The condescension of the media is staggering at times: Seriously, that’s supposed to be a real question, Kyra Phillips? That a Catholic bishop should just chuck 2,000 years of tradition and the teachings of Christ because a minority of people who claim to be Catholic have abandoned the true meaning of marriage? And, by the way, Bishop Malone is not simply “changing tactics” in... More

Welcome to the Lunchtime Reader, where we assemble important stories to keep your eyes on. Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J. There was lots of reaction to the news reports of “The Vatican” supposedly endorsing the creation of a world centralized bank. CatholicLane.com has an article by Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican in which he implores people to actually read the text of the document. http://cvot... More

Welcome to the Lunchtime Reader, where we assemble important stories to keep your eyes on. Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston denounced an effort to get physician-assisted suicide on the Massachusetts ballot. “We hope the citizens of the Commonwealth will not be seduced by language [such as] dignity and compassion, which are means to disguise the sheer brutality of helping people to kill themse... More

Well, at least a mini Super Tuesday. The North Carolina Senate just voted to allow the people of that state to vote to define marriage as between one man and one woman in May 2012 by a vote of 30-16 (the N.C. House voted to pass the same bill by a margin of 75-42 yesterday). … that sound you aren’t hearing is the sound of the mainstream media ignoring the news. Meanwhile, the special e... More

There’s a lot of interesting things happening politically right now but the story I’m focusing on involves an unlikely assortment of Democrats, Republicans, Orthodox Jews, Hispanics, Greeks, Turks, Koreans and oh — same-sex marriage. NY Assemblyman David Weprin is running for the seat recently vacated by disgraced Anthony Weiner (of “sexting” infamy). It should be an ... More

The recent news that the state of Illinois will terminate its contracts to do adoption and foster care through Catholic Charities should not be taken lying down. This happened as a direct result of the bad same-sex civil unions bill that went into law this June. A law that catholics (and other people) warned would result in, among other things, exactly this — Catholic Charities being forced ... More

UPDATE — Here are the letters I was looking for: Letter from Archbishop O’Brien (PDF) Letter from Governor O’Malley (PDF) === Over the weekend Catholic Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley released private letters he had exchanged with Archbishop of Baltimore Edwin O’Brien over the issue of same-sex marriage (an effort to pass same-sex marriage in Maryland earlier t... More

I’m heartened by the outpouring of commentary in the wake of New York’s move to legalize gay “marriage.” Truly, I am. It means that Catholics care about marriage and are distressed when they see it under attack (as they should). But the sudden uptick in volume of Catholic voices talking about the threat to marriage represented by its redefinition in New York confuses me, fo... More

Tonight the New York Senate voted to redefine marriage to include same-sex relationships by a close vote of 33-29. In the final day of intense backdoor lobbying, two republicans –both Catholics– broke with the Republican party and voted for the gay marriage bill, ignoring the bishops of New York who said today they opposed the bill “in the strongest possible terms.” The bil... More

Yesterday, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd went after Archbishop Dolan’s efforts to protect marriage in New York — and also snuck in a drive-by sniping of my father’s recent comments about (Catholic) New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s manifest concubinage, just for good measure. Governor Cuomo is for gay marriage, so you can guess who Dowd is writing to protect and abe... More