Brave new world
The morning after becoming Bishop of Rome, Pope Francis checked out of his hotel by paying his own bill and then calmly strolled into his new life. It was a novel way to launch a papacy but, then, over his first 100 days the new Pope has been making novelty commonplace.
June 16, 2013 issue
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When do we finally say that enough is enough?
Media reports this past week about the anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan got me angry, then it got me thinking.
- By Robert Brehl
Religious liberty and the New Evangelization
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The American bishops are gathered this week in a special assembly — and a special one it is. The American episcopate meet twice a year, in November and in June, and every third year the June meeting is given over to a retreat rather than a business meeting.
Fair taxation
No one knows exactly how much money is hidden away by millionaires and corporations in offshore bank accounts, but accepted estimates put it as high as $30-trillion dollars. Much of that money is undeclared and untaxed.
June 9, 2013 issue
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Despite our differences, I still prayed for Dr. Morgentaler
About 30 years ago I met the late Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, a co-founder of the U.S. abortion movement and back then a self-described atheistic Jew.
- By Jim Hughes
Fr. Greeley, the happy warrior, got one big thing wrong
There are those priests who write — columns, novels, academic papers, books — and then there was Fr. Andrew Greeley. He wrote. Certainly too much, but the Lord made him a writer, so he wrote, and he can hardly be blamed for that. Some 5,000 words a day for a very long time, turning out serious sociological research on the Catholic experience in America, analysing survey data as a long time scholar with the respected National Opinion Research Centre. He wrote a newspaper column for the Catholic press for decades. And there were his dozens of novels — tens of millions of copies in print — bestselling yarns that included the infamous sex scenes that rather made him famous among the elite media who think that celibates know nothing about sex.
The good in differences
There was a small moment at a recent McGill University conference that put the very large debate about public religious faith into clear perspective. Rabbi Lisa Gruschcow, appearing on a panel called Taking the Temperature: Religion and Secularism in Canadian Society, spoke eloquently and effectively about the delicate balancing of neutral secular governance with public manifestations of religious freedom.
Quebec prayer ruling could have nationwide effect
The Quebec Court of Appeal recently overturned a provincial human rights commission ruling regarding the opening prayer at Saguenay City Council. The commission had ruled that the mayor, Jean Tremblay, must cease saying the opening prayer and also pay $30,000 in damages to the complainant. The court, however, said the tribunal got it wrong and that the opening prayer did not significantly affect the state’s “religious neutrality” and should therefore be allowed.
Slippery slope indeed
Four decades after Henry Morgentaler performed his first abortion to set the country on a path to abortion lawlessness, Canada is still weighing his profound and tragic impact on society. That regrettable truth was apparent in the obituaries after Morgentaler, 90, died May 23 of a heart attack.