David Gibson: Sacred and Profane
Cardinal Dolan is the next Barack Obama
By David Gibson — March 6, 2013
As in the Archbishop of New York will be the commencement speaker at Notre Dame this spring. Just like President Obama in 2009. Very generous of the USCCB president to speak at a school that is no longer Catholic. And not just because it blew that championship season.
Benedict gets the New Yorker treatment
By David Gibson — March 4, 2013
No, he's no Eustace Tilley. But it's an honor. Sort of. No? Discuss.
A fake bishop infiltrates the Vatican!
By David Gibson — March 4, 2013
Well, for a few minutes at least. Not that hard to do, actually. This ain't the Pentagon. If he got into the conclave, now that'd be something. But betrayed by a sash? Why did he go to all this trouble and use a scarf? One word, bro: Gammarelli's...
Your Daily Colbert: “We have undergone a popendectomy”
By David Gibson — March 4, 2013
Why isn't Stephen Colbert in our "Sweet Sistine" pool? Any baptized male can be elected, and he sure qualifies. Alas, we may have to settle for video clips like these...
Did gays in the Vatican drive Benedict out?
By David Gibson — February 22, 2013
The latest speculation is that Benedict's resignation was prompted by the discovery of a gay "mafia" inside the Vatican. Not likely. Here's why. Paging Captain Renault...
Bp. Paprocki: Call Ratzinger “Pope,” too…
By David Gibson — February 20, 2013
Bishop Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., is known as a Catholic culture warrior to many but he is also a Rome-trained canon lawyer. In a memo that Pia de Solenni passes along, with his nihil obstat, Paprocki gives his opinion on a number of interesting issues stemming from Pope Benedict XVI’s unusual resignation — one of […]
Jesuit magazine: ‘Repeal the Second Amendment’
By David Gibson — February 15, 2013
The editors at America aim high in their quest to combat gun violence. From their latest editorial: In a recent interview, Tommaso Di Ruzza, the expert on disarmament and arms control at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, explained that an individual does not possess an absolute natural right to own a lethal weapon: […]
Does ‘Downton Abbey’ downplay anti-Semitism – and Judaism?
By David Gibson — February 14, 2013
(RNS) If God is missing from the hit television series “Downton Abbey” what about the other great religious oversight -- the fact that the show glosses over the anti-Semitism that was also commonplace in turn-of-the-century English, especially among the aristocracy?
Colbert the Catechist
By David Gibson — February 13, 2013
Saint Stephen of Comedy Central takes on Garry Wills, a terrific and maddening writer and historian — and confessed Catholic — who may be veering perilously close to caricature these days. He has a new book out, “Why Priests? A Failed Tradition,” and an Op-Ed in the New York Times arguing that Catholics who look […]
Have Gomez and Mahony made up?
By David Gibson — February 8, 2013
The public spitting match between Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez and his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, must have been as uncomfortable as it was unusual. But there are signs that maybe there’s been a reconciliation of sorts, or at least some couples counseling for the sake of their spiritual children. Gomez publicly embarrassed Mahony last […]
Video of the Day: “Praise Songs for Dummies”
By David Gibson — February 5, 2013
Perhaps this has been going around church circles for a while, but Rod Dreher flags an instant classic — for those familiar with this style of worship, increasingly popular. It’s a send-up of that wonderfully inspirational, terribly treacly, wannabe-show-stopper, hope-to-be-hip, usually-falling-short style of modern church music known as the praise song. I think it was […]
Will Cardinal Mahony face any consequences?
By David Gibson — February 5, 2013
On Monday, I revisited the question of whether the retired cardinal of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, actually suffered any discipline in his dust-up with his successor over his dismal track record on the sexual abuse of children by clergy. Now Tom Roberts of the National Catholic Reporter highlights a follow-up that could be an important […]
Is gay marriage like male lactation?
By David Gibson — January 29, 2013
San Francisco’s punchy new archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone, thinks Catholics should use the term “same-sex marriage” only “sparingly,” and added this analogy by way of explanation, as per Josh McElwee of the National Catholic Reporter: Speaking to the London-based Catholic Herald, Cordileone compares the term to male lactation. “Legislating for the right for people of the same sex […]
So long, Catholic Boy Scouts?
By David Gibson — January 28, 2013
Surprising news: Boy Scouts of America Says Discussing End to Ban on Gay Members By REUTERS DALLAS (Reuters) – Boy Scouts of America is discussing ending a longstanding ban on gay members and whether to allow local organizations to decide their own policy, a spokesman said on Monday. Lifting the ban would mark a dramatic […]
Creepiest pro-choice video possible?
By David Gibson — January 24, 2013
I suppose there are other ways the abortion rights movement could undermine its cause, but the video posted below seems pretty effective, and ironic: just as pro-lifers are debating whether they should use graphic images, since they turn off so many people, the Center for Reproductive Rights takes the opposite tack with this send-up of […]
