Joan Frawley Desmond has published an excellent and balanced recap of the Wisconsin fight over reforming government unions and how local bishops responded to the struggle. It’s not a rosy picture — Bishop Morlino of Madison in particular laments the divisions and partisanship which defined the Catholic debate throughout its course. But it’s important going forward that we underst... More

I wrote yesterday about the efforts in Minnesota to pass a bill that would allow the people of that state to vote to define marriage in 2012, and noted that the Minnesota Catholic Conference is supportive of these efforts. As part of this initiative, one local Catholic pastor, Rev. John Echert of Holy Trinity/Saint Augustine Parish, wrote his representative –Freshman State Rep. John Kries... More

Associated Press: Iraq and abortion loom large as 10 Republican presidential candidates debate a second time Tuesday. On one issue – the four-year-old war – the GOP field is largely in sync, backing President Bush in opposing Democratic calls for beginning a withdrawal of U.S. forces. But the candidates are split on social issues, most notably a women’s right to terminate a preg... More

I found a YouTube video of the complete debate. My original post on this topic can be found here. The video is roughly one hour, twenty minutes running time. ... More

Dom had the drop on this and the Associated Press has some tepid coverage. Of course, the story here is that Dodd (left) and Brownback (right) are both Catholics, with Brownback being orthodox and practicing while Dodd is marginal at best. The AP tossed out a red herring about the fact that both men “used modest tones to suggest that Democrats and Republicans could bridge such gaps with more... More

I don’t know much about the situation in Northern Ireland, but news sources are saying today that a significant step towards peace was taken recently: Sitting side by side for the first time in history, the leaders of Northern Ireland’s major Protestant and Catholic parties announced a stunning deal Monday to forge a power-sharing administration May 8. The breakthrough followed unprec... More