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Friday November 13, 2009

Catholic Hardball 2: DC Responds

Updates on yesterday's blog about the fight between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese and the DC City Council:

According to the Washington Post, the DC city council has responded to the Catholic Archdiocese by "digging in its heels" on gay marriage.  The Council tried to reach a compromise but now doubts that it is possible.

Local DC columnist, Petula Dvorak, a Roman Catholic calls her church to account and says that the Catholic Church has left her--and countless other DC Catholics--"heartbroken."

The Right Rev. John Chane, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, pretty much says that his church will help pick up the slack if the Catholic Church walks away (seems like a return volley in the ongoing Vatican-Anglican argument, too).  

Whatever happens in this case could, according to several news sources, set a national precedent for other states that adopt same-sex marriage as they try to work out accommodations with religious organizations.  

Thursday November 12, 2009

New Catholic Hardball: Trading the Poor for Doctrinal Purity

This morning's Washington Post made me choke on my coffee:  "Catholic Church Gives D.C. Ultimatum."  The Catholic Archdiocese is playing political hardball by threatening to cut off social services to the city's poor--including the homeless, the hungry, the sick, and children--if D.C. expands gay and lesbian civil rights and recognizes same-sex marriage.

That's right.  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington is holding poor people hostage in order to keep gay and lesbian persons from getting married.  They are willing to trade the indigent for getting their theological way.  

I don't like to criticize other people's religious faiths or churches.  There's plenty enough to criticize in my own Protestant tradition.  In the last year, however, we have witnessed a new authoritarian activism on the part of the Roman Church hierarchy that has an impact well beyond the Catholic Church.  This new coercive Catholicism is akin to the development of the Christian Right in evangelical churches in the early 1980s--a religious-political movement that reshaped American culture.  This is everybody's business.

In the last year, new Catholic politics emerged in the Prop 8 campaign in California where the church invested vast resources of money and leadership to overturn gay marriage; and then did the same in Maine.  Last week, in a political maneuver worthy of Tom DeLay, authoritarian Catholic bishops forced a Democratic Congress to adopt the Stupak Amendment undermining the legal right to choice by threatening to torpedo health reform.  Now they threaten the D.C. City Council?  Using the lives of poor people as a political tool?

I don't want to be alarmist about this.  Nor, in this ecumenical age, do I wish to be seen as a nativist calling for a new anti-Catholic crusade.  That would be a terrible misrepresentation of these concerns.  Nor do I want to offend Catholic friends and family.  But it is profoundly disturbing that the Roman Catholic Church appears to be using threats and fear to manipulate a democratic political process to enforce Catholic doctrine regarding abortion and human sexuality.  There seems to be a political pattern developing that should cause broad-minded citizens--Catholics included--to ask some serious questions regarding what is happening within the Catholic hierarchy.

Recently, Congressman Patrick Kennedy did just that.  In an argument with his own bishop about health care, Kennedy reminded the Bishop of Rhode Island that American Catholics have a long history of diversity and dissent regarding formal Catholic teaching.  Disagreement with the Catholic Church was, Kennedy argued, part of the dynamic of being Catholic in a democratic society.  Here's the bishop's answer:

"The fact that I disagree with the hierarchy on some issues does not make me any less of a Catholic." Well, in fact, Congressman, in a way it does. Although I wouldn't choose those particular words, when someone rejects the teachings of the Church, especially on a grave matter, a life-and-death issue like abortion, it certainly does diminish their ecclesial communion, their unity with the Church. This principle is based on the Sacred Scripture and Tradition of the Church and is made more explicit in recent documents.

For example, the "Code of Canon Law" says, "Lay persons are bound by an obligation and possess the right to acquire a knowledge of Christian doctrine adapted to their capacity and condition so that they can live in accord with that doctrine." (Canon 229, #1)

The "Catechism of the Catholic Church" says this: "Mindful of Christ's words to his apostles, 'He who hears you, hears me,' the faithful receive with docility the teaching and directives that their pastors give them in different forms." (#87)

 

It is worrisome that a Roman Catholic bishop would remind a member of the Kennedy political family that "docility" is the primary calling of faithful Catholic laity.  What about courage, compassion, and creativity?  

Oddly enough, Roman Catholic leaders have adopted a strategy of authoritarian engagement with the body politic at the very moment at which their church is declining. One in ten Americans is now an ex-Roman Catholic, with numbers dwindling, churches closing, a decline in the number of priests and religious, and with only immigration holding the number of communicants steady. With the church clearly in crisis, the bishops apparently have chosen to use the sick, poor, homeless, children, the faithful laity, and marginal as tools to increase their public power and influence by coercing public policy to fit their theology.  You'd think that they would be looking inward to see what is eroding Catholic congregations instead of lobbying Congress and threatening politicians. 

This is not what John F. Kennedy would have imagined for his beloved church when he so courageously broke through the boundaries of anti-Catholic prejudice to become the nation's first Catholic president.  The eternal flame at his grave in Arlington witnesses to the ancient Catholic vision of universal peace, justice, and love. The new authoritarian Catholicism is not only playing politics but it is replacing a more generous vision of historic Catholic faith--the traditional one that sides with the poor, the oppressed, and the outcast--with a vision of political power.  For that, I am deeply sad.  Coercive religion should have no place in a church or a pluralistic, democratic nation--much less in City Hall or the halls of the United States Congress.

 

Tuesday November 10, 2009

Categories: Abortion, Catholics

The Stupak Amendment and why the Post Card Campaign would make it easy to Hate Catholics Right Now

Rev. Donna Schaper is the Senior Pastor at the Judson Memorial Church in New York City.    

William James in his marvelous book, THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, speaks of the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism as the transition of the brocaded, artistic, colorful Baroque to one man in a black suit carrying a black book which he places on a plain table in an unornamented meeting house.  His observations are on target.   There is nothing perfect about Protestantism.  Still it has a few values that might make a non-violent approach possible for those of us who spiritually and theologically value the right to choose an abortion.  With Hillary Clinton, many of us think abortion should be safe, legal and rare.  We also think it is a constitutionally guaranteed right.  We also have respect for the constitutional promotion of a brocaded right to the separation of church and state.

When Roman Catholics take up a separate offering to remove abortion from federal funding and send their people home with an experience of the body of Christ - and a postcard to send to their congressional representatives - they violate both the body of Christ and the constitution.  These are not small matters.  Some of us are tempted to do more than growl: our stomachs churn at the deeper issue of one theology dominating another, illegally.  Some of us find ourselves filling up with a kind of hate at injustice, abuse of the constitution, power gone amok.  Some women are wearing T-shirts saying that we are feminists formerly for Obama.  Not me: I see what he is up against. We surely understand the President's dilemma and praise our baroque friends for their protection of immigrants, gays, even women to a point in the new and overall positive health care bill.  We sense ourselves eating different bread but not being part of a different body.

The reason hate is so tempting is that we are in fact so close to our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters.  In the name of all that is good about Jesus and his international body, I spend a good bit of time praying for the hate and anger to subside.  I also pray for the right lawsuit to stop my sisters and brothers from abusing the constitution by handing out post cards and taking up special offerings.   Protestants may be plain but we frown on this sort of imperial moral legislating.  We actually believe in the separation of Church and State and hope no (consenting and believing) Catholic will ever have an abortion.

It is not hateful to call to account. Nor is it hateful to enjoy the right to be different.  While frowning on the temptation to hate a group of unmarried men, namely the bishops, who don't even represent their people, who believe more than not in the right to choose an abortion being protected by the federal government, we who are hurt and we who will be hurt by the lack of funding for abortions have a right to call for strong countervailing action.  A good lawsuit against the postcards would go a long way towards resolving this dilemma.  Then we might go back to living on a fair and even playing field when it comes to politics, theocracies and women's rights.

Saturday November 7, 2009

Abortion and Healthcare

Aborttion has been part of the healthcare debate from the beginning.  The effort was supposed to be that the healthcare bill would be "abortion neutral" meaning it neither expanded the opportunities for abortion, nor restricted them.  Now it seems that no longer suffices for the US Catholic Bishops who want to impose their view on abortion on all of American citizens and make this an anti-abortion health Care bill.  Sara Posner at Relgion Dispatches explains the current fight over abortion in the health care bill:

As the House of Representatives health care reform bill edges closer to a vote, anti-choice Democrats continue their threats to hijack the bill over abortion funding. These members, and their supporters, are the very constituency Democrats have been urged to placate on abortion-related issues. That strategy, misguided to begin with, seems even more so as the "pro-life" Democrats are trying to bring down their own party's signature legislative initiative.

As part of Democrats' re-tooling in the post-"values voters" election of 2004, they tried to be more "friendly" to religion. A big part of that strategy included making anti-choice Democrats feel more "welcome" in the party by being less doctrinaire on choice, and acknowledging the claimed heartfelt religious belief at the core of these Democrats' position.

But now some of these Democrats, who claim to be pro-life, are playing politics with health care reform, aligning themselves more closely with the anti-choice hard right and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) than their own party. They insist that efforts to ensure that no public funds will be used to cover abortion services are insufficient. This game-playing is not about public funding of abortion, already outlawed in the Hyde Amendment (which bars federal funding from being used to pay for abortions for low-income women under Medicaid and other programs). Indeed, the House bill already incorporates Hyde through its own amendment authored by pro-choice California Democrat, Rep. Lois Capps.

Instead, these Democrats, led by Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, are pushing for an amendment to restrict womens' access to abortion. And that's not theology, it's politics.

Even so, says Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, those attempting to torpedo health care reform over the abortion issue do not represent mainstream religious views. "Pro-choice religious groups and leaders are very mainstream. They are supporting health care reform in the broadest framework," she said in an interview with RD.

While the USCCB has taken a hard line on opposing health care reform (which it claims to support) if abortion isn't sufficiently restricted, it does not represent the views of most Catholics. A recent poll commissioned by Catholics for Choice found that 68% of Catholics disapproved of the Bishops' opposition to health care reform that includes abortion coverage; 56% believed the Bishops shouldn't even be taking a position on the health care reform legislation. The views of the country's 65 million Catholics, said Jon O'Brien, the group's president, "are not represented by 350 members of the USCCB."

Other pro-choice religious leaders are similarly dismayed. Rev. Debra Haffner, president of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, reacting to efforts to restrict abortion coverage in health care reform, wrote on her blog, "It is profoundly unjust when the private moral choices of women... are subject to majority vote and political trading. There can be no common ground when votes are allowed to strip people of their existing rights."

Planned Parenthood, said Richards, wants the Hyde Amendment repealed because low-income women should have equal access to abortion services. But, she added, "we're not taking the position that health care reform is the place to relitigate that issue... unfortunately a handful of people would rather bring down health care reform in its entirety than provide the coverage women already have."

Read the entire article on abortion and health care over at Religion Dispatches:

Monday November 2, 2009

Categories: Catholics, Environment

Big Oil, Corporate Responsibility and Catholic Guilt

John Gehring is the Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good

As an urbanite fortunate to live within walking distance of work and trendy restaurants, I rarely drive these days. But running late to a pickup basketball game recently, I was low on gas and quickly pulled into the first station on the road. It wasn't until my tank was nearly full that I looked up and saw a glowing CHEVRON sign. My stomach sank. Last Friday, I attended the premier of "Crude," a powerful documentary that chronicles the 16-year lawsuit waged against the oil company on behalf of nearly 30,000 indigenous people living in the rainforests of Ecuador.

The lawsuit alleges that Texaco (bought by Chevron in 2001) dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon from 1964 to 1990. Plaintiffs for the indigenous tribes believe the ecological disaster poisoned an area the size of Rhode Island and is at least 30 times larger than the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska. The once pristine waters that nourished generations of indigenous communities now run black with oil. Infants are born with birth defects, cancer is ravaging villages, and a way of life dating back 500 years has been destroyed. Chevron executives deny responsibility and have used deep pockets to drag out the case. The company, based in San Ramon, Calif., recently reported profits of $3.8 billion and has no shortage of savvy PR consultants or expensive legal minds at their disposal. The non-profit Amazon Watch is leading a coalition of international groups demanding accountability from the oil giant. Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts, who attended the premier in Washington, DC, visited the affected areas of Ecuador last year and in a letter to President Obama described what he saw as a "terrible humanitarian and environmental crisis" that as an American left him "angry and ashamed." 

The film raises haunting questions for those of us privileged to live in comfort while others suffer from the greed of U.S. corporations. How do we reconcile our call as Christians to live simply and seek justice for the most vulnerable amid a culture of excessive consumerism? How do we avoid becoming indifferent to human rights abuses far from our daily experiences? "Crude" shakes us out of the cocoon of complacency. It forces us to consider how personal choices relate to systemic injustices.

I grew up steeped in the intricate vocabulary of sin. In classes that should have been called Catholic Guilt 101, I learned about mortal sins, venal sins, sins of omission and sins of commission from the good sisters at Immaculate Conception Elementary School. It was also a sin, I was sorry to hear, not to confess all my sins during confession. I suspect most of us still think about sin as personal slights and wrongdoing against another individual. Christian conservatives are particularly fond of railing against sexual sins and could barely contain themselves when Bill Clinton got into trouble in the Oval Office. But we hear much less indignation about "social sins" that include environmental exploitation or the humanitarian impact of war. Consider the potential for progress on some of our most urgent moral challenges if we could channel some of the anger fanning the flames of our ubiquitous "culture wars" into campaigns against global poverty, preventable diseases and ecological disasters.    

While some elected officials like Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma still deny the reality of global climate change and lobbyists for Big Oil engage in what amounts to legalized bribery on Capitol Hill, I'm proud that Christians are on the front lines of a growing movement for environmental justice and corporate accountability. Sister Patricia Daly and her fellow Dominican sisters of Caldwell, N.J. challenge companies like Exxon Mobile, Dow and General Electric at shareholder meetings. The Catholic sisters are part of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, an association of 275 faith-based institutional investors that press companies to be socially and environmentally responsible. Each year religious institutional investors sponsor over 200 shareholder resolutions. Pope Benedict XIV has been dubbed the Green Pope for his resolute commitment to environmental justice. The Vatican even became the first "carbon neutral" state in the world. The pope's latest encyclical addressed the need for sustainable development, and the responsibility wealthy nations have to help developing countries escape the deadly traps of debt and poverty. Last spring, the Catholic Coalition Against Climate Change launched A Catholic Climate Covenant: the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. As Christians, we recognize that ending the poisoning of our planet is a pro-life issue central to defending human dignity.

Colonialism, in the official sense, is the shameful legacy of a bygone era. But multinational corporations that plunder and exploit the rainforests of South America or the mines of Africa continue this brutal cycle with tragic consequences. If those of us who know the truth fail to speak out, we stand complicit in our silence.


Thursday October 22, 2009

Bill Donohue is Angry at Radical Secularists...Again

By John GehringCatholics in Alliance for the Common Good Just in time for Halloween, Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is once again spooked about all those "radical secularists" lurking ominously behind ever corner....

Thursday October 22, 2009

Vatican Woos Conservative Anglicans: This is News?

This week, the Vatican announced that it would make it easier for conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians--those uncomfortable with women priests and accepting gay people--to join the Roman Catholic Church.  The move surprised Anglican leaders who, evidently, had no idea...

Sunday October 4, 2009

Michael Moore Asks the Question: What Would Jesus Do...About Capitalism?

Roman Catholic Priests are the surprising voices of clarity and conviction in Michael Moore's new film Capitalism: A Love Story.   The Priests in this documentary, one of whom married Mr. Moore and his wife, aren't ambivalent - they characterize capitalism...

Friday September 18, 2009

A Choice for Catholic Bishops: Confrontation or Engagement?

John Gehring is Media Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common GoodCatholic progressives are not the only faithful worried about the dangers posed by some U.S. church leaders turning away from civil engagement in the...

Wednesday September 16, 2009

TIME Magazine Story Highlights Moral Crisis in Vieques

By: Eric Sapp
What would you do if you found out that people in your neighborhood had a 30% higher cancer rate, 25% higher infant mortality rate, and 95% higher cirrhosis of the liver rate than the surrounding area?  Then you found out...

Friday September 4, 2009

Categories: Catholics

Conservative Cafeteria Catholics

I found this article over at Religion Dispatches about how conservatives Catholics are cafeteria Catholics in their own way: "Cafeteria Catholics" is a term often used by conservatives to describe members of the church who are not in alignment with Church teaching...

Saturday August 29, 2009

Categories: Catholics, Health Care

Honoring the Kennedy Legacy: The Moral Case for Health Care Reform

John Gehring is Senior Writer and Deputy Communications Director for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. As the nation mourns the loss of Sen. Ted Kennedy, there is no more fitting way to honor the legacy of this...

Wednesday August 26, 2009

A Progressive Life

I can't say that I always loved Ted Kennedy.  For years, I have agreed with the issues he fought for--especially regarding his concern for the sick, the poor, and the elderly.  But, I confess, Senator Kennedy's personal behavior often...

Wednesday August 26, 2009

The Faith, Values and Politcs of Senator Edward Kennedy

Senator Edward Kennedy has died. It is not unexpected but his death marks an end of the era of the Kennedy brothers and their profound contributions to America.  I titled this post The Faith, Value and Politics of Senator Edward Kennedy...

Thursday August 13, 2009

Categories: Catholics, Health Care

Health Care and Dispatches from the Conservative Underground

John Gehring is Deputy Communications Director and Senior Writer for Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good   It's not every day you see a commentary penned by a Catholic priest with this headline: Bishops Wrong: Health Care Not...

Tuesday July 7, 2009

Categories: Catholics, Economy

The Pope's New Encyclical: No Communion for Economic Sinners?

Were any of the Wall Street scam artists and greed mongers who led our country and world into economic meltdown Roman Catholics?  If so, will they receive communion?   The New York Times reports on the Encyclical Letter Caritas in...

Friday May 22, 2009

Liberty U Revokes College Dem Charter

There is a great post over on faithfuldemocrats about the unfortunately decision by Liberty University to revoke the charter for it's college Democrats b/c the Democratic platform was unChristian.  Check it out, and then join the facebook petition to reinstate...

Sunday May 17, 2009

Categories: Abortion, Catholics

Obama's (and America's) Notre Dame Victory

Barack Obama's graduation address at Notre Dame was a victory for the President and for the United States.  From the moment he walked onto the platform, to when he was conferred the honorary doctorate, to during and after his...

Saturday May 16, 2009

Notre Dame Rebooted

In 1899, Pope Leo condemned "Americanism" as a heresy.  Americanism, a theological development in American Roman Catholicism, was a complex of progressive ideals regarding freedom, separation of church and state, historical criticism and scientific inquiry that attempted to reconcile...

Tuesday May 12, 2009

Faith/Military Leaders Put $$$ Behind Call for Moral Climate Bill

Last week, Rep. Shuler and Perriello headlined a press conference hosted by Faith in Public Life featuring a who's who of the faith community and rolling out the largest paid media campaign ever by progressives targeting faith voters with an...

Wednesday April 8, 2009

Faith, Politics, and the Rest of Us

All day Wednesday, MSNBC advertised a discussion about the "new role" of religion and politics to be aired on the Chris Matthews Show.   When the show began, guest host Mike Barnicle announced that the debate would feature atheist Christopher...

Tuesday March 17, 2009

Categories: Catholics

The Pope, Condoms and (even more) AIDS in Africa

Pope Benedict once again put ideology and dogma over human life in his first day in Africa where 25 million people have died from AIDS by pronouncing: It (AIDS) cannot be overcome by the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, they increase...

Tuesday February 24, 2009

Categories: Catholics, Poverty

Stephen Colbert gets Religion in Hard Times

Religous leaders seen on TV during this ecoomic downturn generally make me shudder,with their undercurrent of opportunism, and the selling of crazy snake oil magical Jesus to make things better.   But Father Jim Martin is impressive with Colbert.    .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png')...

Saturday February 7, 2009

Assisted Reproductive Technologies and the Catholic Church

The single mother of six who lives with her parents and then has more eight children seems to have missed the class on good parenting. Simply put, this is too many children.  They can't each get the care and...

Monday January 26, 2009

The Pope's historical revisions

Benedict XVI continues to take heat on two fronts since last weekend's reinstatement of four far-right, schismatic bishops: from Catholics anywhere to the left of Franco are upset at the implicit repudiation of Vatican II, and from Jews who are...

Thursday January 22, 2009

A wonderful and refreshing new theological look at the abortion debate

It is not often that one comes across a way to approach the abortion debate that is new...so imagine my surprise and delight when I read the challenging piece on faithfuldemocrats.com that raised theological questions about this debate I had...

Monday January 12, 2009

The Gaza Conflict and Concentration Camps

Beliefnet Bloggers Rabbi Brad Hirschfield and David Gibson have had an interesting, heated and apparently productive debate that was initiated by a Catholic comparing Gaza to a concentration camp.  From the last post by Rabbi Hirschfield: Thanks to Pontifications blogger, David...

Saturday January 3, 2009

Barack Obama and the (progressive) Religious Revival

Barack Obama's transition team is ringing in the New Year with a series of meetings with religious groups reports Dan Gilgoff at US News.  It is striking that the names that dominate the list are the very ones that some...

Wednesday December 31, 2008

Categories: Catholics

Whither the Catholic Church in 2009?

Catholic Blogger David Gibson has created a fun pool to predict all things Roman Catholic in 2009.  He writes: Inspired by William Safire's annual Office Pool of predictions for the coming year, I am herewith inaugurating a "Catholic Pool" for...

Friday December 19, 2008

Warren, Cizik, Obama, left, right, pro, anti, etc.

What a fascinating time to be alive. Here we are ... about to celebrate the 2008th anniversary of Jesus' birth, and a whole bunch of us are still squabbling like cats and dogs about what it means to be a...

Wednesday December 10, 2008

The future of Catholic politics? (Again)

I, among others, have posed the question (here and here) of what the future of Catholic politics might look like--if it has any future--in light of the great splits between and among Catholic voters and leaders during the recent presidential...

Wednesday November 19, 2008

Categories: Catholics

Church Threatens to Ex-communicate Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of the School of the Americas Watch

The Network of Spiritual Progressives wishes to be a place in which progressives from various religious communities (as well as "spiritual but not religious" people) can feel safe in coming together to work for a New Bottom Line to replace...

Tuesday November 18, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Election '08

Update: Church says priest was wrong in Obama/Communion flap

This is an update from the post a couple days ago that generated so much response.(RNS) by Daniel Burke: A South Carolina Catholic priest was wrong to warn parishioners who voted for President-elect Barack Obama to confess their sin before...

Saturday November 15, 2008

Categories: Abortion, Catholics

Refusing Communion for Obama Voters

Here is a new twist on the abortion = no communion debate in the Catholic church.  A priest in South Carolina doesn't want Obama voters to receive communion unless they have done penance.   "The priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church...

Wednesday November 12, 2008

Barack and Benedict:Together again for the first time

Not the Dream Team some Catholics envisoned, but the President-elect dialed the Pope personally to thank him for the congratulatory telegram. According to CNS: The Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, confirmed to Catholic News Service Nov. 12 that the president-elect...

Saturday November 8, 2008

The future of Catholic politics?

If and when the bishops do start talking about a new political strategy, they may want to keep in mind the remarkable victory of Tom ("Common Good Catholic") Perriello over Virgil (Good ol' Boy) Goode in Virginia's fifth CD. Wish I...

Friday November 7, 2008

UPDATE: Bishops scotch politics debate

...At least officially. Dan Burke at Religion News Service has the scoop, that the USCCB has decided to remove from the agenda a discussion about Catholics and politics. They put the item on the agenda in September, and even this week archbishops...

Friday November 7, 2008

Catholic and Politics: What now?

Judging by the headlines this campaign, you might have thought the shepherds were headed one way and the flock in another direction. That's not quite the case, as reports of 50 or 60 or even 100 bishops promoting a "McCain-or-be-damned"...

Thursday November 6, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Election '08

Calling all Catholics: Your chance to vote AGAIN!

Yes, you CAN...tell us how you voted and why--and send a message to all those exit pollsters and post-mortem pundits by taking this very brief Beliefnet survey. Check back soon for ALL results from voters of all faiths. We want...

Tuesday November 4, 2008

Indiana goes for Obama! (Well, just South Bend, for now)

Yes, the results of Notre Dame's mock election are in, and the winner is...Barack Obama. According to The Observer, the campus newspaper: "2,692 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the mock election. Democrat Sen. Barack Obama and running mate Sen....

Monday November 3, 2008

Categories: Catholics

Obama is the Best Candidate - Final Reflections on an Endorsement Well Considered (By Douglas Kmiec)

By his own standard, McCain is more battle-weary than battle-tested. Old ideas combined with a lack of credible ability to "think anew" to meet the challenges we face make the Senator ill-suited for the presidency; his running mate aggravates that...

Friday October 31, 2008

Kmiec rebuts Chaput: Good Catholics can vote for Obama

Douglas Kmiec has become perhaps the most prominent of the pro-life Catholic "Obamacons." Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver has become perhaps the most prominent (and civil, given recent statements from some of his confreres) advocate of the view that a Catholic cannot...

Friday October 31, 2008

So much for those Muslim rumors--it's Barack O'Bama!

Thursday October 30, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Election '08

Catholic Bishops Should Stay Out of Politics (by Chris Korzen)

Chris Korzen is executive director of Catholics United and co-author of A Nation for All:  How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division. Earlier this month, Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton...

Wednesday October 29, 2008

Obama=Ottomans?

Or, pro-choice voters as Muslim invaders? I don't know if Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph wanted to go there, but he did, in his latest column in the diocesan newspaper: "Our Catholic moral principles teach...

Friday October 24, 2008

Rev. Jim Wallis Shares "My Personal 'Faith Priorities' for this Election"

I was emailing this evening with Jim Wallis. Its always a blessing to hear what's on Reverend Wallis' mind. He's a good friend, great leader, prophetic minister and caring pastor. He mentioned a recent posting of his at God's Politics....

Tuesday October 21, 2008

Battle of the Bishops

It continues...Memphis Bishop Terry Steib this week called on Catholics not to be "one-issue" voters, in contrast to Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput (whose latest comments in a talk titled "Little Murders" were especially strong) and some others. Steib, in this NCR piece,...

Saturday October 18, 2008

"Racism is a sin"...A bishop speaks out

I have heard of few religious leaders speaking out against the ugliness emerging from the campaign trail, especially on race and violence. That makes this powerful essay in the latest issue of the Jesuit weekly America that much more welcome. It is by Bishop Blase...

Friday October 17, 2008

Beyond Partisanship, Part II: The Al Smith Dinner

Now this is more like it. Sure, you're not going to see a lot of jocularity and self-deprecation--or raising $4 million for charity rather than themselves--but the Al Smith Dinner, the white-tie gala and quadrennial campaign-free zone that was held...

Thursday October 16, 2008

BEING CATHOLIC: BEYOND PARTISANSHIP AND LABELS

Catholics are the quintessential swing voters in this presidential election. Whoever wins the Catholic vote in key battleground states is likely to be sworn in as our 44th president in January.     Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good is...

Thursday October 16, 2008

Is Barack Obama the new Al Smith?

That might be heresy to some in the Catholic universe, but the argument has much to be said for it--though don't expect Cardinal Edward M. Egan to be making that claim at tonight's Al Smith Dinner. The quadrennial white-tie...

Friday October 10, 2008

Faith of their Fathers? Not When it Comes to the Culture Wars

Given the divisive role religion played in the 2004 election, many progressives have been waiting for a resumption of the culture wars in this election season.  Yet despite the addition of Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket, (a Pentecostal governor...

Friday October 10, 2008

Donna Brazile: A good Catholic girl lets loose...

...And says what I wish more Catholic leaders would about the ugly, angry--and yes, race-baiting--tone of the McCain/Palin campaign. Watch the video from a recent New Yorker campaign symposium...She's not going to the back of the bus anymore!  ...

Thursday October 2, 2008

Sarah Palin: Religionless Christian?

Who's afraid of Sarah Palin? And her faith? I'm one of those who thinks all the hand-wringing about her supposedly ideological right-wing faith is way overblown. Could she be a right-wing religious ideologue if in office? Perhaps she'd follow the script...

Tuesday September 30, 2008

Catholic Bishops offer a Five-Point Bailout Plan

A strong statement from the head of the U.S. bishops domestic justice committee offers five conditions to guide any rescue/bailout package. In the Sept. 26 statement (it didn't get much press; I just found it now via ZENIT), Bishop William...

Sunday September 28, 2008

Eugenics lives! Lousiana lawmaker wants to sterilize the poor

Rep. John LaBruzzo, a Republican from Metarie (David Duke's old haunts) wants to pay poor women $1,000 to get sterilized. Why? Because people receiving food and housing assistance "are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated residents." The...

Thursday September 25, 2008

Vatican newspaper: "New economy" is a "sham"

Looking for a Catholic--some would say traditionally Christian--point of view on the economic meltdown? The  church has long-standing teachings and resources that I think could be useful--and an antidote to some of the idolatry and fatalism of unfettered free-marketeering. ("Hey, stuff...

Tuesday September 23, 2008

"Where Your Treasure Is": The Economy and Values

As we contemplate the fact that Republicans are arguing for the largest U.S. government interference in the free markets in our nation's history--a bailout just shy of being equal to the entire US debt when Ronald Reagan became President--Democrats MUST...

Tuesday September 23, 2008

Miami Archbishop: We're not "party bosses"

That is the bracing message from Miami Archbishop John C. Favalora in a Sept. 12 column that is the best rendering I've yet seen of how the church--and the bishops--can approach the elections. The statement is titled "Why we don't take...

Monday September 22, 2008

"Otherizing" Obama: Strange face welcome in a crisis?

The Times' columnist Nicholas Kristof had a piece on Sunday, "The Push to 'Otherize' Obama," that perfectly sums up the efforts to key in on fears of Obama's race and persistent (unfounded) doubts about his faith, and how that plays...

Friday September 19, 2008

Inside Obama's God Ops

Barack Obama is not giving up on faith-based voters. While polls seem to show voters stuck in same pattern as 2004, despite the Democrat's persistent outreach and God talk, the campaign is redoubling its efforts and rejecting suggestions that the...

Friday September 19, 2008

Abortion? Gay marriage? It's the (stupid) economy--again!

Do the hot-button culture war issues like abortion and gay marriage matter? If you read only blogs or the news coverage (such as this NYTimes story, "Abortion Issue Again Dividing Catholics") you might get the impression that these are the...

Friday September 19, 2008

Among the Unbelievers: New poll shows secularist strength

Results from the huge American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of 2000 stunned many and led to heated debates when it showed some 14 percent of Americans embracing some form of secularism. Preliminary numbers released today from the upcoming 2008 ARIS survey...

Friday September 19, 2008

Hunger Advocate and Former Congressman Tony Hall Connects Faith to Economic Woes

Beginning next week, the Matthew 25 Network will run a new ad on Christian radio stations in Ohio connecting the Christian mandate to care for the least among us with the economic crisis in Ohio and around the country.  Former...

Wednesday September 17, 2008

Abortion & Catholics: Big wedge--small impact?

The furious division in Catholicism over abortion and the presidential election grows wider. But to what end? A front-page story in today's New York Times is titled, "Abortion Issue Again Dividing Catholic Votes," and yet evidence of how that is...

Tuesday September 16, 2008

Christian-omics?

The turmoil on Wall Street is continuing, and even though it is closer to me than even Russia is to Alaska, I understand less than little about economics. And yet the human toll of the crashes and crises is poignantly clear, and is spreading. ...

Sunday September 14, 2008

Politically Speaking, Everything is a Value for a Values Voter... Like the Economy

How is it that many, from left to right, who believe and argue that "values" and religion play a primary role in driving voting choices don't equate "economic" issues and concerns as values-driven?   How is it that those who...

Sunday September 14, 2008

Bishops v. Politicians: An abortion alternative

Fallout over controversial remarks on abortion by Joseph Biden and Nancy Pelosi are continuing. And not just in the political sphere. The U.S. Bishops announced last week that in light of the conflicts and debates, they will address the topic...

Wednesday September 10, 2008

From 9/11 to 9/12...and beyond.

Thursday is the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the crashed airliner in Shanksville, Pa., an observance that will bring renewed focus on relations between Islam and the West. But...

Monday September 8, 2008

"When does life begin?" Interesting question. But it doesn't stop there...

For all the wilful disparaging of the MSM by the GOP and its allies on the Christian right, there is a good argument to be made that the "media" (whatever that is, today) is reading straight out of the McCain...

Saturday September 6, 2008

Teen pregnancy: Is there a faith-based program?

Whether Sarah Palin's family, or Sarah Palin herself, should be an subject of commentary and scruitny has itself become a much-debated topic. But let us agree that the issues raised by her candidacy, notably the revelation of her 17-year-old daughter's...

Monday September 1, 2008

"Palin's pregnant!" Easy, easy...It's only her unwed 17-year-old daughter.

I had thought the terrifying onslaught of Gustav and the efforts by the GOP to dodge the Katrina bullet--or turn it to McCain's benefit--would be the story of the day, but the bombshell news that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter Bristol...

Sunday August 31, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Evangelicals

Palin and the Ex-Catholic Factor

Steve Waldman just posted some new news - at least for me.  That Governer Palin was a Roman Catholic before she was an Evangelical.  He writes: Have we ever had an ex-Catholic on a major presidential ticket? I can't think of...

Thursday August 28, 2008

Beyond Roe? New study shows abortion rates lowered by public policy

In a new study that could recast the seemingly endless debates over abortion and Roe v. Wade, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good yesterday released a new study that, according to the news release, is the first study of its kind to look at the...

Monday August 25, 2008

The Struggle for Common Ideals

THE STRUGGLE FOR COMMON IDEALS As many of the present blogs indicate, religious leaders from every tradition, both Christian and not, are beginning to gather together--as distinct from the usual denominational gatherings of religious leaders common to most election seasons...

Monday August 25, 2008

Abortion, Augustine and...Nancy Pelosi?

And Aristotle, Aquinas, Archbishop Chaput and various Bishops, and Brokaw...All weigh in on the House Speaker's response to Brokaw on Sunday morning's "Meet the Press" (scroll to the end) in which he raised--yet again--the age-old question, "When does life begin?"...

Saturday August 23, 2008

Categories: Catholics

A Statement on Joe Biden by Catholics United

Washington, D.C. - Catholics United executive director Chris Korzen issued the following statement today in response to Catholic senator Joe Biden's addition to the Democratic presidential ticket. "Catholics United believes Senator Biden's selection as vice presidential candidate is a positive development...

Saturday August 23, 2008

Joe Biden and the Catholic Challenge

By choosing the longtime senator insider and foreign policy expert, Joe Biden, as his running mate, Barack Obama got a well-respected congressional insider to help his prospective legislative agenda as well as sharp-spoken (too much, at times--but good for a veep) campaigner...

Saturday August 23, 2008

AP: Obama Chooses Biden

I think Biden is a great choice for the Obama campaign!  His working class roots in Scranton, PA, foreign policy bona fides and deep Catholic faith- that you can just tell is in his bones- will be a great addition...

Monday August 18, 2008

Baptism by Politics: Sacraments and "The Saddleback Confession"

In his quest to prune the overgrowth of Christianity to reveal to root of the faith, Martin Luther famously reduced the number of sacraments from seven to three, discarding Holy Orders, Last Rites (now known as the Anointing of the Sick),...

Thursday August 14, 2008

The Casey Milestone: Moving Beyond the Abortion Quagmire?

News broke yesterday that Senator Robert Casey Jr. will address the Democratic Convention in Denver later this month. For many Catholics, this is an important symbol and step towards healing the bitter disappointment that so many of us experienced...

Wednesday August 13, 2008

Dear Rick: Would you ask Barack and John about...

This weekend's main event, outside of the Beijing Olympics, will be the Saturday sit-down between superpastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback megachurch and Barack Obama and John McCain--and event being called "the Saddleback Civil Forum." Rick will have an...

Tuesday August 12, 2008

Dems, abortion, and the Wisdom of Solomon

CBN's David Brody has the proposed language for the Democrats platform plank on abortion, and contrary to some expectations, it appears the voices for "change"--such as Democrats for Life and Feminists for Life--have made important headway. TNR had a good piece...

Friday August 8, 2008

More on Evangelicals and Abortion

I did a post here a week ago raising a number of questions, theological and cultural, about the much higher tendency of white evangelicals to hold strong anti-abortion views, as compared to Catholics.  It took a while, but I'm glad to...

Friday August 8, 2008

Pro-Life Democrats: Oxy-Morons?

Not according to this piece today on The New Republic site about the Dems platform battle over abortion language, and the efforts of Democrats for Life, a small organization (need it be said?) founded in 1999 with chapters in over...

Thursday August 7, 2008

Abortion and the Catholic voter

The New York Times has a piece today about Obama and the Dems and their efforts to appeal to Catholic voters who may be turned off by the party's pro-choice dogmatism. It includes comments from the much-pilloried pro-life, yet pro-Obama,...

Tuesday August 5, 2008

Tim Russert: Not a Catholic...

Who knew?! Luckily, Hadley Arkes is here to straighten us out. In an essay at "The Catholic Thing," Arkes bravely ventures back onto the hallowed ground surrounding Russert's passing in June, when he first wrote (read "Tim Russert: The...

Monday August 4, 2008

Dog Whistles, Hypocrisy, and "Traditional" Christianity

I'm less certain than Mara Vanderslice that John McCain's recent pattern of decrying Barack Obama's "messianism" is a deliberate effort to label him as the Antichrist.  It's not that I consider Team McCain incapable of "dog whistle" appeals to the Christian Right; their candidate has...

Thursday July 31, 2008

America's Mortal Sin: Class Bias. A Solution: Parochial Schools.

In my last  post, I asked how one decided which is the most important political issue and who he/she should vote for for president.   I learned from my readings of the Bible to "Love thy neighbor" and that "I am my brother's keeper." ...

Thursday July 31, 2008

Chaput, McCain and not-so-distant thunder from the Catholic "wafer wars"...

As reports continue to cite Catholics like Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine or Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as veep short-listers for Obama, the McCain camp appears to have countered with a little-noticed event that could have large implications should Obama...

Tuesday July 29, 2008

Common Good Revival

There is a new faith movement afoot in the public square, and this new blog is certainly one indicator.  This movement seeks wisdom from the idea of the common good - central to in my Catholic tradition, and many...

Tuesday July 29, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Election '08

Kaine's Faith Background

As Barack Obama gets closer to his choice of a running-mate, speculation today is focusing on Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, whose allies are letting it be known that he's being fully vetted as a short-lister.  Kaine's political strengths and weaknesses...

Monday July 28, 2008

Categories: Catholics, Jews

The Immigrant March in Iowa

Over the last quarter century, religious has almost become synonymous with Republican and right wing. Religion has been limited to abortion,  homosexuality and stem cell research.  But that is changing. People of faith are reviving the movements that helped to...

Saturday July 26, 2008

Who's Going to Win?

One of my mentors once told me that the measure of a religion in a pluralistic society is the breadth and depth of benefits it brings to its non-adherents. It's a fascinating thought that has kept sparking new thoughts in...

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About Progressive Revival

Diana Butler Bass and Paul Raushenbush both stand firmly within the Mainline Protestant tradition and, along with guest bloggers of all religious backgrounds are dedicated to the revival of religious progressivism and its influence in American politics.

Contributors

Diana Butler Bass
Diana Butler Bass is a commentator and scholar in American religion. She is the author of seven books including A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009).
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Paul Raushenbush
Moderator of the Progressive Revival blog and the Associate Dean of Religious Life at Princeton University.
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