Chicago Daily Observer

“For Obama, faith is not simply political garb, something a focus group told him he ought to try. Instead, religion to him is transforming, lifelong, and real.” That’s a quote from “The Faith of Barack Obama,” published by Thomas Nelson, the world’s largest Christian publisher, scheduled to be released in early August by author Stephen Mansfield, an evangelical Christian biographer of New York Times bestseller, “The Faith of George Bush.”

Have you heard what happened at Seabury? That’s a question some of us have been asked a lot, especially if we are connected to theological education in the church.

But if you are one of the folks who may have missed the story, the question about “Seabury” refers to Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, one of the historic Episcopal seminaries, located in Evanston, Illinois. After years of training priests and lay leaders for the church, Seabury has announced drastic changes for the future. Faculty are being let go and programs shut down. In many ways, they are closing up shop under great financial pressure in the hopes of being able to reopen after extensive remodeling.

Most Chicagoans know nothing of Charles Chinquy. Most Chicagoans have probably forgotten Pastor George Stallings, a one-time Catholic priest and mentor of Pastor Mike Pfleger. Most Chicagoans know Pastor Pfleger, who returns to his Faith Community of St. Sabina flock on Monday, June 16th, after being given a forced leave by Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago.

Today the Chicago Tribune tells one and all that Pastor Pfleger was disciplined for political reasons – speaking disparagingly of Senator Hillary Clinton. The Tribune writes, “latest transgression: talking about the wrong thing, in the wrong place, with a preaching style—honed in the back pews of black churches—that some Catholics found unsettling.”
There was much more. Pastor Pfleger angered people, not so much with his barbs against Senator Clinton but the hostility and race-baiting fervor imbued throughout his sermon. Pastor Pfleger’s target it seems was white America and not Senator Clinton per ... Read More...

Some critics say Barack Obama is too inexperienced and naive, while others say he’s too closely entwined with treasonous radicals. Months ago he could have countered both attacks at the same time by showing the country a religious mentor who knows how to talk like a progressive, appeal to the center, and quietly make political deals.

And he still could if, as Mary Mitchell speculates, he ends up joining the Apostolic Church of God.

The Roman Catholic archdiocese went eyeball-to-eyeball with Fr. Michael Pfleger…and the archdiocese blinked. The incendiary priest is to return to his pulpit and pastorate June 16 to a forest of high-fives from those to whom the Mass and reverent ceremonials have always meant not much more than a circus.

Not surprising.

All along the archdiocese has forfeited its authority because it has been afraid. Afraid of black anger at St. Sabina’s. Afraid it couldn’t find a replacement that could build support to succeed him. Afraid the media…headed by the Bohemian Girl reporter, Cathleen Falsani…Carol Marin’s little sister…who has Catholic antecedents but is a Wheaton College grad (even though little evangelical propriety is observed in her hippie writing) who disses Roman Catholic cardinals as “men in red dresses” would portray the archdiocese as…gasp…unfeeling, untrendy.

All along the archdiocese had seven points to consider which authenticists say doesn’t rank very high with ... Read More...

It’s been a banner few months for preaching, something that’s not much discussed by daily newspapers but regularly performed for and imposed on worshipers.

What a teaching moment for homiletics professors it has been. The word is academic for preaching and close to “homily,” which is a Scripture-based sermon of generally shorter length.

This is as opposed to stem-winders for which Fr. Michael Pfleger of Chicago’s St. Sabina — now on leave — has become more famous than ever, not to mention his big brother in the ministry, Rev. Jeremiah Wright of Chicago’s Trinity United. These are neither short nor Scripture-based, except in sound-bite snippets tossed off in entertaining fashion.

But that’s a fine point. The essence of Pfleger’s and Wright’s better known preaching has been less Scripture-slicing-and-dicing and more bringing of coals to Newcastle. Preaching against white racism to black people? Really? Bold fellows!

The preacher is supposed to ... Read More...

Catholics will wait a long time if they expect that the timid, mild, semantically parsing archdiocese will punish Fr. Michael Pfleger on its own. But nevertheless the day of penitential reckoning may be near for the fiery Saint Sabina’s pastor. Wait-how can those two statements be reconciled?

Easy-Pfleger’s scandalous pastorate may well have angered the one institution that carries massive weight in Catholic circles: the Democratic party. He has already brought serious harm to the Barack Obama campaign from a ranting pastor run amok. The archdiocese has stood by and allowed him to rant. But Democrats are on the verge of saying: enough. Then the archdiocese will have to act.

A few evenings ago, Fox TV talk show host Bill O’Reilly criticized the ultra-bland nature of the formal disclaimer issued by the archdiocese to Pfleger. As well he should. The truth is that Pfleger has become more than a media ... Read More...

Statement of Cardinal Francis George concerning remarks of
Fr. Michael Pfleger about Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton during
an address at Trinity United Church of Christ on Sunday May 25, 2008

The Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates. Consequently, while a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral, he may not endorse candidates nor engage in partisan campaigning.

Racial issues are both political and moral and are also highly charged. Words can be differently interpreted, but Fr. Pfleger’s remarks about Senator Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack. I regret that deeply.

To avoid months of turmoil in the church, Fr. Pfleger has promised me that he will not enter into campaigning, will not publicly mention any candidate by name and will abide by the discipline common to all Catholic priests.

Pastor John Hagee sent a letter today [click here] to Catholic League president Bill Donohue that effectively ends the dispute the two men have had. Donohue comments as follows:

“After weeks of meeting with various Catholic leaders, and accessing scholarly literature on Catholic-Jewish relations, Pastor John Hagee has demonstrated an improved understanding of the Catholic Church and its history. In his letter to me, Hagee says, ‘I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.’ He specifically cites his emphasis of ‘the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews,’ and has pledged to provide a more complete and balanced portrayal going forward that will not reinforce mischaracterizations of the Catholic Church. And while he stresses that his invocation of terms like ‘apostate church’ and the ‘great whore’ were never meant by him to describe the Catholic Church, he ... Read More...

In a column that reads like a letter to the editor, Sun-Times woman Teresa Puente makes some very big assumptions about nuns’ image in the world about us:

Did Puente read the latest Salt, a quarterly from the BVM‘s (Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary), which is all about water as a diminishing resource – ”The Gift of Water: Precious, Endangered”? – and exudes the joy of activism?

A little over a month ago nearly half the priests in the southern Illinois diocese of Belleville signed a letter demanding the resignation of their Bishop, Edward Braxton. It was the culmination of three years of controversy, in which priests and nuns had publicly attacked the Bishop, accusing him of many things, the most serious of which was the misappropriation of diocesan funds. Bishop Braxton responded on Good Friday with a statement detailing how he had been threatened by priests and warned not to take the appointment even before he was installed. I examined the charges against him in an article here last month and found little substantiation, but some serious problems on the part of the accusers (see Resentment in Search of a Grievance).
The controversy continues to simmer, though it is no longer at the white heat it had reached last month. As claims of misappropriation and ... Read More...

My guess is that the American Catholic Church would see a resurgence beyond imagining if it welcomed women and the married into the priesthood. No one expected that Pope Benedict XVI on his recent visit to the United States would announce that he was overturning the centuries-long church tradition that closed the Catholic priesthood to women and married men. But some of the faithful can’t be blamed for hoping that the change will come in their lifetimes.

I hope that the pope has returned to the Vatican with some lasting impressions of the American Catholic Church: its tremendous vitality despite the disturbing loss of clergy over the last several decades, and the yearning of the laity for an even more invigorated church that an upsurge in the number of priests would bring to it.

From Manya Brachear:

“The Tribune’s April 21 edition described the church as “built over the site in Jerusalem where Jesus is said to be buried.”

“I told him I might open it up to readers.”

“Sometimes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. This is Pope Benedict XVI‘s big chance,” says Sun-Times religion columnist Cathleen Falsani, who recommends he speak “words of solace,” of “love. Just . . . love,” He should be grateful for such advice. Mine would be that he just make sense.

Another advisor, Bob McClory, wants the pope to say he doesn’t know what’s wrong with the church and so to call a bunch of meetings to find out.

Bob the grizzled veteran – Medill-Northwestern, Chicago Reader, National Catholic Reporter, and the nation’s flagship Catholic liberal organization Call to Action fill out his credits – and Cathleen the still-fresh-faced columnist with ten or so years reporting and writing under her sash both want Benedict XVI to chill and stop clinging to a creed outworn or at least frayed at the edges.

“It is time for change,” ... Read More...

If you ask the average man on the street, regardless of his religion, he’d probably tell you that anyone who would disrupt an Easter Mass with a political protest—complete with stage blood and attempted “die-in”—is a jerk with little if any reverence for God or the sanctity of a church as a place of worship.

But according to the Chicago Tribune’s Manya Brachear the so-called Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War are representative of a “frustrated faction” of Catholic faithful (emphasis mine):

For two years now nearly half the priests in the Southern Illinois diocese of Belleville have been in rebellion against their bishop, Edward K. Braxton. Among the priestly complaints against Braxton are that he does not consult them, has misappropriated funds, and is pretentious and arrogant. On Wednesday, March 12, the rebellion led to a letter signed by 46 of the diocesan priests (nearly half) calling for the bishop’s resignation. What is most peculiar – and perhaps most revealing – about the nature of this rebellion is that it began three months before Braxton was even installed as bishop. On Good Friday, March 21, Braxton broke the long-standing silence he has maintained on the subject in a letter to parishioners and priests of the diocese.

The tale Braxton tells is astonishing, perhaps even unprecedented. The Bishop says that days before his installment, he met with a group of diocesan priests ... Read More...

On Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008, several adults interrupted the Easter Mass being celebrated in the auditorium at Holy Name Cathedral Parish. This is a profoundly disturbing action.

The celebration of the Holy Mass is, in Catholic faith, the action of Jesus Christ through His Church that changes water and wine into Christ’s real Body and Blood. No one should be allowed or encouraged to use this sacred rite to voice protests or perform guerilla actions under any circumstances. It is a sacrilege that should be condemned by all people of faith and good will. Freedom to worship God should be inviolable.

Many children and adults were traumatized by the sudden sight of what appeared to be blood and by the screaming of several protesters who dropped to the floor. Church attendees were also hit by the red-staining stage blood. Several individuals have indicated that they and their children were ... Read More...

It was a sacrilege of ignorance that produced the invasion of Holy Name cathedral during Easter Sunday Mass when six members of the aptly named “Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War” interrupted Cardinal Francis George’s sermon and tossed vials of phony blood on people. Aptly named because it was indeed a immature insult to civility, more evocative of a bad baby tossing over a bowl of porridge than a legitimate protest.

It was also a sacrilege because as all Catholics should know, the celebrant at the altar is offering Mass in the name of all of Christ’s members, since he represents Christ, the Savior, head of the Church, the Mass offered in the fullness of Christ’s mystical membership which includes all who belong to the Mystical Body. By standing up, raising a ruckus, terrifying children and tossing vials of “blood,” the latter day hippies who carry the name Catholic failed to ... Read More...

The Chicago Tribune and the Archdiocese of Chicago presented a truly enlightening session with Cardinal Francis George and the Tribune’s Manya Brachear via a Blog format.

As The Chicago Daily Observer is a publication that is (an occasionally harsh) critic of the Tribune and more than an interested bystander within the Archdiocese of Chicago, it is refreshing to see both institutions addressing the public in such an innovative format, in the story “You asked the Cardinal answered”.

Okaaay — but if he thinks Wright’s view were so appalling how come Obama was a member of a church where the pastor embodied such appalling views, and where Obama sat through such poisonous sermonising in services every week? For Wright’s comments weren’t just controversial. They were beyond the pale. There are many more of them than have been reported: the church is a black power church. How could Obama have remained in such a church unless he agreed with its basic black power philosophy? How come he was recruited into Christianity in the first place by such a man? The desperate attempts in the last few days to bat away such questions by suggesting that Obama didn’t really know about Wright’s attitudes are themselves blown away by Obama’s own comments today:

HT: Pat Hickey, With Both Hands

Count me among those who wondered if the grandmother who worried about black men she passed on the street were still living. Answer: yes.

Here’s John Fund:

Mr. Obama’s campaign has made clear that his 84-year old grandmother, who has asked to be left alone, should be considered off-limits to political reporters. But yesterday, it was Mr. Obama who didn’t leave her alone when he used her for one of the central themes of his speech.

O. said he can’t disown Rev. Wright, who spoke from a pulpit to a crowded church that sold CD’s with his sermons recorded, any more than his grandmother, who raised him and along the way made “stereotypical” remarks in private that made him “cringe.”

Don’t they teach logic at Harvard? Or gratitude in church? Did Wright make him cringe?

Barack Obama’s speech in Philadelphia yesterday designed to douse the flames caused by his on-again, off-again disinheritance of and then endorsement of, Rev. Jeremiah Wright was pretty—but sorry, no cigar.

Moreover it is a case history of a political disaster. Obama was never stronger when he ran…as he did initially…as a man of mixed color untouched by the old racial bromides that pock-marked our society for fifty years. He was of a new generation. Not only is he lighter in complexion than the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton, he is much younger, more free-flowing, less taken with himself with wit (something the senior Jackson at least never evidenced). Juggling the hand-mike before a rapt audience, Barack Obama looks like the new generation, unencumbered with the old hand-me-down racial stereotypes.

Then along comes the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Laden with the old rhetoric he is a recycled Minister Louis Farrakhan. ... Read More...

The plot thickens in the matter of Oprah Winfrey’s belonging to or attending Trinity United Church of Christ on 95th St. in Chicago, as mentioned in various places, including in a Chi Trib piece in January 2007:

The Vatican chimed in on the ills of the day:

This latest update on how God’s law is being violated in today’s
world comes from Msgr. [Bishop in the non-Vatican term] Gianfranco
Girotti, head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary.

He pointed to ’‘violations of the basic rights of human nature’’
through genetic manipulation, the use of drugs that ’‘weaken the mind
and cloud intelligence’’ and the vast disparity between rich and poor.

’‘If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it
has a weight, a resonance, that’s especially social, rather than
individual,’’ Girotti said in an interview published Sunday in the
Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano about what he views as the ’‘new
sins.’’

I love the “penitentiary” business. Not as in Stateville, be it known,
but as in penance, which we do for our sins whether eligible for
... Read More...

he Obama campaign plane just landed at Midway, returning from Indianapolis. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Saturday continued to put distance between himself and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his minister until he retired. (see prior post) The word is not to expect Obama to attend services Sunday at his church, Trinity United on Chicago’s South Side.

No other churches for Obama to pick?

At some point, in some venue, Mr. Obama is going to have to give a speech directly addressing his longtime pastor’s views and answering a simple question: Why didn’t he find another church that didn’t include a leader who so frequently engaged in such hate speech?

That’s John Fund in WSJ.com’s Political Diary, voicing my very thought in the matter. It’s been 30 years (this month, in fact) since I regularly attended church on assignment. But I must say that there have to be other South Side churches and preachers — black, white, and indifferent — that don’t demagogue the Gospel.

DePaul University should be stripped of its designation as a “Catholic” university.

And not just for the reason that makes it no different from all other.

Sure, as with many other venerable Catholic schools, it waters down the teachings of the Church into a one-of-many options-an amalgam of views-without singling out any one objective truth. That goes for most of the colleges called “Catholic.” But with DePaul there are decidedly other factors, as this long study engaged by me-a former DePaul graduate student and an adjunct professor there and at a host of other schools, secular and Catholic for more than 30 years-proves.

The rap on DePaul that should deny it the name “Catholic” is this: In theology as in academic practice it is a psychedelic mockery of what a university is meant to be. It has gone berserk with at least two major derelictions.

Fourteen-year-old Patrick was the man of the evening.

Patrick adjusted his tie, and strode confidently through an overflowing crowd at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and climbed the stage.

As Patrick addressed the audience during a Q & A session last week, his Irish-red hair gleamed under the spotlight, while his image was shown on two large television screens.

The occasion was a fund-raising benefit for LYDIA Home Association, a Christian-based organization named after an early convert to Christianity. LYDIA provides services such as residential treatment for children and adolescents with behavioral problems, foster care, pre-school, and child abuse prevention programs.

In prepared remarks that were adapted for the Q&A session, Patrick tells his life story with sad memories of physical abuse at a very young age.

“Our neighbors called the cops and they came to my house and took me away from my mom. ... Read More...

Recently, psychologists have begun to describe a growing phenomenon—the
“Christmas Blues”.

Christmas Blues?

Paradoxical but true, in the midst of a season when our streets are filled with colorful decorations and our public places all resounding with jolly songs, many people feel depressed and sad. “None of this joy applies to me,” they silently lament. “There is no Santa Claus who comes down my chimney!” “Every year I get deeper in debt at this time of year.” A datum that we all know, but don’t like to talk about, is that suicides and other lonely deaths are higher than normal at this time of year.

By way of contrast, in the early Christian centuries, the feast of Christmas was actually preceded by a period of fasting, not feasting. In today’s culture of holiday, client, and office parties, awash with succulent hors d’oeuvres, caloric beverages, and delectable cookies, fasting ... Read More...

In a Sun Time’s Column, Fr Andrew Greeley states:

If we are to believe the media, the Catholic bishops warned American Catholics that if they voted for a candidate who supported abortion, their eternal salvation might be in jeopardy. I don’t think that’s what they really said, but, alas, the bishops generally have a hard time making clear what they actually are saying. The media don’t do nuance very well, and bishops have a hard time conveying their intent in words that fit into a 750-word story or a 90-second TV clip. Hence, they add confusion upon confusion, and many Catholics simply dismiss them with a snide comment about the sexual abuse of children.

Fr. Andrew Greeley’s article “Bishops’ message wins ... Read More...

St. Odilo in Berwyn wound up its triduum of old-style Latin masses Tuesday night, Nov. 20, with not quite the 400 people of the first one, two weeks and one week earlier. Maybe 300 this time, parishioners and others who came out on a dark and stormy night to celebrate a divine mystery.

This was the holy sacrifice, commemorated and re-enacted in pre-Vatican IIfashion. Fr. Anthony Brankin, the pastor, had a few words beforehand from the pulpit, as he did for the first two. Follow what we are doing up here if you wish, he said, noting the booklets that were available for all. Or don’t, as it suits you. Just being there and drinking in the atmosphere would do it also.

Excellent advice. I for one find the same-old, same -old words of the mass to be, ah, highly repetitive, to cite the obvious. This is theater, after all. ... Read More...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, has been elected president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for a three year term beginning in 2008. The election occurred November 13 during the bishops’ general meeting November 12–15 in Baltimore. Cardinal George received 188 votes out of 222 votes cast for a total of 85%.

Author and Director Jason Berry writes editorial in the LA Times very critical of Cardinal Francis George and his candidacy for the chair of the USCCB.

Our Tom Roeser evaluates, refutes, and reinforces the Berry editorial with criticism here.

But Conservatives Who Make Too Much of it, Here’s Some Advice: Send Your Kids to a Religious School.

Children, we’re going to have a moment of silence. You can use it to reflect on what you’ll be doing today, for silent prayer, or whatever you want. Everyone has to participate, everyone must remain quiet for the next 30 seconds.”

Such a ruckus that statement has caused. A recently passed law, enacted over Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s veto, has propelled school prayer back into the headlines by requiring every school in the state to start the day with a moment of silence. If children choose, it can be used for silent prayer.

One would think that asking children to be quiet for a few seconds or minutes to reflect on whatever they want would be a good thing. Reflection doesn’t seem to be the long suit of today’s stretched-tight generations. Teachers also ... Read More...

Mary Ann Glendon, who has served in key Vatican posts for years, may soon represent her native country before the Holy See.

U.S. President George Bush announced today his intention to nominate Glendon, Harvard law professor and president of the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences, as ambassador of the United States to the Holy See.

Keep Your Hands Where They Belong—Off our Propagandizing for

Gay Rights No Matter What the Church Says.

But Understand We Intend to Keep Mis-Advertising that We’re a Catholic University, Caveat Empteor!

DePaul President Reverend Dennis Holtschneider, C. M. responded last week to The Catholic New World column written by Francis Cardinal George critical of the university for promoting the “Out There” conference for teachers and students to make them “sensitive” to homosexual behavior. While the archbishop stressed the obligations of all Christians not to be hateful to others on grounds of sexual orientation, he nevertheless pointed out that portions of the conference promoted gay behavior.

The response acknowledges this but is as intellectually dishonest as is possible to be, evading Holtschneider’s own and his misnamed “Catholic” university’s obligations and hiding behind the tattered fabric of “academic freedom.” His naked rationale has become a part of secular universities. But for so-called ... Read More...

Top officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met privately with Pope Benedict XVI Oct. 18 for a wide-ranging discussion about the church in the United States, including the pope’s planned visit to the U.S. in the spring.

On Oct. 19 and 20, a conference for Catholic college faculty and administrators will be hosted at DePaul University on the topic of ministering to gay and lesbian students in Catholic colleges and universities. Called the “Out There Conference,” this program is coordinated out of Santa Clara University in California and has as its stated purpose to discuss how to be pastorally present to homosexually oriented young people.

That is a good purpose. Young people who identify themselves as gay and lesbian have particular challenges and special needs that call for a pastoral approach that can assure them they are loved by God and give them the means of grace needed to live chastely. There are sometimes psychological problems of self-rejection and social problems of how to find their way as disciples of Jesus Christ and responsible members of society. Sometimes they experience personal prejudice because of their sexual identity, ... Read More...

DePaul U. has hired two Catholic scholars for its new Catholic Studies program — Peter Casarella, of Catholic U., where he headed a Center for Medieval and Byzantine Studies, and Farrell O’Gorman, from Mississippi State U.’s English department.

Casarella has written about Christian Neo-Platonism, theological aesthetics, St. Bonaventure’s Trinitarian theology of creation, the idea of emergence in contemporary physics, and the Hispanic/Latino presence in the U.S. Catholic Church, according to a release.
He and his wife, then expecting their second child, and their one-year-old lived with students at Catholic U., in a get-close-to students dormitory arrangement. He has his doctorate from Yale.

O’Gorman has a “critically recognized” novel to his credit, “Awaiting Orders” (Idylls Press, 2006), in which he tries “to explore how a Christian message of hope and redemption can attain credibility,” said the America magazine reviewer — a far cry, to be sure, from what fiction readers ... Read More...

I was in Chicago this week, speaking on Thursday to the Illinois Catholic Health Association on “Trends in Ministry.” While in town I arranged an interview with Cardinal Francis George, who marks his 10th anniversary this year at the helm of the one of the largest and wealthiest dioceses in the world. If things hold to form, George will also take over as the new president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at their fall meeting in Baltimore Nov. 12–15, becoming, in effect, the public face of the church just as America plunges into an election cycle.

That combination makes George an important figure indeed in the Catholic firmament.

Imagine you are a contestant on Jeopardy, and the category is “Sea Battles of the Late 16th Century.” Two choices remain: 1588 or 1571. Recent graduates of our public schools may not recognize either, but if you went to high school decades ago, you would know that 1588 was the year of the Spanish Armada.
In fact, the victory of Francis Drake and the rest of Queen Elizabeth’s pirates on that tragic day in August 1588 is the reason 1571 is unknown to most Americans. The defeat of the Armada heralded a new era during which Britannia, not Hispania, ruled the waves. As result, America ended up an English Protestant country, and in school we all learned English Protestant history.
Nonetheless, on October 7, 1571 a far more important battle raged at the mouth of the Gulf of Patras, which divided mainland Greece from Corinth. It was ... Read More...

Evangelical Lutherans punted this summer in the matter of letting pastors have extramarital same-sex partners. Quarterbacking the play was Chicago’s own then-bishop, Rev. Paul Landahl, finishing up his six-year term with an NFL-worthy flourish. It happened at their annual meeting, in August at Navy Pier.
Landahl in effect called the play that split the difference between honoring and ignoring church law, proposing that bishops in the 65 synods of his Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) let things slide for now, refraining from ousting pastors in same-sex extramarital partnerships.
As the denomination’s top officer, Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, told reporters, this would allow “some space and place” for living together in a changing world, “as a way to reflect this journey of conversation . . . ” on which ELCA members are embarked.
There are 4.8 million of these, twice as many as ... Read More...

On first glance, the accusation that Notre Dame is not Catholic enough strikes most people as odd. I graduated from Notre Dame in 1986 and returned as a faculty member a decade ago out of sympathy with the university’s effort to at once work toward academic excellence and sustain a serious commitment to Catholic intellectual life. I’ve found the place even better than advertised. But apparently not everyone agrees, and beneath Miscamble’s manifesto lie two important issues.

Only 12 of 32 teachers in the U. of Notre Dame history department are Catholics, and last year of three new hires only one was Catholic. In English, when Kevin Hart, editor of ND-based Religion and Literature, objected to a candidate as “incompatible” with Notre Dame’s “Catholic mission,” he was “roundly criticized” and later decamped for U. of Virginia.

Except for theology and the law school, things are so bad under the golden dome that history prof Fr, Wilson D. Miscamble, a member of the Holy Cross Fathers, who founded and run the place, wants a quota — two-thirds of all future appointments to be Catholics. It would be preferential hiring for fish-eaters. As things stand, you can be too Catholic for Notre Dame, says Miscamble in the latest America Magazine.

Miscamble has a history of emphasizing the C-word, having nailed the ND president, a Holy Cross priest like himself, ... Read More...