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Pontifications

The case of the interdicts against Sr. Louis Lears, who attended an illicit ordination of women as priests, continues to heat up with a debate over NCR’s coverage of the story. Chief among the archdiocese’s critcisms is that they did not authorize someone to videotape the ordination. Tim Burke at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has…

It is a dark soul indeed, and that is what makes the movie–which I saw last (k)night–so powerful. I can’t qualify as a comic-book or action-hero or sci-fi geek (though my geekiness is evident in other areas), and I am completely insensate as far as the whole LOTR phenomenon and its ilk go. (I love…

Even as many Catholics watch with concern–and perhaps not a little schadenfreude–as the Anglican Communion at Lambeth splits up over homosexuality, back home in Rome and elsewhere the One True Church is still debating the issue of women and holy orders. Back in April I wrote here about the issue of women’s role in the…

According to the latest AP report, Benedict XVI celebrated a private mass with four hand-picked sexual abuse victims on his last day in Australia: “He listened to their stories and offered them consolation,” the Vatican said in a statement. “Assuring them of his spiritual closeness, he promised to continue to pray for them, their families…

Speaking of book clubs, Oprah Winfrey has not only inspired a cult-like following–and a book by my religion writing colleague Marcia Nelson, called “The Gospel According to Oprah”–but now she has the sort of Christian critics that real cult leaders attract. According to this RNS story by Adelle Banks… Some evangelical Christians have voiced alarm…

In my humble opinion, at least–the suggestion would be “Say You’re One of Them,” a collection of short stories from Uwem Akpan, a Jesuit priest from Nigeria who is, remarkably and courageously, teaching at a seminary in Zimbabwe, at least as of this writing. If he emerges from that hellhole, he’ll undoubtedly have lots more…

Or more of the same? Only I haven’t been paying attention–in fact, this brief item in a recent NYT was the first I’d heard of a program called “Baby Borrowers.” To wit: The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry said that NBC should end “The Baby Borrowers,” a reality television show that separates babies…

A nice Orange County Register piece about the fifth anniversary of Father Art Holquin’s ministry at Mission San Juan Capistrano, the premier historic mission in California, dating back 232 years. Tradition couldn’t keep the mission in decent shape, however, and things were looking pretty shabby when Father Art took over in 2003. Although he’s a…

The growth of short-term mission trips by young Americans has often struck me as little more than what is derided as “religious tourism,” although I am ambivalent in my criticism: Missionaries and church leaders and young people themselves talk about the experience as life-changing, or at the very least alerting them to a much wider–and…

The dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and others held hostage by Colombia’s FARC thugs riveted the world for days (which is an eternity of sorts in media years). But a signal aspect of her captivity–and her survival–was her intense devotion. She prayed the rosary on beads she made during her six years in the jungle,…
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