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Hospital mergers threaten abortion access in Washington state

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:07:00 +0000

A series of mergers between secular and Roman Catholic hospitals in Washington state are threatening to scale back access to abortion care, jeopardizing reproductive rights in a state with a progressive track record on the issue.

According to the New York Times, "if all the proposed religious and secular combinations go through, almost half of the hospital beds in the state ... would be controlled by the Catholic health systems," and would cease to perform abortions, provide comprehensive reproductive and end-of-life care and other medical procedures barred by church doctrine.

As reported by the Times:

Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn: Jesus was the “original hipster”

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:11:00 +0000

In an effort to attract the young and godless among Brooklyn's trendiest neighborhoods, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has launched a new ad campaign calling Jesus the "original hipster."

What makes Jesus so hip? Well, for one thing, he was a carpenter, and craftsmanship is big in Brooklyn right now. And, Jesus once turned water into wine, which is very do-it-yourself and kind of locavore-ish, if you think about it. Also: A bearded long-hair. And, per this ad, a Converse-wearer.

h/t Bucky Turco/ANIMALNewYork

Ohio Catholic school teacher fired after being outed by an anonymous letter

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:03:00 +0000

After her mother passed away last month, Ohio Catholic high school teacher Carla Hale published the name of her longtime partner in the obituary. When she returned to work following the funeral, school administrators presented her with a copy of the obituary and an anonymous letter calling the presence of a gay teacher in the school a disgrace. Hale was fired less than two weeks later.

Hale worked as a physical education teacher at Bishop Watterson High School for close to 20 years, and when news of her termination spread, students started a petition to have her job reinstated. Hale has also filed a legal claim seeking her job back, and a city ordinance may put the law on her side.

As the Columbus Dispatch reports:

A Columbus city ordinance makes it a misdemeanor for an employer to discriminate against an employee based on sexual orientation. City law also states that an employer cannot have a policy that discriminates based on sexual orientation. Those who are found guilty could face up to 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine...

Napoleon Bell, executive director of the city’s Community Relations Commission, said the city law has no exemption for religious organizations.

Is Pope Francis a fraud?

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:30:00 +0000

It’s easy — maybe too easy — for people with progressive political views to dismiss the Roman Catholic Church as a vile anachronism, a nightmarish patriarchy of aging pedophiles, woman-haters, homophobes and/or closet cases that can offer nothing of value to the contemporary world. When it comes to the church hierarchy, and especially the Roman Curia, the corrupt and labyrinthine Vatican bureaucracy that makes the Soviet-era Kremlin look like a model of transparency, that point of view seems more than justified.

But the church is not just the hierarchy, and as the spectacle of the last several days has demonstrated, there are millions or billions of people around the world -- Catholics and non-Catholics alike -- who wish the newly elected Pope Francis well and yearn to see in him the possibility of hope and renewal for this ancient, powerful and heavily tarnished institution that claims direct succession from the apostles of Jesus. As the first Latin American pope and the first Jesuit pope, Francis represents a break with tradition in several ways. Both the name he has chosen and his personal modesty and humility are meant to recall St. Francis of Assisi, one of the most adored figures in the Christian tradition, and no doubt also St. Francis de Sales, a 17th-century mystic, author and ascetic known for his devotion to the poor.

Papal election stirs memories of Argentina’s “Dirty War”

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:33:00 +0000

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Pope Francis is known for his humility, his reluctance to talk about himself. The self-effacement, admirers say, is why he has hardly ever denied one of the harshest allegations against him: That he was among church leaders who actively supported Argentina's murderous dictatorship.

It's without dispute that Jorge Mario Bergoglio, like most other Argentines, failed to openly confront the 1976-1983 military junta while it was kidnapping and killing thousands of people in a "dirty war" to eliminate leftist opponents.

But the new pope's authorized biographer, Sergio Rubin, argues that this was a failure of the Roman Catholic Church in general, and that it's unfair to label Bergoglio with the collective guilt that many Argentines of his generation still deal with.

"In some way many of us Argentines ended up being accomplices," at a time when anyone who spoke out could be targeted, Rubin recalled in an interview with The Associated Press just before the papal conclave.

Some leading Argentine human rights activists agree that Bergoglio doesn't deserve to be lumped together with other church figures who were closely aligned with the dictatorship.

Hello Pope Francis

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 19:20:00 +0000

Updated: March 13, 5:03 p.m.

The new pope gets a shout out (and an apparent nod of approval) from social justice activist Sister Simone Campbell. We already know that Pope Francis is cool with buses, but is he down with progressive Catholic nuns speaking out on behalf of women's rights and comprehensive health care? Fingers crossed.

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Updated: March 13, 4:56 p.m.

Vice President Joe Biden to head to the Vatican, the Associated Press reports.

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Updated: March 13, 4:47 p.m.

As reported by the Associated Press:

Obama says the pope serves as a champion of the poor and vulnerable and represents the love and compassion that has inspired the world throughout the Catholic Church's history.

He says he looks forward to working with the pope to promote peace, security and dignity for people of all faiths.

Top British cardinal resigns over allegations of inappropriate conduct

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:41:00 +0000

Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, has resigned amid allegations of “inappropriate acts” with three priests and one former priest. O'Brien has denied the claims.

The 74-year-old cardinal had submitted his resignation as Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh to Pope Benedict XVI in late 2012, but said in a statement Monday: "The Holy Father has now decided that my resignation will take effect today."

According to a report in The Observer, which was apparently based on church sources with access to the Vatican file on O'Brien, three priests and one former priest from the diocese of St. Andrews and Edinburgh registered a formal complaint against O'Brien to the Pope's representative to Britain, Archbishop Antonio Mennini. In it, they detail inappropriate and unwelcome physical contact with the cardinal, allegations that date back more than 30 years. The complainants demanded that O'Brien resign immediately.

It is the second scandal to emerge in the weeks since Pope Benedict announced his resignation. Last week, Italian news daily La Repubblica reported that gay members of the clergy have been blackmailed by male prostitutes.

Pope gives final Sunday blessing before resigning

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:34:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Benedict XVI bestowed his final Sunday blessing of his pontificate on a cheering crowd in St. Peter's Square, explaining that his waning years and energy made him better suited to the life of private prayer he soon will spend in a secluded monastery than as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

On Thursday evening, the 85-year-old German-born theologian will become the first pope to have resigned from the papacy in 600 years.

Sunday's noon appearance from his studio window overlooking the vast square was his next-to-last appointment with the public of his nearly eight-year papacy. Tens of thousands of faithful and other admirers have already asked the Vatican for a seat in the square for his last general audience Wednesday.

Perhaps emotionally buoyed by the warm welcome, thunderous applause and the many banners reading "Grazie" (Thanks) held up in the crowd estimated by police to number 100,000, Benedict looked relaxed and sounded energized, in sharp contrast to his apparent frailty and weariness of recent months.

In a strong and clear voice, Benedict told the pilgrims, tourists and Romans in the square that God had called him to dedicate himself "even more to prayer and meditation," which he will do in a monastery being renovated for him on the grounds behind Vatican City's ancient walls.

Vatican could have new pope in place by Easter

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 15:51:00 +0000

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."

Any change to the law itself would have to be approved by the pope before he resigns.

But if Vatican officials determine that the matter is just a question of interpreting the existing law, "it is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of the conclave, Lombardi said.

The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don't live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28, with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.

The pope resigns, Twitter reacts

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:56:00 +0000

News of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation rocked the Twitterverse this morning. Saying, "I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise," Pope Benedict will be the first pontiff to resign in six centuries.

Here's a round up of the shock, the speculation and the obligatory jokes.

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Then came the reactions that Jamil Smith summed up nicely:

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Observe:

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