sexual abuse

In the latest diavlog in RD’s collaboration with Bloggingheads.tv, Anthea Butler and Michelle Goldberg discuss the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal, Christian militias, the GOP’s spiral of extremism, and more.

Holding the Catholic Church to account.

From an all-male hierarchy that trains priests to look only to their superiors for guidance, to a theological emphasis on secrecy, to the “creeping infallibility” that confers divine authority on church leaders, the Catholic church needs reform—at a structural level. And it’s up to the laity to begin the process.

On any given day, Christianity is invoked to justify pacifism, violent uprising, both opposition and support for government health care, even support and opposition to genres of music. Do we have to reevaluate our conceptions of ‘what Christians believe’ in the same way we’ve had to do it for Hindus, Native Americans, and others?

In the midst of the worst crisis to hit Roman Catholicism in centuries, it is clear that the all-male rule of the Church has failed.

In the midst of new developments in the Catholic sex abuse scandal and in light of last year’s surprise invitation from the Pope to conservative Episcopalians, a new invitation is extended to disheartened Catholics.

When Pope Benedict refers to the ever-growing scandal threatening the Church as “petty gossip of dominant opinion” he shows, for all his theological learning, a shocking disregard for both his flock and for the moral standing of the institution he heads. Is it curtains for the Church as we know it?

Lost in (and sullied by) the sexual scandals is the Church’s investigation into an apparition of Mary.

A passionate call for reform from a scholar of religion and cradle Catholic. When does an institutional theology become so rotten that it needs to be taken out at the roots? It’s time for a new reformation, with justice for victims of sexual abuse.

Reverend Annett noticed that in spite of the large Native American population on Vancouver Island, none of them attended his church.