http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/ 15 Catholic professor Anthony Stevens-Arroyo looks at the Catholic Church impact on American politics and culture. en Copyright 2011 Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:18:40 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.2-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Washington Post blogs have moved. If you are subscribing to the RSS feed for this blog, you may need to re-subscribe with the new feed URL. If you stop receiving updates from this feed, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/rss where you can see all of our feeds and re-subscribe to this feed or sign up for new ones. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/03/the_rss_feed_for_this_blog_has_moved.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/03/the_rss_feed_for_this_blog_has_moved.html Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:18:40 -0500 The Republican-controlled Congress recently cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood and the vote has been projected as a great victory for Catholic opposition to abortion. However, the premise behind this proposed legislation threatens to send Catholicism back to the days of the Know Nothings in the 1840s. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/03/big_brother_government_and_attacks_on_catholicism.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/03/big_brother_government_and_attacks_on_catholicism.html Catholic America Thu, 03 Mar 2011 12:58:56 -0500 The Wisconsin governor's proposal to repair the state budget has acquired the characteristics of a conspiracy. Catholic teaching (Caritas in veritate, #25) unequivocally* opposes the plan to strip union workers of their right to collective bargaining, but with evidence that this proposal is part of a secret and well-financed plot to coordinate the same effort in key states, the opposition of the Church assumes a new moral dimension. It may have been a prank phone call made to Gov. Scott Walker by someone pretending to be the billionaire, David Koch, but the Republican governor spilled out the outlines of a conspiracy. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/fighting_anti-union_conspiracy.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/fighting_anti-union_conspiracy.html Catholic America Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:44:20 -0500 What would happen if the bishops called for a special collection to maintain the institution and no one gave a cent? The result, I think, would be like the tale of the Emperor's new set of clothes. We face a future in which the different segments of the church have radically different priorities but not enough finances for all of them at the same time. There might have been a time when the laity had no choice but to finance every plan of every bishop, but that day is gone. Transparency in financial matters has replaced the practices of past generations when dioceses had anonymous donors willing to provide cold cash for emergencies. Even the use of real estate holdings and stock options to pay for diocesan needs are now required to observe sunshine laws. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/the_cardinals_new_set_of_clothes.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/the_cardinals_new_set_of_clothes.html Catholic America Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:29:49 -0500 President Barack Obama arrives to speak at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Whatever one thinks of President Obama's speech to the U. S. Chamber of Commerce on February 7, 2011, there is no denying that the presentation included policy (paths to goals) and politics (getting votes). Time will tell which aspect will be more lasting, but Obama's policy statements deserve attention for the way they resonate with basic Catholic teaching on social justice. Specifically, the president framed economic cooperation between government and business in the moral terms of what we "should do" for the common good. This core of Catholic teaching is admired even by commentators like Michael Gerson who don't necessarily agree with all of it. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/obama_and_the_redistribution_of_wealth.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/obama_and_the_redistribution_of_wealth.html Catholic America Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:17:35 -0500 Egyptian Muslim clerics join a demonstration on February 1, 20 at Cairo s Tahrir Square as massive tides of protesters flooded Cairo for the biggest outpouring of anger yet in their relentless drive to oust President Hosni Mubarak's regime. LONGARI/Getty Image Mass demonstrations for democracy have spread overnight from Tunisia to Egypt to Jordan and throughout the Muslim world in ways that parallel a similar spread of liberation movements in Latin America a generation ago. Democracy toppled dictators and military juntas in countries like Brazil, Nicaragua and El Salvador once the post-Vatican II theology of liberation became the logic for mobilizing the public towards revolution. When I read that last week's mass protests in Cairo began after worshipers poured out of mosques after Friday services and marched into the streets to demand democracy, I thought there might be parallels with Latin American religion. I asked a knowledgeable Muslim, "Is http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/muslim_liberation_theology_on_the_march.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/02/muslim_liberation_theology_on_the_march.html Catholic America Tue, 01 Feb 2011 14:19:00 -0500 I saw the gloating over the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act from an evangelical on this page the same day I read that the US Catholic Bishops do not favor repeal. I thought to myself: "Adios, Evangelical-Catholic coalition!" In fact, I'm not sure there ever really was much of a coalition of Catholics with evangelicals. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/adios_evangelical-catholic_coalitions.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/adios_evangelical-catholic_coalitions.html Catholic America Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:51:54 -0500 Shortly after President Barack Obama visited wounded Arizona Rep. Gabriella Giffords in the hospital and prayed for her, "she opened her eyes for the first time." The speed of her recovery ever since has been remarkable. Did Obama's visit cause Giffords' consequent healing? Atheists and others who deny any spiritual reality will likely call the events a mere coincidence, but we believers have to use more complex criteria. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/did_obamas_visit_heal_gabrielle_giffords.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/did_obamas_visit_heal_gabrielle_giffords.html Catholic America Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:00:00 -0500 Recent reports from Rome indicate Pope John Paul II will soon be beatified. This is after the title "The Great" has already been bestowed upon the Polish pope in so naming a university, an institute, and a high school. The issue of sainthood and greatness, however, are two different matters. "The Great" has been reserved in history to pontiffs like Pope Leo I (r. 440-461) and Gregory I (r. 590-604) whose administrations of the Church were transformative in history. Sainthood, on the other hand, is a matter of exemplary individual behavior. One can be a great administrator without being a saint (e.g. Innocent III), and a saint can be suspect in bureaucratic administration (e.g. Pius X) but still be holy. So, independently of the canonization process it can be asked if Pope John Paul II deserves to be called "The Great." http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/was_john_paul_ii_the_great.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2011/01/was_john_paul_ii_the_great.html Catholic America Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:37:52 -0500 Last year I was 10 for 15, not bad as a winning percentage, but only if you count the "won't happen" category.* With a bit more explanation, this year's predictions focus in on controversial issues I expect to surface in the next 12 months. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/predictions_for_catholic_america_in_2011_1.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/predictions_for_catholic_america_in_2011_1.html Catholic America Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:44:09 -0500 The repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT) provision for the U.S. armed forces was welcomed by a majority of the American public, and in this season of family Christmas celebrations, the change in social attitudes towards gays and lesbians will pose some important choices for America's Catholics sitting around the holiday table. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/may_your_christmas_be_catholic_and_gay.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/may_your_christmas_be_catholic_and_gay.html Catholic America Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:41:41 -0500 The time is now in Catholic America to pass the Dream Act. Many in Washington are trying to make political hay during the lame-duck session of Congress, however, Catholic support for this immigration reform is about ethics and morality, not partisan politics. The Bible tells us that in God's Kingdom to come "the sins of the father should not be visited upon the children" (Ezekiel 18:20). It is in the spirit of Jesus that Catholics apply the scripture towards solving a contemporary social problem. It makes sense, economically and politically too. Supporters of the Federal DREAM Act participate in a candle-light procession and vigil in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/making_the_dream_act_reality.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/making_the_dream_act_reality.html Catholic America Tue, 14 Dec 2010 13:10:57 -0500 Advent celebrates the scriptural words prophesizing the coming of the Lord. But should we Catholics also include the Muslim Prophet Muhammad as one of the witnesses to Jesus? At first, the question seems strange because we usually think of prophets as "fore-telling" something that will happen in the future, and since Muhammad lived after Christ -- the reasoning goes -- he could not have predicted the birth of Christ. But Advent speaks not only of the birth of Christ, it also announces the fruits of his coming. So when passages in the Qur'an praise the Messiah and name him as Jesus Christ, they add a welcomed clarity to the Advent message. (The advent wreath symbolizes the hope and waiting of the four weeks before Christmas.) http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/was_muhammad_an_advent_prophet.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/was_muhammad_an_advent_prophet.html Catholic America Wed, 08 Dec 2010 11:06:00 -0500 "Most of the Catholics asking to be married in the Church today already have been living together." Such is the testimony from priests working at the front lines in our parishes today. A new document on Catholic marriage proves the American bishops are listening. The awareness is especially noticeable among Catholics in the pews, who seem less and less shocked at women five-months pregnant walking down the aisle in a white dress. We now shrug our shoulders and content ourselves that at least they are marrying within the Church. In sum, Catholic America faces a new reality: The semi-traditional marriage. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/pregnant_brides_in_white_dresses.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/12/pregnant_brides_in_white_dresses.html Catholic America Wed, 01 Dec 2010 13:30:20 -0500 In a surprise, New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected President of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops (USCCB) apparently because of his leadership style and communication skills. These will be put to work immediately in Washington and pundits who read church process as Democrat vs. Republican will likely find you can't pigeon-hole Catholic teaching so easily. (Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York speaks during a news conference after being elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the conference's annual fall meeting Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010 in Baltimore.) http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/11/archbishop_dolan_goes_to_bat.html?wprss=onfaithcatholicamerica http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/catholicamerica/2010/11/archbishop_dolan_goes_to_bat.html Catholic America Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:15:15 -0500