https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to u.s. conference of catholic bishops en https://religiondispatches.org/2023/11/01/queer-catholic-woman-i-had-high-hopes-2023-catholic-synod-synodality When the summit on the future of the Catholic Church began on October 9, I allowed myself for the first time in many years to feel optimistic. I smiled at pictures of Pope Francis welcoming LGBTQ Catholic advocates Sr Jeannine… Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:48:12 EDT Emma Cieslik 5cd773f8-5d0f-4db5-a40d-ef4d187e47ec https://religiondispatches.org/2022/06/29/problems-pregnant-people-increase-catholic-bishops-claim-theyre-heroes-ending-abortion Now that Roe and Casey have been overturned, the roles of the institutional Roman Catholic Church and of most of the Catholic Supreme Court justices are transparent. Their ‘victory’ was the fruit of long, persistent work that many Catholics, myself… Wed, 29 Jun 2022 04:21:34 EDT Mary Hunt df21a91b-7295-4c4a-a01f-bb78f46c7970 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/10/end-roe-comes-courtesy-catholic-church-dorothy-day-abortion-fund-st-vincent-de-paul No matter how Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is decided finally, restrictions unto bans on abortions will be courtesy of the institutional Roman Catholic Church. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, their Pro-Life Activities Committee, and colleagues will… Tue, 10 May 2022 03:41:31 EDT Mary Hunt 1c7ff8e2-da71-42af-a292-a2f7ca74b98a https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/11/bishops-attempt-deny-communion-biden-will-backfire-even-more-spectacularly-opposition If only President Joe Biden didn’t carry a rosary or quote the popular Catholic hymn “On Eagle’s Wings” in his Inaugural address, it would be easy to categorize him. It would be simple to write him off as one more… Tue, 11 May 2021 03:23:58 EDT Mary Hunt b5e90788-efe3-427b-b9c9-04ce10906b8d https://religiondispatches.org/2019/04/02/catholic-bishops-fund-anti-choice-clinics-set-receive-trump-title-x-funding The Trump administration is funneling $5.1 million in federal Title X family planning funding to a chain of faith-based anti-abortion medical clinics called Obria. Turns out that the Catholic Church has funded them too. Tue, 02 Apr 2019 03:36:18 EDT Patricia Miller 02c45531-8255-4f22-b50b-5528c85604eb https://religiondispatches.org/2018/08/28/world-meeting-families-again-positions-queer-catholics-children For queer Catholics, the only way to establish ourselves as mature adults is through marriage, ordination, or religious vows—all of which are forbidden. Tue, 28 Aug 2018 03:51:29 EDT Ashley O'Mara 8a935e16-103d-4427-a0ad-44ed41f3f8e8 https://religiondispatches.org/2018/01/02/will-2018-be-year-catholic-health-care-dominance The news that two major Catholic health care systems, Ascension and Providence St. Joseph Health, are considering a merger that would create a nearly 200-hospital behemoth spanning 27 states raises questions about the expanded imposition of Catholic ethical norms on… Tue, 02 Jan 2018 12:34:12 EST Patricia Miller 9526d6ba-8458-4f51-9782-2b4991f5a3d8 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/11/02/francis-era-ending-catholic-bishops-cozy-ties-gop One of the more interesting revelations to come out of the Politico interview with John Boehner concerns the time when Boehner was pushing Rep. Paul Ryan to take the speakership: Ryan never wanted the job; it took Boehner more than… Thu, 02 Nov 2017 12:53:03 EDT Patricia Miller 0cacd187-409b-4fc0-950b-c02a56aadf8a https://religiondispatches.org/2017/09/29/rise-catholic-cyber-bullies There was a time in the Catholic Church when supporters of doctrinal orthodoxy could count on the Vatican to do their policing for them. But the advent of a pope who sees his role as less about policing orthodoxy and… Fri, 29 Sep 2017 12:23:07 EDT Patricia Miller b8a36bcd-6f1b-44d4-989d-cad2a40b5e2c https://religiondispatches.org/2017/07/25/catholic-nuns-show-bishops-how-its-done-obamacare In the end, it would be a fitting sort of justice if it were the Catholic nuns who saved the Affordable Care Act. After all, it was only through the efforts of Sister Nancy Keehan of the Catholic Health Association… Tue, 25 Jul 2017 12:00:11 EDT Patricia Miller 1365bec1-e6b6-4406-9001-80cad0e99149 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/15/new-study-islamophobia-common-catholic-media With Catholic commentators writing about the “threat” of Islam, it’s no surprise many U.S. Catholics have negative views of Muslims Thu, 15 Jun 2017 03:28:40 EDT Jordan Denari Duffner aa6662ab-4219-4bfa-97c4-cee395a5ed86 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/06/08/pences-prayer-breakfast-appearance-underscores-fractured-american-catholicism The annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is hardly a bipartisan or nonpolitical event. It was founded in 2004 as part of an effort to cement ties between conservative Catholics, the Catholic hierarchy, and the GOP. Among those associated with it… Thu, 08 Jun 2017 02:34:44 EDT Patricia Miller 70ccb19c-1745-45c8-9460-67b65319c489 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/11/pro-life-has-officially-lost-its-meaning For anyone whose political memory dates back more than a decade or two, the term “pro-life” was pretty clear: it was understood as the antithesis of “pro-choice” or supportive of the legal right to abortion. But increasingly, what constitutes “pro-life”… Thu, 11 May 2017 03:35:15 EDT Patricia Miller 2db93aad-6fb6-4c49-bc18-6c713a52a830 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/05/02/archbishop-drops-girl-scouts-amid-alarmist-rhetoric-and-fake-accusations Robert Jones of PRRI has an insightful column in the New York Times about the unraveling of a unified American identity, which he defines as a “set of core political beliefs enshrined in founding ‘sacred texts,’ like the Declaration of… Tue, 02 May 2017 04:46:50 EDT Patricia Miller 52251ec7-a80e-498c-9c36-e78a9af9cd17 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/03/15/how-catholic-church-broke-health-insurance-it-advocated It was one of the more remarkable moments in the saga of the “repeal/replace” of the Affordable Care Act. When Democratic Congressman Mike Doyle asked his Energy and Commerce Committee colleague, Republican Congressman John Shimkus, exactly what mandate in the… Wed, 15 Mar 2017 02:46:08 EDT Patricia Miller 412133c7-a848-4774-878c-cb47812c9972 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/01/04/make-mass-latin-again-pope-francis-backlash-comes-home There’s beauty in mythology, to be sure. But there is also grave danger in believing mythologies can save broken institutions. Wed, 04 Jan 2017 02:16:32 EST Kaya Oakes a0d47aff-10ea-459a-b55b-77f3d4f525b3 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/11/10/trump-support-will-harm-catholic-church-america White Catholics voted for Trump at 52 percent to the 45 percent they gave Hillary Clinton. Thu, 10 Nov 2016 12:38:48 EST Kaya Oakes 0919413f-62a6-4803-85ba-a71a89c56eea https://religiondispatches.org/2016/09/20/its-not-me-its-you-catholic-values-dumping-trump Evangelicals will seemingly overlook anything about Trump, but Catholics won’t. Tue, 20 Sep 2016 01:58:05 EDT Patricia Miller 075eefb9-79ae-497f-a20a-7a2cc6d07d71 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/23/disingenuous-pleas-common-ground-religious-liberty-arent-likely-find-any If you were to skim John Gehring’s latest piece for Commonweal, you might think he’s taking the religious right to task for having radically redefined religious liberty at the expense of women and LGBT people. In fact, that’s mostly what… Thu, 23 Jun 2016 11:40:45 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft bb0c21bb-5a57-4ad1-b612-8293508691c1 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/17/us-bishops-silence-guns-and-gays The U.S. Catholic bishops met in Huntington Beach, California this week, just days after the Orlando massacre. And despite the fact that the church’s most powerful prelates were all gathered together at a time when the nation is desperate for… Fri, 17 Jun 2016 04:40:36 EDT Patricia Miller 17934b61-6a75-421f-ac01-7c4f18fb9518 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/27/who-defines-religious-freedom In the United States, who defines religious freedom? The First Amendment? The courts? The legislature? Religious groups and individuals themselves? What happens when it’s both, and the lines get blurred? In a newly released video meant to showcase the “unique… Fri, 27 May 2016 02:39:20 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft f750aa58-587b-438c-9380-1e17990b668a https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/11/who-will-catholic-bishops-turn-trump-era Many people are questioning whether Donald Trump’s dominance in the GOP nominating process, and his dismissal of evangelical leaders like Russell Moore, spells the end of the religious right as a key force in the Republic Party. As Sarah Posner… Wed, 11 May 2016 12:59:01 EDT Patricia Miller e0233561-7783-4fae-84ef-4f6915be4672 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/01/we-shouldnt-be-surprised-francis-met-kim-davis When Pope Francis came to New York last week traffic came to a standstill. But traffic on social media was brisk, with many of my friends from the social justice world celebrating the Pope’s “liberal” (read: barely modern and centrist… Thu, 01 Oct 2015 01:50:13 EDT Kara Loewentheil 97b4c206-f867-44c9-b073-96be8cfa6207 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/09/24/popes-concern-immigration-just-numbers-game Pope Francis may differ greatly in tone from Pope Benedict, but on many social issues Francis can expect the same pushback his predecessor received in the United States. When Pope Benedict brought up immigration on his 2008 trip to the… Thu, 24 Sep 2015 04:23:48 EDT Megan Sweas 923e9f41-291d-4c6a-95e2-26e9c00d85c7 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/07/13/silence-latino-religious-leaders-enable-gop-tolerance-trump-spectacle “ virtue of spectacle, which is to abolish all motives and all consequences: what matters is not what it thinks, but what it sees.” Roland Barthes, Mythologies Part of what spectacle is good for is the visceral reaction you get… Mon, 13 Jul 2015 02:24:25 EDT Arlene M. Sanchez Walsh 0909a72e-f3f6-4ead-b245-7dcc9f3d0d76