NCR Today

Welcome to NCR Today

by Joe Feuerherd on May. 13, 2009

NCR Today is the group blog of the National Catholic Reporter. Our diverse team of bloggers has different interests -- the politics of the church and secular society (and the interaction between the two), culture, management of the institution, and more.

Validation: Brainstorming doesn't actually work

by Joe Ferullo on Feb. 03, 2012

It feels wonderful sometimes to have a certain aggravation of yours validated by major national publications. This isn't a proper feeling -- not Christian, really -- because it borders on vengeance. Still, it sends the heart pumping and the blood racing, as a certain ungenerous smugness blankets your psyche.

And so it is for me, I reluctantly admit.

Here's the aggravation: I am strongly allergic to something often referred to as "brainstorming." You know the concept: Get a bunch of people in a room with a blank sheet of paper and command instant brilliance. "We need a new campaign for Irish Spring soap by four o'clock. Let's go, people!"

Short of soap commercials (maybe), I've felt this kind of thing to be a colossal waste of time. A waste of time now stamped as such by reports in The New York Times and the New Yorker.

More financial shenanigans by another Connecticut priest?

by Tom Gallagher on Feb. 03, 2012

Here in Connecticut we've had more than our fair share of embezzlement/theft/larceny by Catholic priests.

Today, NBC News is reporting that the Connecticut state police have opened up an investigation of a priest in the Diocese of Norwich.

According to NBC News:

"State police said they launched an investigation into St. Bridget Church in Moodus in December.
That's the same month in which Father Gregoire Fluet took a voluntary leave of absence, according to Michael Strammiello, the spokesman for the Diocese of Norwich.
The investigation pertains to the church's finances and was launched after a single parishioner raised questions, Strammiello said."

We'll have to see what happens here as the investigation continues.

The politics of women's health

by Heidi Schlumpf on Feb. 03, 2012

Like many of you, I have been deluged this week with Facebook posts and links pro and con about two women's reproductive health issues: the HHS decision to mandate contraceptive insurance coverage and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation's decision to cut breast cancer screening funding to Planned Parenthood, which it just reversed.

The perfect calendar for cat lovers and peace activists

by Maureen Fiedler on Feb. 03, 2012

A friend just sent me a 2012 calendar titled "Cat Lovers Against the Bomb." It was originally produced in 1984, when the anti-nuclear movement was prominent. It is designed and published by a group called Nebraskans for Peace.

If you like cats (which I do: I have three) and favor serious efforts for peace in the world, you will love this calendar. Not only do you find the dates of significant wars and peace treaties, you learn when various peace advocates were born or when they won the Nobel Peace Prize. You can commemorate the birth or death of various human rights activists or leaders of the women's rights movement. (Carrie Chapman Catt is included, for obvious reasons!)

You learn that March 17 is not only St. Patrick's Day, but also the feast of St. Gertrude of Nivelles, patroness of cat lovers. Who knew?

But interspersed with these commemorations are notations on certain days that tell you that a cat in Scotland lived to be 43; another cat awakened and saved a family when the house caught fire; even when "Krazy Kat" debuted as a comic strip.

Morning Briefing

by Dennis Coday on Feb. 03, 2012

Susan G. Komen for the Cure founder defends Planned Parenthood decision

Being a Catholic Priest—and Married, The pope has created a new diocese for bringing Episcopalians into the church.

Opinion: President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast. Catholics Won't Get Fooled Again by Deacon Keith A. Fournier

Portland, Maine -- Maine Catholics start 'same sex attraction' group

Editorial: Catholics right to be angered by administration rule by The Oklahoman

Falwell: Alive and kicking in today's GOP

by Dennis Coday on Feb. 02, 2012

NCR blogger and coloumnist Michael Sean Winters has just had a book published by HarperOne, a biography of Jerry Falwell titled God’s Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right.

NCR will review the book in it's Winter Books in a few weeks. That whole special section is devoted to the nexus of religion and polotics. Until then, if you want a peack at Winters' book, here's a review from The Charlotte Obssever, which I just saw: Falwell’s Moral Majority echoes in today’s GOP

Here's a taste from the review:

A simple man with a bulging dose of self-confidence, Falwell was disgusted with what he saw as America’s libertine habits, including what he regarded as a renunciation of religion. He envisioned a return to an idyllic earlier time that may never have been. Winters speculates that conservative Southerners such as Falwell transferred the racial superiority they had lost in the wake of integration into a national superiority that conflated religious faith with patriotism.

Embezzlement expert finds hierarchy uninterested

by Robert McClory on Feb. 02, 2012

Recent reports concerning a high Vatican official who had saved the church millions of dollars by eliminating "corruption and dishonesty" in various Vatican agencies aroused worldwide interest. But no one found the stories about Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's reform efforts more fascinating than Michael W. Ryan, a retired U.S. Postal Service security specialist, who has been trying for about 20 years to save the American church the millions it reportedly continues to lose through the embezzlement of Sunday collections and other fund sources.

Does this New York diocese have too much cash on hand?

by Tom Gallagher on Feb. 02, 2012

Richard Grafer, a financial expert at Pathway Investments, LLC, in Port Washington (Long Island), N.Y., has long held the view that the Diocese of Rockville Center saves too much cash for the proverbial "rainy day." In other words, the diocese should be using these funds today -- now -- in furtherance of the church's mission in this part of the world, not holding it back in its coffers.

Grafer's analysis is thorough and quite specific. Grafer distributed the following analysis and report Wednesday, and he concludes that diocese has $82 million to $103 million in excess -- that's right, in excess -- of industry standards.

From Richard Grafer:

Komen stops Planned Parenthood grants

by Zoe Ryan on Feb. 02, 2012

The breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure cut ties with Planned Parenthood affiliates due to an investigation (read more here). Lots of stories today about reactions to the decision -- some happy, some angry (read a few here and here and here). In October, NCR wrote about tensions between some Catholics and some Komen practices.

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