Pope Benedict has named the members of the “visitation” that he promised for Ireland back in March. Initial reaction has been mixed. On the positive side, the seniority of the team members is impressive, showing that the Vatican is taking this…
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Out in Politics.
The sudden fall of David Laws, now ex-minister in the UK coalition cabinet for falling foul of expenses regulations in an attempt to keep his sexuality private, has thrown into relief the record of some other politicians. I was struck…
Better Courts Now.
I confess, I fail to understand the logic behind direct elections for judges. Clearly, the most important qualification is not political beliefs, but a blend of qualifications, experience and judicial philosophy. If vacancies must be filled by election, then those…
June is Pride Month
“As he did last year, Obama today declared June “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.” We don’t need to be told that June is Pride month - right across the globe, in city after city, week after week, Pride…
The Place of the Catechism
Ever since I wrote here and also at the Open Tabernacle about the importance of care with language, distinguishing between “Vatican” teaching and authentic “church” teaching, (What are “Church teaching” and “Church” teaching?) an OT reader, David, has been engaging…
Schonborn: One Month
One month on, there has been no attempt from the Vatican to contest or refute a suggestion by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn that it is time for the Church to move beyond focussing on homosexual “acts”, to an examination of the relationships.
Beyond the Patriarchal Trinity
For Trinity Sunday, “Out in Scripture” this week offers a refreshing new look at the nature of the Trinity, which has far too often been grossly oversimplified to at patriarchal model of “Father, Son and Holy Ghost”. Instead, they place…
A “Recovered Catholic” Tells Her Story
Sue Cox is an English woman from a “fanatically” Catholic family who says she was molested by a Catholic priest at the age of ten, and a few years later was raped by him. She has written frankly and dispassionately of…
Politicians Outed, Australia & UK
Over the past ten days, two politicians on opposite sides of the globe have been outed in the press, in sad and embarrassing circumstances (aren’t they always?) The UK example is the more recent, and involves a freshly minted and…
Reading Magisterium Backwards? Paulus, 3rd century.
Modern scholarship has left us familiar with the idea that the standard presentations of Biblical statements on homoerotic relationships are frequently misrepresentations of the texts, and are certainly highly selective cherry picking. Well-known examples are the regular recourse to the…
