Last Sunday I went up to London for one of the regular LGBT – oriented “Soho Masses”. Earlier in the day, Pope Benedict had conducted the beatification service for Cardinal John Henry Newman. Cardinal Newman is now officially Blessed John…
Monthly Archives: September 2010
Woman Priest Inspired by “Jesus the Feminist”
Last July, Jane Via was ordained as a Catholic Priest by her San Diego Mary Magdalene faith community. When I wrote about it at the time, I noted that this method of ordination, “by acclamation” by a local congregation which…
Second Poll Confirms: US Majority Support Gay Marriage.
When a CNN poll last month showed for the first time that a majority of Americans supported gay marriage, I was a little cautious. A single poll can always be an aberration, the wording was unusual, and the small tiny…
Mandatory Celibacy: More Bishops Dissent.
Before Viennese Cardinal Christoph Shonborn made his notable observations on the need to reform the Church’s teaching on homosexual relationships, he was in the news for a suggestion that the rule on compulsory celibacy should be reviewed. The remarks on…
DIY Catholicism: Twin Cities “Synod of the Baptized”.
The “whole church” self-evidently includes many more people than simply the self-appointed oligarchy of bishops and their clergy, but the Vatican has never made any serious effort to involve the rest of us in the affairs of the Church -…
Israeli Gay adoption policy undergoes reform
The fundamental principle of “the best interests of the child” in adoption procedures demands that the child be placed with the best possible parents available. Israel is yet another country now recognising that the best available parents just might be…
What Constitutes a “Family”? Empirical Study Finds A Wider View
Religious conservatives are regularly referring to the “traditional family” as a foundation for their beliefs, but there is no such thing. The conservative interpretation of the so-called traditional family is a relatively modern invention, created to fit the conditions of…
LGBT Inclusion in Church: A Study in Contrasts
In Minneapolis, we have a fascinating study in contrasts, which illustrate the differences between churches, and divisions within them, on LGBT inclusion in Church. wcco.com reports on a Lutheran celebration for lesbian pastors who can finally be formally recognized within the…
Faith, in Schools
There is a fine line to be drawn between avoidance of unfairly discriminating in favour of one form of belied (and so against all others), and avoiding all religion altogether. Does the refusal to endorse religion in schools amount to…
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard’s name is one to be reckoned with. Although today we usually use the term “Renaissance Man” to indicate one with a wide range of learning to his credit, perhaps we should also recognize in a similar way some extraordinary…
