If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Reports on Catholicism are especially vulnerable to false balance, and often it is achieved through manipulation of the name "Catholic" and religious symbols such as veils and Roman collars.
I'd sure hate to be the anti-LGBT, anti-woman tantrum-prone cardinal following the sage, rabbinic and serenely exuberant Sister Simone Campbell at the Democratic National Convention. But Timothy Dolan did just that.
It was an exciting time. It was also a dangerous time, a time of great personal tension and deep spiritual struggle.
The name Nienstedt, which translated is something like "no town," could perhaps be more liberally rendered as "nowhere." Thus, I'd like to suggest that the title "Nowhere Man" is as fitting as "Crusader" for the Archbishop and could perhaps be added to his titles.
Weeks before Republican Paul Ryan was selected to run for vice president, Sister Simone Campbell hit the road to protest the so-called "Ryan budget."
The LCWR and its members are happy to see their public image shift from a nunzilla model of the stern unbudging nun to the caring teacher, professor, social worker, nurse or hospital administrator.
The Vatican had nothing to gain by staging a tantrum and humiliating the nuns. Like a cool-headed mom managing a child demanding candy in the supermarket checkout line, the LCWR waited for the histrionics to pass.
Whatever the sisters choose to do, they needn't fear. If they measure themselves by the values they chose to follow in the '60s, they are both successful and secure.
I'm with the nuns and their enlightened focus on social justice, civil rights and catholic thinking. They would be better served by leaving and joining -- even starting -- a religious movement that embraces and supports their efforts.
Whether it's women singing and dancing on altars in religio-political protest or women riding on buses because they can't stand behind them, what's the difference?
We will put up with a lot from Rome, but when you start disciplining nuns for carrying out the Gospel message, that's where the American Catholic laity draws the line.
With each new discovery proving a Biblical assertion wrong, the Church retreats to the safety of errors in interpretation or dismissing the discrepancy as unimportant. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
Help me to be peaceful when people tell me that I don't belong in the church, that I'm a heretic for trying to make things better, or that I'm not a good Catholic.
What kind of a rabbi is bold enough to state opposition to Roman Catholic leadership in a publication? Moreover, what the heck happens when a rabbi challenges a bishop or Roman Catholic leader about his entrenched religious beliefs?
A few years ago, I ran into a nun whom I hadn't seen in more than 10 years. She immediately asked me if I was still Catholic. It struck me as an odd question for a "how have you been" casual conversation.
The table for dialogue and relationship is set by sisters, Franciscans and many other faithful Catholics. Can those at the Vatican respond with some of the graciousness that the bishop of Assisi exhibited to Francis?
