pope francis

Since the turn of this century, following the news is like experiencing a daily repudiation of the so-called “secularization hypothesis”—the idea that modernization renders a culture less religious…

Feminist liberationists have long claimed that discrimination against women is the model for favoring the power of elites over the rest with negative consequences worldwide. The Amazonian Synod only reinforced the claim. The mistakes were breathtakingly obvious and relatively easy to fix.

The past two popes insist, against mounting evidence, that the gender binary, male and female, is given in nature and blessed by God. God, a male after all, created them Male and Female. The Genesis account inconveniently leaves out the detail about the blue and pink blankets and onesies.

In continuing to oppose women’s ordination the pope argues that something has to be revealed in order for it to be done; but that we don’t do it so it must not have been revealed. A cursory examination of change on Catholic views of the death penalty and usury make quick mincemeat of that argument. Revelation provides direction toward increased justice; it’s not a checklist of historical givens.

Catholicism is usually seen as being at the forefront of the anti-choice movement that would take moral freedom away from the pregnant person and consign it to male-dominated churches, legislatures, and courts. But a 15th century saint reveals that it was not always so.

The recently concluded Vatican summit on sexual abuse in the church was framed in the same old top-down way that’s at the heart of the problem. Lay people, both women and men, experts in the law, psychology, and theology were excluded. What could be more wrong with this picture?

With no women, lay people, or survivors invited, nothing will change and everyone will go home feeling righteous about having “done” something. The something will be more prayer than policy, more story than analysis, more circling the wagons than opening the doors to the light of justice.

From sexual abuse to white nationalism, a fake rabbi, atheists behaving badly, and politicized pastries, 2018 had little going for it on the religion front.

The corrupt legislative shenanigans by lame-duck Republicans in Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina have prompted many to reiterate calls for “civility” and “love.” But are those objectively good things?

The cover-up has nothing to do with politics. It’s about saving face, protecting priestly friends, and saving the Church from scandal.