Posts Tagged ‘National Catholic Reporter’

But just watch …

March 25, 2010

If members of a faith tradition are being excluded (see article in NCRonline and those following) because of a particular teaching within that tradition, one has to wonder: Upon what authority is the teaching based? I’m trying to think of an instance where the one whom the Christian tradition claims to follow excluded anyone. Maybe that’s expecting too much of church leaders.


Headlines throughout the day reported threats of violence and death against Democratic members of congress following the passage of the overall of health care  legislation. It would be a stretch to say that the threats are against both parties. A stray bullet hit an unmarked building holding an office of Eric Cantor R-VA, hardly the same.


Over the weekend, Congressman John Lewis and others were given a trip down memory lane courtesy of some tea partyers. Anyone who thinks our nation is in a post-racial era, causes me to wonder what they read (assuming they do), who they listen to on the radio (one can only imagine), what network they watch on TV (surely not FOX News), where they live, who they hang out with, how well they know people of color.


I do have to apologize for not assigning many good intentions to our conservative friends in government and their base. November’s election will be an exercise in measuring how fearful and misinformed our nation’s electorate can be. For the life of me, I can’t understand how a party, guilty of such inept governance and leaving our country in such an incredible mess, would ever be voted back into positions of power. But just watch …

An honest discussion would be good to see

February 8, 2010

This commentary and the associated articles help to inform a persistent issue among the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. An honest discussion on the topic of homosexuality would be good to see.

Perpetuating injustices doesn’t strike me as discipleship. Suppression in the absence of prayerful understanding has gone on too long.

Which is more laughable?

February 6, 2010

Talk about a pendulum swing during this snowy Saturday!

The morning began with an opportunity for me to speak to a church group about the death penalty. This particular group meets once per month for an 8:00 pro-life Mass followed by a meeting. They had not covered the topic of capital punishment, at least not recently.

A few parents, who have sons on death row, were there on behalf of the Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP). The general discussion went very well with thoughtful questions and a sincere interest to learn more. Literature with information and website URLs was made available. One site they were encouraged to visit is the Death Penalty Information Center.

So, later in the day I received an email notice of a posting in NCRonline referring to former President George W. Bush’s receiving a pro-life award from a group of Catholic business men. I don’t know which is more laughable, Bush being seen as pro-life, or Catholic business men believing Bush’s behavior to be pro-life.

The Catholic Church sure has gotten into a rut. Seldom is there a public face put on anything other than abortion or stem cell research. There is, or course,  an occasional article on Catholic social teachings and social justice issues in archdiocesan papers, but that is not what I would call public dissemination. I don’t even know many Catholics who read them.

More needs to be done. Voices need to be raised. Besides pedophilia and abortion, I wonder what the public image is for the Catholic Church of the 21st century. Thank goodness for the Catholic Relief Services (CRS). They can single-handedly give the Church a good name.

I can’t help but believe that if a symphony orchestra played one note all evening, people would be walking out throughout the entire performance … and some rather early too. It is of little surprise, then, that people are drifting away from the Catholic Church.