholarships should continue
The Washington Post this morning endorsed an extension of D.C.’s Opportunity Scholarship program. The program provides scholarships to poor children in the District whose local public schools are failing and who enroll in private schools, including parochial schools. Earlier this year, the program was nixed entirely under pressure from Illinois Senator Richard Durbin but then the Obama White House stepped in and agreed to a compromise that would allow students currently in the program to continue to receive scholarship assistance through their graduation but did not permit any new enrollees.
More on Weakland: The perks of office
Archbishop Rembert Weakland, throughout his memoir, “A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim Church,” is unrelentlingly critical of the church’s hierarchical structure -- its lack of humanity in applying rules, its refusal to foster a consultative model of governance, and its distance from the experience of ordinary people. He had firsthand experience of hierarchical pettiness and, in many instances, church leaders’ deep opposition to any of the reforms of Vatican II.
Yet Weakland took advantage of the perks of office when his position was threatened, and in the book he mounts a defense of the system in his analysis of the sex abuse crisis.
Advocating for the mountains, and people, of Appalachia
Appalachia is one of America’s great paradoxes, a region of breathtaking beauty and grinding poverty, coal its blessing and curse. It is also a region easily hidden away among the culture’s pressing problems.
Vatican denies studying new rules for priests who father kids
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
The Vatican has denied an Italian report that it recently convened meetings to study the situation created by priests who violate their vows of celibacy by having relationships with women and fathering children.
The Italian daily La Stampa reported on Sunday, August 2, that the Congregation for Clergy was considering a new set of rules for such cases, which the newspaper described as "very widespread" in developing nations as well as some European countries, "such as Austria". (The reference to Austria likely had in mind the case of Fr. Joseph Friedl, a popular pastor who recently acknowledged living with a woman for more than 25 years.)
Ac
Morning Briefing
Catholic Archbishop Apparently Not A Fan Of Social Networking
Cardinal Urges Pro-Life Amendments to Health Care Bill
Catholic officials: tough times boost fundraising
Catholic bank owned pill shares
The Media and Honduras
The other night on TV, I watched coverage of popular demonstrations in Tehran, demonstrations that were met with official repression, even though the people were attempting to observe a religious day of mourning for those killed 40 days ago. Coverage was very sympathetic to the Iranian people in the streets, people who demand to know what happened in their recent “election.”
Corazon Aquino, Ex-Leader of Philippines, Is Dead
Corazon Aquino, devout Catholic, who was swept into power following a non-violent "people power" revolution, has died.
She is described as, "An observant Roman Catholic who sometimes retreated to convents for contemplation, she attributed much of her success to a divine will.
“What on earth do I know about being president?” Mrs. Aquino said in an interview in December 1985, after a rally opening her election campaign.
Obama's teaching moment was his own
President Obama said he hoped the controversy surrounding the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. would become a “teaching moment.” Unfortunately, by saying he thought the police had acted “stupidly” he guaranteed that the moment would have little to do with teaching anything and much to do with reinvigorating racial stereotypes.
Give the money back
While Louisiana public schools are in line for $370 million this year in federal stimulus aid, the story for private and parochial schools is much different.
Special federal aid totaling about $70,000 is being split up among 16 Catholic schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, or about $4,400 each.
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In This Issue
June 7-20, 2013
- Pope spotlights social teaching with blunt calls for ethical economy
- We face clear moral choices in priorities of our federal budget
- Mother Tekla: the most powerful woman in Rome
- [Print Edition Only] Special Section: Ministries PREVIEW
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