In response to a certain missive making the rounds in reference to ladies’ fashion — and, more specifically, why dresses and skirts should be the norm for Catholic women — Simcha Fisher has one word: pants. A few selections from her Pantifesto: 1. I live in NH, where winter happens. Pants. 4. Motherhood is a … Read more
A few links to get the day rolling: A federal appeals court is temporarily allowing government funding of embryonic stem cell research while it considers Judge Royce Lamberth’s decision last month that would ban it (saying it violates a Congressional law against funding embryo-destructive research). Is it “silly” to be giving priests the honorary title … Read more
It’s the Cuban dictator like you’ve never seen him before. And I do mean never. Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic recently received an invitation to meet with Fidel Castro, after his recent article on Israel and Iran caught Castro’s eye. “Always eager . . . to interact with readers of The Atlantic,” Goldberg decided it … Read more
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was one of 34 signatories to a statement yesterday denouncing “categorically the derision, misinformation and outright bigotry being directed against America’s Muslim community.” Catholic Culture has an excerpt: We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our community, and by the desecration of Islamic … Read more
A handy travel tip: When in Spain, don’t desecrate the Eucharist. A Catholic priest in Spain’s province of Valencia slapped a young man in a church in the town of Rótova during a local festival on the evening of September 5. Believing that the young man had discarded a communion wafer, which the Catholic faith … Read more
It sounds like the set-up to a joke — and it is, in a way. The Wall Street Journal has a great profile of Navy Chaplain Terry Moran, a Seventh-Day Adventist, and his assistant, Religious Programs Specialist 2nd Class Philip Chute, an atheist, and their working relationship in the field: Together they roam this town … Read more
A few links to kick off the long holiday weekend: Are Christian and Hindu villages in Pakistan being deliberately flooded? Some say water is being diverted from wealthy agricultural estates and wiping out the villages of poor people nearby. The Sarah Palin profile in Vanity Fair this week has been taking heavy fire for its … Read more
Over at Slate, Dave Weigel has some words of caution for anyone looking to make too strong a connection between yesterday’s Discovery Channel hostage-taker, James Lee, and any particular political movement. In a post titled “This Crazy Man With A Gun Proves That Political Point I Was Making!,” he notes that these types of stories … Read more
Well that didn’t take long: The Obama administration on Tuesday asked a federal judge to lift a restraining order that it says could undercut federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The Justice Department filed its request with U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth only days after he blocked government funding of embryonic stem cell research. . … Read more
New York recently became the fiftieth state to allow no-fault divorce — an occasion that prompted New York resident Beverly Willett to reflect on her experience fighting to save her own marriage from divorce eight years ago. It was a grueling, five-year-long battle against a husband who had cheated on her and wanted out on … Read more
It hardly needs pointing out that the Vatican isn’t always adept at managing its own PR (to put it mildly). An article in the UK Guardian today by Paul Donovan raises a good question: Is the Holy See’s press office ready for the firestorm that could very likely accompany the pope’s visit to Britain next … Read more
Time for some Friday morning links: As movements are being made in Congress to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, Delia Lloyd at Politics Daily says now is a good time to consider “Ten Reasons to Lift the Cuba Embargo.” CNN reports on a troubling trend in Nigeria: Children are increasingly becoming the targets of attacks … Read more
So, those end-of-life conversations we were talking about yesterday? To the list of questions to ask your doctor, you may want to add, “Do you believe in God?” Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely to take decisions that might shorten the life of somebody who is terminally ill as doctors who … Read more
Earlier this month I blogged about a New Yorker article that discussed the sorry state of end-of-life care in America. In an effort to address that problem, New York State last week signed the New York Palliative Care Information Act into law, which would require physicians to discuss prognosis and end-of-life options with their terminal … Read more
You may have seen the cute story in the news today about the three-year-old who walked to the fire station to get help when her dad collapsed at home, saving her father’s life. Over at the Agitator, Radley Balko links to another article that, while a year old now, raises an evergreen question about teaching … Read more
It’s Friday! Just a few quick links this morning: Why are so many people in their 20s taking so long to grow up? One professor is pushing to have the 20s recognized “as a distinct life stage, which he calls ’emerging adulthood.’” Yet another treatment developed using adult stem cells — this time to rebuild … Read more
Interesting findings from a Reuters review of 255 health-care systems in the United States: Catholic and other church-owned systems are significantly more likely to provide higher quality performance and efficiency to the communities served than investor-owned systems. . . . Catholic health systems are also significantly more likely to provide higher quality performance to the … Read more
Pakistan is suffering from its worst flooding in decades, leaving 1,500 dead and displacing many millions more. The UN says that the number of people suffering from the ongoing rains could top the the 2004 tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and the earthquake in Haiti combined: They estimate that 13 million Pakistanis have been displaced … Read more
For fallen-away Catholics, finding your way back to the Church can be hard; for those who have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a priest, it can be impossible — all of which makes James O’Bryan’s story all the more incredible. O’Bryan was part of a lawsuit brought against the Vatican in 2004, alleging … Read more
On Friday, the FDA approved a new emergency contraceptive called “ella,” which can prevent pregnancy up to 5 days after sex. It passed with little fanfare or resistance, compared to the uproar surrounding the approval of Plan B, also known as the “morning after” pill (which is effective up to three days at most). The … Read more