In a story that seems to have garnered very little attention, the Wall Street Journal‘s Jennifer Graham reported last Thursday that in the carnage following the Boston Marathon bombings, first responders did not include area clergy.  This was, however, no accident. Graham writes: The heart-wrenching photographs taken in the moments after the Boston Marathon bombings show the blue-and-yello... More

Cardinal Timothy Dolan sent a letter to his brother bishops earlier this week where he revealed a shocking conversation that recently took place at a meeting between White House and USCCB staff: At a recent meeting between staff of the bishops’ conference and the White House staff, our staff members asked directly whether the broader concerns of religious freedom—that is, revisiting the stra... More

Very notable news, via Vatican expert Sandro Magister, following the aftermath of the Justice & Peace’s ill-advised white paper (emphasis mine): Precisely when the G20 summit in Cannes was coming to its weak and uncertain conclusion, on that same Friday, November 4 at the Vatican, a smaller summit convened in the secretariat of state was doing damage control on the latest of many mom... More

You can’t make this up — a liberal anti-Catholic professor complaining that a Catholic educational institution features Catholic symbols of faith — and our government duly investigating the frivolous complaint: The Washington, D.C. Office of Human Rights confirmed that it is investigating allegations that Catholic University violated the human rights of Muslim students by not... More

Many, many good people have weighed-in on this week’s news that the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has released a White Paper on international finance and development. My thoughts about it are here and here. Here’s the best of what I’ve read from others on the topic. Mark Brumley, Editor of Ignatius Press: If the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is trying to mak... More

UPDATE 2: A Round-Up of Excellent Comments On The Justice & Peace White Paper. 24 hours have passed since the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace released its note (i.e., “White Paper”) on finance and development. I find that’s about how much time it takes to get a good snapshot of where general opinion is on a given news story, so now it’s time to take stock over... More

UPDATE 2: A Round-Up of Excellent Comments On The Justice & Peace White Paper UPDATE: See my follow-up comments published today: “Fact Check: Why Catholics Who Disagree With Justice & Peace White Papers Aren’t “Cafeteria Catholics.” You may have seen this story which was headlined earlier today on the Drudge Report: The Vatican called on Monday for the establishment... More

Yes, someone actually did this. As I feared, the Father Frank Pavone situation is getting worse. A dispute that should be worked out through the normal canonical channels is needlessly spilling into the public debate. And this effort by third parties to gin up public support for Fr. Frank is misplaced. My father describes the histrionic antics of one group “The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform&... More

The following article is a guest post from Dr. Peter Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College. When I talk about abortion, I often surprise most of my audience, even some prolifers, by saying that not only is abortion always evil but that it is not a “complex issue,” that deep down we all know that it is evil; that Mother Teresa is very clearly right when she says “If abortion isn... More

My favorite part by far of Bishop Thomas Olmsted’s press conference was his answer to this question (I’m paraphrasing): “You’ve been called a lot of names, and received a lot of praise, from both sides of the blogosphere – how do you deal with that?” His response is, well, see for yourself: In other words, Bishop Olmsted is neither liberal nor conservative, n... More