Meeting minutes: Dolan’s Milwaukee archdiocese paid accused priests to leave

Meeting minutes: Dolan’s Milwaukee archdiocese paid accused priests to leave  This is not good news for the Church.  I would rather beat Dolan on the merits regarding contraception and religious liberty, rather than having this be the basis of victory on this issue.  Of course, while I am saddened, I am not shocked.  His conduct of late reeks of the kind of clericalism (and a certain lack of skill in legal matters - like putting the needs of the institution above the needs of the people) that is a hallmark of the abuse crisis.

Wester v. Dowd

Wester v. Dowd by MSW.  MGB: That civil law can require religious employers to behave as any other employers is already settled law, as is the requirement that preventative care include contraception.  What the Church seems to be fighting is the manner in which the government is outlining how it can be exempted from policies which, without accommodation, it would have to follow - even at the parish level.  Regardless of the usual tone of Ms. Dowd, it is remarkably graceless of the bishops to not acknowledge the fact that Obama and Sebelius are essentially doing them a favor by carving out an exemption at all (which is why threats that somehow the Church would have stoped providing services without accommodation on their own terms ring particularly hollow).  For those bishops who really want to use this issue for political advantage, their best strategy is to declare victory and shut up - since they will be met with a war on women meme that helps Obama among even Catholic women more than their objections hurt him.

Catholics & Jews

Catholics & Jews by MSW.  MGB: This is an interesting read.  It shows that people do really matter in bringing forth change - it does not magically appear on its own.  As an assimilated Catholic Romany, I find it rather tragic that ostensibly Christian Europe still tends to regard those of us who survived Hitler as pariahs and our particular faith is ignored by the Church in eceumenical talks (we believe, as a matter of faith, that Jesus and Mary Magdalaine were married and that their child, Sara Kali, was a perpetual virgin - not the ancestress of the Mergovignian kings).  It is also interesting to note how much evangelical protestantism still clings to an apocolyptic vision in its support of Israel, rather than any change from the anti-Judaism of historic Christianity.

More on Subsidiarity

More on Subsidiarity by MSW.  MGB: Essentially, he argues that Catholic doctrine calls for libertarian socialism.  Of course, modern politics does not have any room for libertarian socialists, even of the Christian variety.  Indeed, my very real libertarian socialist presidential campaign in Americans Elect was ignored in the Catholic press, including this blog.  By the way, a libertarian socialist solution to health care would be to offer a public program supported by taxes on employers, with employers having the option to opt out and provide superior care (including hiring its own doctors and having its own hospital beds) and thus avoid the tax.  This is different from a pure libertarian solution, which would be to remove all group advantages to purchasing health insurance and leave all families at the mercy of private markets.  Since libertarians don't like regulating monopolies, these would be very harsh markets indeed.

Was Scalia Right or Wrong?

Was Scalia Right or Wrong? by MSW.  MGB: Essentially, what the Smith decision says is that the Church has not right to do evil to their employees under cover of religious liberty.  My question is, why would the Church want to?  The fact is, the HHS mandate does not impose a mandate to cover contraception that has not been in place for more than a decade.  The only change here is the fact that the copayment can no longer be charged.  Presumably, this means that employers will pay higher premiums. That presumption is wrong actuarily on this issue. This is evidenced by the fact that when the original mandate to cover contraception was imposed, rates did not go up.  This is entirely an issue on the regulation of insurance companies.  It really has nothing to do with the Church unless the Church tries to make it an issue.  The fact that the bishops and this Blog ignore the fact that contraception mandates are nothing new is still troubling - and still no Mea Culpa from either MSW or the USCCB.  Even an Emily Latella would be nice (as in "Never mind").

Catholicism, freedom and the fate of health care reform

Catholicism, freedom and the fate of health care reform  MB: The degree to which individual freedom can be compelled by the majority depends upon the issue. Any legal compulsion by majority rule is to some extent an assault on the individual's freedom of choice.  On moral issues, such as drug abuse and the regulation of sexuality, such regulation requires impostion of a police state.  Economic regulation requires less police power - and because the individual and group mandates in health care reform utilize existing police power by imposing the mandate as a tax penalty, there is no increase in the police power at all to enforce this mandate, which is technically chosen by the majority of the society - through its surrogates in a system of representative government.  At some level, if mandates are a violation of freedom of choice, so is the entire system of representative decision making.  I suspect that many foes of mandates are really against the latter - and have no chance of achieving that result throught the Supreme Court.

Vatican academy mulls how pro-life is pro-life enough

Vatican academy mulls how pro-life is pro-life enough  The Pontifical Academy is for true believers only.  Looking at the facts is too much like being reasonable to be acceptable to this crew, who regard natural reason as acceptable only when blessed by hierarchy.  That noise you hear is Aristotle and Aquinas spinning in their graves.

Berg on Religious Liberty

Berg on Religious Liberty by MSW.  MGB: It seems like the North Dakota initiative is an attempt at nullification - an issue that has long been settled, both in the supremacy clause of the original constitution and in the 14th Amendment.

MSW at CACG

MSW at CACG by MSW.  MGB: The way to really take advantage of the current economic situation would be to advocate for more liberal policies, especially with regard to debt, than Obama is implementing now.  Because of his ideology and acceptance of the Ryan budget, that way is closed to Romney, which allows the Administration to soft pedal much needed liberal reforms, even those he could do unilaterally like selling Freddie and Fannie to the Federal Reserve so that the latter can write down mortgage debt.

Christians Defending Gays

Christians Defending Gays by MSW.  MGB: Some of the Ugandan effort is driven by C Street and the Family.  Ecumenism should not include validating such nonsense.  Of course, it was not too long ago that homosexuality was criminal in much of this country as well.  The sophistry that it is somehow disordered, which the hierarchy still clings to, depends on their being some natural order outside of personal human experience which God must enforce.  The whole concept is a sophistry to deal with the fact that a perfect God cannot be harmed by human action - so instead the natural order is harmed. Poppycock!  Human natural is maleable and always has been.

Muslims & Religious Liberty

Muslims & Religious Liberty by MSW. MGB: Kansas is full of the kind of conservative grand standers who put symbol above reality.  There was no danger of anyone enacting Sharia in Kansas, just as the abortion law that then-Governor Sebelius vetoed had no chance of withstanding an immediate constitutional challenge that would have been rejected for appeal on every level.  This did not stop the local ordinary from asking the Governor not to receive Communion for her very justfied veto.  This is the kind stupid and futile gesture STMCL is known for and it is pretty standard governance in the current U.S. House of Representatives.  Bluto Blutarski would be proud.  The only thing you need to know about Kansas conservatives is the movie Animal House and the book What's the Matter with Kansas.

Two Good Reads From Post Outlook

Two Good Reads From Post Outlook by MSW.  MGB: Sadly, the bishops and Garvey are falling into a libertarian belief that labor rights must be fought at every turn, which is tragic given the historical support Catholic doctrine has given to employee rights.  This meme that the government is somehow got a feminist agenda going on with respect to contraception is false, given that the mandate has its roots in a determination by the Institute of Medicine, not the Office of the Secretary.  Keeping this conversation alive is good, of course, for the President's reelection.  If the Republicans in the USCCB really want to get rid of Obama, they will be quiet and quit empowering the discussion on a war on women.

NYTimes Wrong Again

NYTimes Wrong Again by MSW.  MGB: The Scalia precedent does apply to conceptive care, as does the existing EEOC policy.  The HHS proposals are actually an effort to accommodate the Church where it has not been accommodated previously under current policy.  What is Orwellian is the continued ommission by both the Bishops and by MSW of this fact, which renders their current meme absurd.  As to their view that the Church is trying to impose its views on society, one need only listen to them to realize they would undo Griswold v. Connecticut if they could, either directly through supporting "personhood amendments" in hopes of creating a vehicle to do so or by undoing employment law through a Taco Bell rule on contraceptive coverage.

Another Culture Warrior?

Another Culture Warrior? by MSW.  MGB: I suspect this one slipped through while the new Nuncio is getting his bearings.  It is not altogether bad that the right wingers are asserting themselves, with Chaput serving as the new Rigali.  Sometimes things must get worse before they can be corrected.  The conservative ascendancy will not last long, as Jesus has gauranteed the survival of the Church - which is something that is impossible if such ascendancy is permanent while the people in the pews continue to think for themselves.  At the very least, the majority inaugurate a Catholic Spring by voting with their pocket books.

Is religious liberty being hijacked?

Is religious liberty being hijacked? by MSW.  MGB: The idea that Catholic institutions that take government money to do government functions can exist without government interferance is simply naive, as is the belief that the government has no role in drawing lines as to what is a religious organization and what is not. Some kind of line must be drawn or anyone can claim to be a religious group for purposes of avoiding governmental rules. The summer event is key, but for a reason MSW hates - it will show to all the world whether the bishops efforts in this area are as entirely partisan as many of us suspect. It is still ironic that some in the Church are essentially pursuing an argument to gut the very essence of labor rights that Catholic social teaching has fought for over a century to establish. There is something simply Orwellian about using the term freedom of conscience to restrict employee health care choices that are mandated not by government social engineers, but by the medical community.


As to the question of anti-Sharia law or other foreign law, it is not a state matter. Indeed, the question of whether the local archbishop acted seditiously in the matter of Governor Sebelius is a question best addressed by the State Department to the Papal Nuncio - especially as she has been asked to continue to avoid communion by the local ordinaries in Washington. If she had justfied her veto on feminist grounds, that would be one thing. That she did so based on her understanding of the federal constitution should be unassailable by ecclesiastic authorities. Perhaps they should work with her on find a constitutional solution before going down the garden path of forcing issues before the Supreme Court that they will never hear.

Catholic (Un)Cultured

Catholic (Un)Cultured by MSW.  MGB:  Actually, the Taco Bell argument can be applied to Catholic Universities, Hospitals and Charities, which are mostly about other things than teaching the doctine on contraception. Indeed, in some such universities, I suspect that honest teaching reveals that the Church is actually wrong. I know in my days in minor seminary Ethics (which pre-law students also took - although business ethics might have been a better choice), we were told that life could not begin at conception because of the possibility of twinning - at least under Aristotelean ethics.


More importantly, the view that employers should be preserved from paying for any employee benefit or activity they find immoral opens a slippery slope allowing them to fire smokers or in other ways interfere with employee rights to be left to their own consciences, which are as or more important than those of their employers. There was a day when the Church was all about employee rights.

Finally, Bishop Blaire's argument should be taken further. This lawsuit should not have been filed - first because it is not ripe until the final rule is issued and second because they are likely funding it from donations made from contributors to annual lenten appeals. Luckily, my diocese did not join in the case. If it had, I would be canceling my pledge because they did not ask me first. I doubt most donors or people in the pews would agree with this lawsuit. This is another reason why Church governance on such matters needs to be moved away from clergy and to non-profit boards responsible to the faithful.

Cohn on Romney's Health Care Proposals

Cohn on Romney's Health Care Proposals by MSW.  MGB: I suspect he knows that there is no way he can actually pass this if elected, since the votes won't exist in the Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act or rewrite Medicare and Medicaid according to the Book of Ryan.  If Romney is still working this hard to pander to his base, he may just be trying to avoid embarrassment in defeat.  He may just be going for more electoral votes than Dukakis.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day by MSW.  MGB: In modern cemeteries, perpetual care is provided, so the only decoration is planing a small flag.  It used to be that the community would maintain cemetaries for all the dead, not just those killed in war.  Of course, with riding mowers, it is a lot easier to do so today, just as it is easier to kill.  WWI was a silly waste.  WWII was essential due to the demonic nature of the enemy (and some of our friends).  Even after the war, millions died of starvation.  Korea led to stalemate and is still going on, while Viet Nam was an adventure best avoided.  The same can be said of the second Iraq war, except that the world is likely a better place without Saddam and his kids.  Afghanistan has been too clever by a half and is as much a covert operation as a war, with the military required to mop up a war won largely by the CIA.  Of course, not all wars are ours.  One look at Africa shows that we have actually been delinquent in supporting causes that are just.

Garnett Responds to MSW

Garnett Responds to MSW  MGB: Frankly, Garnett is correct on this.  The right of conscience of the individual does include the right to disagree with the Church, especially if you have better information than they do.  Perhaps MSW should entertain the possibility that people disagree with the hierarchy on contraception because the hierarchy is wrong and stubborn in their error.  It is not the Administration, by the way, that is coming up with the finding that contraception is basic coverage - it is the Institute of Medicine.  Arguing with doctors is absurd if your conscience position is based on natural reason.

Philly trial reveals unreliability of religions' self-policing policies

Philly trial reveals unreliability of religions' self-policing policies.  This shows why we need to withhold donations until the bishops discourage management and property to modern non-profit corporate structures responsible to the faithful, not to the bishops.  The Church has also been badly served by its lawyers on this and on many other things (like the lawsuit recently filed, which is likely not ripe for consideration until the final rule is issued).

Report on Religious Freedom Event

Report on Religious Freedom Event by MSW.  MGB: Any pharmacist who does not know enough about embryology to know that life begins at gastrulation should not be working at all, or should at least hold their opinion because they obviously have not had the education to form a professional opinion.  It is basic biology that until gastrulation, maternal DNA is entirely in control and that until gastrulation, cross species hybrids continue to develop.  If the moral question of ensoulment is important to them, they need to find out about the embryolical facts - which if they know anything about ensoulment (with souls guiding the physical in classical parlance), one must conclude that the individual soul is not present before gastrulation.  This illustrates the problem with moral and political conservatism.  It tends to reject inconvenient facts (like the fact that the lawsuit just filed is not yet ripe because the final rule has not been issued).  I suspect that the world of public relations has infected the conservative movement fatally, including, sadly, the Church.

Is the Roman Catholic Church downsizing into a sect?

Is the Roman Catholic Church downsizing into a sect?  It is not the entire hierarchy that is going nuts, just some leading bishops.  Many of these will be gone in 10 years and younger bishops who came of age during the Spirit of Vatican II period will be in control.  This is more a death gasp than an attempt at sectarianism - especially given the demographics of those who will soon be the majority of the donor pool.  My hope is that new donors will force changes in the financial and management structures of the Church.

Religious LIberty Updates

Religious LIberty Updates by MSW.  MGB: Objecting to line drawing based on the degree to which the Catholic organization is involved in celebration versus direct ministry obscures the real issue, which relates to the idea of a Catholic Spring, which is the extent to which the bishops are able to directly manage these organizations.  What the bishops object to is that they can't control the Sisters who own hospitals and, in some cases, schools.  A Catholic Spring would move more institutions away from, not closer to, episcopal control. It is time to replace the bishops in their role as owners of most diocesean organizations.  When tithes were mandatory, they could behave like feudal lordlings.  Now that these contributions are voluntary and to a large extent, publicly funded, it is time to shift to modern non-profit boards selected by the faithful, rather than the bishops.  Ultimately, the ancient process for selecting bishops by election of the faithful should also be reinstituted.  As you can tell, I'm not rooting for the bishops on this. Christianity will survive democracy.  Indeed, it is more likely God will speak through the people than the current regime, given their recent conduct.

Editorial: Farm Bill is an opportunity to turn a broken system around

Editorial: Farm Bill is an opportunity to turn a broken system around.  MB: No bill will get out of Congress this year, so I am not sure anything that is in either version can be taken seriously.  One hopes, however, that the new bill stops subsidies that starve foreign agriculture.

What's Worse Than Divided, Dysfunctional Gov't?

What's Worse Than Divided, Dysfunctional Gov't? by MSW.  MGB: Ryan is delusional.  The only mandate this fall will be to bury his budget plan (and him).  If he keeps his own seat, I will be shocked.  He has to be smart enough to know that he is in trouble.  Every Tea Party Senate primary win brings us closer to another 60 vote Democratic majority.  Radtke is about to win the Virginia GOP primary, giving the seat to Kaine in November.

Bp Blaire Breaks the Dam

Bp Blaire Breaks the Dam by MSW.  MGB: I still find it rather odd that the bishops are seeking to limit the conscience rights of their employees to the health care that they work for under the color of freedom of conscience.  It is not as if this issue comes down from the White House or even HHS.  They are enforcing law and acting on the advice of the Institutes of Medicine.  The bishops should not be second guessing doctors on this issue.

U.S. views on marriage evolving, polls show

U.S. views on marriage evolving, polls show  MGB: Constitutional rights are not a matter for public debate, once established.  Obama needs to evolve his opinion into an order to DOJ to file cases overturning state laws that violate the rights of gays and lesbians, including the right to marriage.  As for the Church, they are very much afraid that the same pressures to do gay legal marriage will be shifted to them by Catholics who will demand that such unions be blessed publicly (they are already sacramental, whether the hierarchy says so or not).  I suspect that such unions are already being blessed privately.  A largely gay priesthood would not be averse to doing this, although gay marriage could either hurt recruitment or open up yet another front in the debate on priestly celibacy.  Finally, Catholic traditional marriage, which is coordinated with the view of the relationship between Christ and the Church, needs to be rethought - because the traditional view is of unequal partners.  Liberal Catholics should not be shy in wanting this view to change as well.

Races for Congress feel super PAC influence

Races for Congress feel super PAC influence by MSW.  MGB: Actually, if the economy comes back and the GOP convention is a debacle, 2012 could be a landslide - at least in the Electoral College.  Ideally, all funds should be filtered through the party, especially nomination fights, with candidates for nomination funded equally if they have significant support (say 15% of a caucus held to decide who is eligible to get funded).  Fixing SuperPACs won't fix gerrymandering, however.  Oddly, GOP SuperPACs, if they unseat incumbent Republicans or lead to fringe Tea Partiers edging out more centrist candidates may just keep the Senate with Democrats.  With likely Democratic wins in the House (a good ground game in the 75 GOP at-risk districts will do a lot given that only 25 seats need to change hands for Pelosi to regain the Speakership), this may well be a banner year for Democrats, who will likely fashion workarounds for Citizens United.

Remembering Montini

Remembering Montini by MSW.  MGB: What I find impressive is his vision in the Upper Room, which he never shared publicly.  I would love to know what he saw.  He had the right idea about the Mass, but he was a bit ahead of his time.  Allowing culturally specific translations without first establishing linguistic patriarchies was likely a mistake.  It would have been better to go slow and simply adopt the current missal translations as the vernacular and THEN go with revisions once everyone saw how clunky the original Latin was (and is).  His actions invited the liturgical counter-revolution recently completed by Pope Benedict after being set in motion by John Paul II.  While Humanae Vitae might have something to say about tinkering with the genetic code, its sexual teaching, while an improvement on what was before, is still an insult to married Catholics and his views on embryology lack any understanding of embryology.  Life cannot really be said to begin until gastrulation. Until then, development is accomplished through the maternal life force carried over from prior to conception.  As science indicates it cannot be otherwise, then the Church must admit its error.  Simply punting on the question of ensoulment, which is what Evangelicum Vitae does, is not acceptable either.

A bean-counting analysis of democracy

A bean-counting analysis of democracy by MSW.  MGB: The American Revolution was actually a civil war, with the drafting of the constitution a coup by elites to overthrow a governmental system that was not working.  Policy analysis generally does a bad job of explaining democracy, going back to Anthony Downs book which explained why voting was irrational, which is clearly not the case (Downs under estimated the effect of parties in the decision to vote while including population as a whole as a variable - in reality, voting is rational if you have an expectation that you will be joined by more people who believe like you do and the art of electioneering is to convince the majority that every supporter is needed to assure the win).  If this book addresses this part of the debate on why electoral democracy really does work, then it is a valid new addition to political science theory.

What gays and lesbians are teaching us about marriage

What gays and lesbians are teaching us about marriage  MGB: I wrote a column about this last week.  Advocates of gay marriage should be up front on a desire to destroy the traditional view of marriage, which places the man over the woman.  That can't happen in a marriage of equals and this is what both the Church and heterosexuals can learn from gay marriage.  Marriage is, first and foremost, the basic adult right.  Without the right to form a new family using this tool, gay people are forever tied as infants to their families of origin.  That cannot be allowed and it won't be for long.  The Church has itself to blame for the need for gay marriage, since it was often the force encouraging families to exclude a gay partner from both hospital visitation and exercising the next of kin rights of a spouse.  If Church hospitals had practiced basic human decency, rather than trying to ram through a death bed conversion, gay marriage would be less of an issue.

Monaghan Disses Catholic Schools

Monaghan Disses Catholic Schools by MSW.  MGB: If only Monaghan were more correct.  A bit more humanism in Catholic schools on sex than you find currently would be a welcome change, although my Catholic Jr. High got away with telling us about contraception in health class from a purely secular point of view.  More should follow their lead.

Maureen Dowd's Invincible Ignorance

Maureen Dowd's Invincible Ignorance by MSW.  MGB: Invincible ignorance is actually a term of art in ethics, not theology.  It applies to more than just the knowledge of the Gospel.  For example, one wonders if Rome is vincibly or invincibly ignorant about embryology when they write about contraception.  It is certainly one of the two.  As to knowledge of Scripture, Dowd is correct and the hierarchy is wrong, having completely ignored as an institution the Spirit of Prophesy, which includes criticism of the hierarchy when it departs from Christ's teachings and prefers its own brands of hierarchism (on ecclesial power) and stoicism (on sex) to gospel truth.  Given their pursuit of wealth and power, the washing of the feet on Holy Thursday is an empty gesture in most Cathedrals.  It is no sin to realize that sometimes (especially on sex) the hierarchy is wrong.

Mayor Booker Walks Back "Nauseating" Charge

Mayor Booker Walks Back "Nauseating" Charge by MSW.  MGB: The Bain ads are a mistake.  Obama is vulnerable to Romney as economic manager if the economy continues to be bad.  The only way to mute that attack is to make the economy not bad by selling underwater mortgage loans to the Federal Reserve so that they can be written down, while allowing tax free withdrawals from retirement savings to buy a bigger house.  If Romney speaks against this and the GOP blocks it, or tries to, that is better than any ad.

Partisan Or Catholic?

Partisan Or Catholic? by MSW.  MGB: First, I think Chaput is Latino, but he is certainly also hyper-partisan.  Second, either the USCCB is badly staffed or deliberately ignoring the fact that contraception has been required to be covered in all preventative medicine policies since December 2000.  Any analysis that steps over this fact is flawed, including MSW's.  Third, the problem with objections to Kennedy's speech are that they ignore its explicit attack on Christendom, the ability of prelates to use Church discipline to force Catholic politicians to vote or decide matters in their way.  Secretary Sebelius has every right to object to this, since she has been the victim of attempts to do just that, which should be regarded as seditious.  Whether or not she was personally in support of legal abortion or not, her veto of a clearly unconstitutional state law on the basis of that unconstitutionality cannot be challenged.  Catholic politicians cannot be urged to violate their constitutional oaths to preserve and protect the constitution of the United States via attempts at ecclesiastic discipline without that being seen as seditious.  The fact that the DC and Virginia bishops are asking her to continue to not receive Communion in respect for their seditious colleague is not a good sign.

43 Catholic dioceses, groups sue to stop HHS contraception mandate

43 Catholic dioceses, groups sue to stop HHS contraception mandate  First, they already lost on the issue of religious freedom in the context of Catholic Charities of New York suing to stop an identical state law - twice.  Second, contraceptive coverage has been required since December 2000, so their motivation is not pure and their case is probably late.  Third, objections to the Administration drawing lines on what activity is religious and what is not in the enforcement of labor law likely reflects legal precedent, although there is certainly room for further development.  I suspect, however, that the accommodations already offered by the Administration will lead to a motion for summary judgement against the plaintiffs, as there is no significant issue to be decided (owing mostly to the fact that mandates to cover contraception have existed for 12 years and voiding HHS policy won't change that - EEOC is not a defendant).  This is an example of the Catholic Church being ill served by its lawyers and staff.  A good lawyer would have discouraged going forward.  Jones Day should know better, but they are seeking publicity for themselves.

Notre Dame's swing at Obama is, unfortunately, deserved

Notre Dame's swing at Obama is, unfortunately, deserved  My comments: I suspect this is Notre Dame getting back in the good graces of the bishops, since in reality, contraceptive coverage has been required since December 2000 under an EEOC ruling on insurance coverage.  The question of how the Administration draws the line on what is a religious group and what is primarily secular in mission and therefore not exempt from labor law is determined mostly by an attempt to follow Supreme Court jurisprudence, which is admittedly underdeveloped.  The fact that a line must be drawn, however, is obvious, or Blue Cross will declare itself to be a religious group and we will have no means of stopping them.

B16 Backs Immigration Reform

B16 Backs Immigration Reform by MSW. MGB: This is a good reason to have a more self-conciously Catholic party with candidates raising this issue on all levels - preferably something libertarian socialist, mostly on Distributist lines.  Once the GOP folds and the Dems go too big, this is a possibility, provided it is not too cozy with the Church (including disgreeing with it when it is wrong on such issues as contraception and gay marriage).  Still, in the mean time, it would be nice if Catholics friendly to Obama, particularly in the Latino community, drew the connection.  As is obvious, no Romney partisan will put Church before Party on this issue.  Anyone who is that honest does not vote GOP now.

More Graduation Wars

More Graduation Wars by MSW.  MGB: Fr. Henry is following the lie, which the press is ignoring because they like the controversy or support the bishops, that contraception has not been required since December 2000 and that the Obama policy is anything new (aside from the lack of a copayment).  As far as Sebelius, she has been badly served by the Administration. If I were POTUS, I would tell the Nuncio to discipline those bishops still denying her Communion for vetoing an obviously unconstitutional abortion law.  The local ordinary's conduct in this matter not only borders on sedition, it crosses the line.

Why Your Vote Won't Matter

Why Your Vote Won't Matter by MSW.  MB: Redistricting reform will help, however in the short run, there are 50 GOP members in trouble (redistricting only helped 10 of the 60 in Obama districts)where they only have a 25 seat majority.  If Obama 2008 voters come out (and gay marriage won't keep them from doing so - since the missing voters in 2010 were the young), Democrats will benefit in the House.  The GOP keeps getting rid of long time members and replacing them with Mama Grizzlies (because that worked so well in 2010).  If Mama Grizzlies or other teaists win in Texas, Arizona and Virginia, the Senate may get to 60 Democrats.  There is no chance of 60 Republicans.  Without the Latino vote, Romney has no chance - and if he does what it takes to attract them, his base will stay home too.  Don't blame bad civics for bad discourse.  The young voters are going for Obama.  They seem to have been trained well.  It is the older voters (who had civics) who are falling for the GOP talking points presented as fact on FoxNews.  Sadly, the ones falling under the pro-life, protection of marriage and religious headings sometimes get more respect than they deserve on this site.

Schonborn's Interview

Schonborn's Interview by MSW.  MGB: The CDF believes in a natural order that God enforces with his divine justice, which is a sophistry designed to get out of the fact that God cannot actually be harmed by our sins, so some kind of natural order must.  It is all part of the indulgence racket.  It was necessary for them to take the line they did because the emerging view that sex is a gift from God would apply to homosexuals as well.  If they admitted that gays were born that way rather than having made a sinful choice, then they would have to admit that gay sex within a marital relationship is not immoral.  His Excellency makes progress by not going forward with the natural order equivication, but not yet far enough by admitting that gays are wonderfully made and entitled to sexual love in a fulfilled marriage.  Of course, that would have gotten him into trouble that his friend the Pope could not have gotten him out of (unless His Holiness decided to make some news of his own).  This is also one of those bridges that MSW does not seem to want to cross just yet that most Catholics already have.

Kudos to Gov. O'Malley

Kudos to Gov. O'Malley by MSW.  MGB: Would that more politicians had the courage to follow the Governor's example.  This is why he should be on the ticket in 2016 - maybe at the top.

Ratzinger's Faith: Part III

Ratzinger's Faith: Part III by MSW.  MGB: I agree with Ratzinger on the problem of pelagianism.  Now that he is Pope, lets see if he is willing to reverse it.  He can start by letting people into the doctrine business who actually have a sex life by opening the priesthood to married people (of all varieties) and discarding the ideal of Holy Continence - which is more Stoic and Pelagian than Christian.  There is nothing holy about the desire to separate the celebration of Christian marital sex with the celebration of the Eucharist on the same Sunday morning. Both are holy.  St. Paul was the first to say that to use Christianity simply as an ethical system without focusing on the resurrection is simply foolish, because you can get ethics elsewhere through natural reason.

Myopia of the Commentariat

Myopia of the Commentariat by MSW. MGB: It may just turn on the base and maybe a few others who now regard the Bush foreign policy as ill-conceived and executed.  I could visualize the ad, although it may come from a SuperPac and not the campaign itself.  On the tax side, both Obama and Romney seem to be heading toward 4 more years of Bush economic policy, unless Obama can get a deal soon or he wins back the House and makes gains in the Senate (my math requires Collins and Murkowski to defect to get Obama back to 60 votes).

Silk Takes On Moi

Silk Takes On Moi by MSW.  MGB: MSW is almost there.  The way to get to how gay marriage will be included in Matrimony is to realize that two men or two women can as authentically be married to themselves and before God as a man and a woman.  Such was the case in the Church, by the way, before the Sacrament was publicly celebrated.  This, of course, begs the question of whether the Sign exists in the life of the Church without the Rite. On an ultimate level, it does.  On a visible level, Gary is right.

Ratzinger's Faith: Part II

Ratzinger's Faith: Part II by MSW.  MB:  The key question is the most ancient - to what extent does the individual Catholic make up his or her own mind and to what extent does he have to obey what the Church tells him.  What Ratzinger/Benedict does not grasp is that in the modern world, this question is answered favoring the individual and likely always has.  A papacy that no one listens to has neither power or authority.  The key to being a good pope is to embrace the fact that belief cannot be forced.  Once he realizes that the individual members have the last word on both following Church teaching and deciding whether to do so, he can be free to really use natural law as an examination rather than an intellectual cheat for Roman authority.  Ratzinger's blind spot is that he does not see how tenuous his position really is.

Worst Column (So Far) on Gay Marriage

Worst Column (So Far) on Gay Marriage by MSW.  MGB: The fact that the Sacrament of Matrimony is fairly recent is fairly old news to any who have studied the Sacraments at the collegiate level.  All the Sacraments have evolved with time, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation.  Wills quotation of St. Augustine on distributing Communion, when he would say "The Body of Christ, which you are" is telling.  He has a point, one that if understood would move the Church to have the congregation sit upon reception - since the essence of Christ moves from bread to soul upon consumption (not digestion).  Frankly, I am not aware that MSW is open to a discription of how gay marriage might be included within the context of the Sacrament of Matrimony.  It is really not that difficult, since in both cases (gay and straight) the Sacrament is celebrated by the couple, not the priest. In both cases it should join the families - which would be particularly useful considering how some families have drunk the anti-gay Kool-Aid which science is finding has no basis in fact.  Finally, the bishops are likely very much afraid because the people and much of the clergy are likely ahead of them on this.  Unless we are a generation heading to perdition over our acceptance of this change (not likely), now is the time to stop defending the bishops for their resistance to the evolution of this Sacrament.  Sometimes you have to jump off the fence.

Happy Feast

Happy Feast  by MSW.  MGB: Why would she be considered insane at all? She seems sane beyond her time and unwilling to be considered simply chattel. I have a piece on virgin martyrdom, whihc you can find on my blog, which relates to this.  The piece was published in November of last year around St. Catherine's Day.

Ratzinger's Faith

Ratzinger's Faith reviewed by MSW.  MGB:  The main problem for Ratzinger was that he was tapped to be John Paul II's doctrinal enforcer.  Whatever you say about Benedict, JPII was a counter-revolutionary on many of the issues which faced the Church during his papacy.  The longer Benedict reigns, the more he can undo.  I wonder whether this book, or any, delves into the currency in which the prophesies of St. Malachy are held by Benedict and those around him, and to what extent he is trying to self-consciously fulfill them (if at all).  His name certainly fits, as does his rapprochement with Constantinople.  If he has time to take this far enough, the change will be massive.

GOP Hearts Ryan, But Not Really

GOP Hearts Ryan, But Not Really by MSW.  MB: I think they should return her for telling the truth that it is all a deliberate publicity stunt, although it is likely in their best interest to get rid of her so Ryan becomes the gadfly he was meant to be.  He does not have it in him to govern, which takes compromise.  Also, someone needs to start pointing out to older voters that block granting Medicaid to the states will have a direct impact on the quality of the long term care available to them and their spouses should such care be required.  Even if they get care, it may be in a Hell hole.

Benedict at Arezzo

Benedict at Arezzo by MSW. MB: He is close, but he is too close to his own feelings of authority to see beyond the legalism of his office, or how the power of it is relativistic rather than absolute - since absolutes don't require authority to discover - quite the oppossite.

Romney, Evangelicals, SSM and MSM

Romney, Evangelicals, SSM and MSM  MGB: Black voters, if they turn out, are entirely unlikely to vote Republican.  In 2008, voters supported Proposition 8 but voted for Obama.  They are quite as capable as white voters of cognitive dissonance on these issues.  It is just as likely that Obama may actually move some of these voters to support marriage equality, especially those below a certain age.  There is no movement to have the government force Churches to celebrate these unions, although as employers it makes no sense for them to differentiate between gay and straight civil marriages if they disapprove of all civil marriage on moral grounds but still cover the spouses.  At some point, those who defend the bishops, including MSW, will have to realize that unless they believe the younger generation who largely approves of gay marriages either have a valid moral point or are going to perdition as a group.  Since the latter is unlikely, change has to be seen as imminent within the Church. Those of us who favor legal gay marriage are also working for change within the Church - and have the donor power and the manpower to get it done.

Plague on Both Houses

Plague on Both Houses by MSW.  My response: I don't particularly like O'Donnell's tone either. He seems a bit smirky to watch before going to bed (or instead of Castle, the Mentalist or Lost Girl) or simply sleeping. They don't even put him on Friday nite.


As to the nature of marriage - when the rabbinical writers of Genesis during the exile were writing, it was radical stuff to say that men and women were of one flesh in marriage, rather than keeping women as property. Jesus echoed the same sentiment, which went against the classical notion that women were breeding chattel and the highest form of love was between two men. One wonders whether some of the early bishops were more classical stoics than followers of what Jesus and the Rebi said, given how they marginalized women -a practice that continues to present day.

Marriage is essentially about love in modern times - at least as far as the celebration of the sacrament is concerned - where love includes acceptance. Marriage is the creation of new family units and the joining of two families as part of that new unit. If the Church applied that standard to gay weddings, there would be a lot less stress over gay marriages (which are made by God and the couples involved, not the priest or state).

Marriage has always been the basic unit of family law, no matter how many spouses or their genders. To contract marriage is the basic adult right, without which an individual is forever bound to their family of origin for primary kinship. Until this basic fact is acknowledged, rational discussion on marriage equality is displaced, with most objections existing simply as an appeal to authority (rather than reason). This has been my consistent position, which is likely why MSW has excluded me from those blogs he acknowledges (even though my Christian Left on Blogspot predates both this blog and his prior America Magazine blog).

Romney Heads to Lynchburg

Romney Heads to Lynchburg by MSW.  My response: Romney will say whatever is strategic, no matter what he actually thinks.  That is basically the defintion of a pathological liar.  This is fatal in the age of YouTube.  Sadly, the media will cover him, even though Libertarian Gary Johnson, unlike Romney, served two terms as a GOP governor in a Democratic state, where Romeny did not even try to hold his seat.  Like Gore in 2000, Romney won't even win his home state.  The question is not whether he will lose, but how badly and whether he does so with dignity in tact. The other question is whether Ron Paul's strategy of having his supporters serve as Romney delegates extends beyond caucus states to primary states.  It may be that the final rules of the Tampa GOP convention eliminate committed voting on even the first ballot.  It says something about the quality of Romney's staff that this is a possibility (it should not be) and that they can't control whether their candidate tells obvious lies about his position.  People stay home when their candidate is a liar, even in Virginia.

Best Sentence of 2012

Best Sentence of 2012 by MSW.  My response: So much for not dumping on Mormons.  On my radio show and in Facebook discussions over the last few days, I have been asked about polygamy.  My response has been that the requirement that the Mormon's drop it is a violation of their relgious freedom rights.  One wonders if those who are raising the issue of religious freedom are adult enough in their arguments to support any Mormon efforts to reclaim such a right - and if not, why not?

When the budget is a moral failure, who will speak for the poor?

When the budget is a moral failure, who will speak for the poor? by NCR.  My response: The House Budget is not controlling law, the Budget Control Act is.  The Ryan budget is a political statement (and will likely lose more votes than it gets, but it will turn on donors). It mostly shows that the GOP is not serious about governing and should be (and likely will be) voted out.  Ryan has lots of seniors in his district.  They won't support him if there is a good opposing candidate.  After his latest hijinks in suppressing dissent, the Bishop of Madison will be of little help in salvaging Ryan's career.  As to whether he should be able to use ecclesiastic disicpline to make Ryan change his position, the answer is no.  That would be sedition and would require the President notify the Nuncio that the Bishop has overstepped his authority.

Two Great New Essays at CMT

Two Great New Essays at CMT by MSW.  MB: There is no debate in Norway, which has and will not have a death penalty (and could not enact one to deal with an incident that has already occurred).  Subsidiarity is partnered with solidarity, which makes Food Stamps an entirely governmental activity.  The sad fact is that some on the right consider SNAP to be a matter of Charity.  It is not.  It is economic justice, which makes it a fit activity of the state - including justifying mandatory taxation to fund it.

Polling on Same-Sex Marriage

Polling on Same-Sex Marriage by MSW.  MB: These numbers worry the hierarchy, since I am sure priests and peole agree with each other and with the President, but not the bishops.  The bishops should be very much afraid of losing control on this issue (and many others) because they are.  An educated Church will not be tyrannized by hierarchs.  It is time to go back to an electing our overseers and realizing that Overseer means Pastor, not Bishop.  The Church will not fall because the ecclesiology is updated to reflect 21st century thinking on management and governance of non-profits.

Obama & Same-Sex Marriage

Obama & Same-Sex Marriage by MSW  My response:

Obama does not go far enough, but at least he no longer favors the unconstitutional position that civil unions are enough and that we can be Politically Correct in not calling them marriages. The 9th Circuit has found that denying gays and lesbian relationships the term "marriage" has no rational basis in law and can only come through malice - a view the Supreme Court will likely affirm. The second question is whether states can continue to deny family rights to gay marriages. The answer must be no, because marriage is the basic right of adulthood. Without it, gay citizens are forever infants before the law - legally bound to their families of origin. That cannot stand. It is not simply about hospital visition - it is about being legal next of kin. I don't care about Obama's individual views. As President, he must endeavor to protect the rights of gay citizens, including the right to form families and have those families be respected as marriages. If he won't, than I will.

If civil unions and marriage are legally identical, then not calling gay civil unions marriages is a deliberate insult. It does not matter how Michael Sean Winters views it, but on how gay people view it. It also matters taht to many, the insult is meant to denigrate gay people. That brand of malice cannot be constitutionally protected and MUST be overturned by the courts. It is Obama's bad that he is a gradualist.


I am not for the state imposing the celebration of gay marriage on churches - however I entirely support gay Catholics and their families demanding that these unions be blessed as what they are - marriages.

Canonically, marriages are made by the couple, not the state or the priest. Additionally, it is not required that they be fecund - only functional - to the satisfaction of both parties. That is true in both canon and civil law (and is why family members cannot marry).

Prior to then Cardinal Ratzinger's comments on how homosexuality is disordered, we were moving toward the belief that sexuality was a gift of God and that homosexuality was made, not chosen. Calling it disordered was the only way to deny the inevitability of gay marriage in the Catholic Church, since the natural order is organized around human nature, not divine nature. The divine purpose of morality is human happiness, since God is happy, no matter what. The hierarchy cannot change that, unless their entire power is relativistic (for Catholics only).

In history, the Sacrament of Marriage has traditionally followed the civil law, which is what scares the Church and is why they resist so strongly. They also resist because self-loathing gay men will no longer join the priesthood as a salvation from their sexuality - and will instead find a husband. This means that the Church must allow the married and the openly gay, as well as women, if they want to continue having a priesthood. Additinoally, gay priests will likely be blessing gay unions, legal or otherwise, without letting the bishop know. It is probably happening already, much in the same way they bless unions celebrated outside the church where all the i's are not dotted nor the t's crossed about annulment status.

Marriage also brings with it insurance and financial security. A partner who can't work can get legal protection as a dependent of the one who can, like any dependent spouse - which comes in handy if the one who works dies.

Marriage also brings change in kinship. If the Church recognized changing kinship in gay relationships, rather than going along with (or even encouraging) families to exclude the gay spouse from hospital visitation AND decisionmaking (probably in hopes of deathbed recantation of homosexuality), there would not be a demand for marriage.

You can't be wobbly on this issue. It is either a civil right or a sin - and legally it can't be considered a sin. Morally either, because it isn't.

Wassup with RNC?

Wassup with RNC? by MSW.  MB: Over the last few decades, competent staff have left the GOP field and become independent - Bruce Bartlett and myself included.  The GOP has been replacing policy wonks with public relations types who often don't know what they are saying.  Sadly, these folks often feed talking points to FoxNews, leading substantial numbers of the public to a fact free existance in service of spin.

Lugar's Loss - And Ours

Lugar's Loss - And Ours by MSW. MB: 2012 will be a high turnout election.  Moderates will be turning out and it looks like they will increasingly be voting Democratic.  This is good for the nation, especially if the Democrats can pick up seats in Indiana, Maine, Arizona, Massachusetts and Texas because the GOP puts in Tea Party extremists.  If Murkoski and Collins switch sides as well, or vote with the Democrats, there might actually be a governing majority in the Senate for at least two years.  In the meantime, there are at least two Republican moderates who do not face reelection who might be crucial in supporting compromise on fiscal policy between now and January.

Pastoral councils are a work in progress

Pastoral councils are a work in progress  The all important question is whether they are appointed by clergy or elected from the people.  The former is window dressing and the latter should have the ability to hire a Lay (not clerical) Deacon Administrator to manage the affairs of the parish.  Clergy should confine themselves to celebrate the sacraments and leave administration to professionals at all levels from the parish to Catholic Charities.

More on Pro-life Dems

More on Pro-life Dems by MSW.  Again, being pro-life is a bumper sticker position unless the person who holds it gives details on how they would restrict abortion legally.  Whether those measures are legitimate is where prudential debate exists.  Sadly, many pro-life Democrats were subjected to outright lies by the inaptly namely named Susan B. Anthony Fund, which punished any Democrat who supported health care reform by telling untruths about what was in the bill in regards to abortion.

Graduation Wars

Graduation Wars by MSW.  Two things.  First, it is the senior classes that usually decide who they want to speak to them.  Both the Administration and certainly the bishops need to butt out.  End of story.  Second, the bishops document is as much about them not wanting to hear the truth (or have anyone say it) on exactly what can and can't be done about abortion in the political sphere as killing the messangers who have already accepted the truth that abortion is more an issue of identity and electoral politics than a legitimate issue of policy.  The sad fact is, some bishops have let their office be used by the National Right to Life Committee, which really is more a GOP electoral front than anything else.  Sadly, Catholic politicians have not been willing to take the electorally hazardous step of calling the bishops out on what amounts to deliberate deceit by some and simple incompetence on the issue by others.

DFLA Calls For "Big Tent" in Dem Platform

DFLA Calls For "Big Tent" in Dem Platform by MSW.  My response: I suspect that Clinton would also join in a strategy of making abortion unnecessary rather than illegal.  Carter, the bishops and MSW refer to not permitting abortion without being specific on how they would go about this.  Given the frequency of miscarriage in the first trimester, any such measures are unlikely, as giving such persons legal recognition carries legal complications in both the civil and criminal law that are not easily overcome.  It is up to those who would ban abortion to say how they would do it and what those work-arounds would be (any such language must also meet the equal protection test - so if you make abortion investigatable you must also investigate miscarriage - and if a fetus is considered a person, you cannot make killing it less of a crime than infanticide or other murder, nor can you rule miscarriage tort relief out of bounds if you recognize all children at this stage).  Of course, dealing with these issues rationally makes it very unlikely that the pro-life rank and file will support it, which is why no such proposals exist.  Until they do, Catholic Democrats have no obligation to explain themselves.

Bishops are picking a fight this election year

Bishops are picking a fight this election year  Some of these bishops were appointed for loyalty rather than ability.  It seems that, while the bishops did not pick the fight, they readily surrendered to the temptation to join it.  They also seem to be willing accomplices in the GOP con game over the possibility that a Republican president will appoint justices to repeal Roe v. Wade.  The last two justices, when given the opportunity to do so, did not on the partial birth abortion question. Given that Roberts and Alito justified the Act on the basis of the Commerce Clause, ignoring pleas to overturn Roe, this strategy seems to be entirely for fundraising and GOP GOTV, not protecting the unborn.  The bishops should not be party to such fraud.  The only realistic way to overturn Roe is to have Congress use its enforcement power under the 14th Amendment to move the date of legal recognition to an earlier point in pregnancy - yet there is no bill - largely because such a bill would have to carve out exceptions to deal with miscarriage in both criminal and civil law - with these exceptions being so broad that Planned Parenthood could drive a truck through them.  No such bill that would satisfy the pro-life base is likely, so none is offered.  Catholic politicians are, therefore, off the hook, because no one can be disciplined for opposing non-existent legislation.

North Carolina bishops push for ban on same-sex marriage

North Carolina bishops push for ban on same-sex marriage  My response:  The reason for the wording of this amendment is because if civil unions are allowed, and they are equivalent to marriage, not calling such unions marriages is unconstitutional under the recent 9th Circuit ruling. Of course, too restrictive a wording, like in Virginia, violates the protection of contracts under the federal constitution. In the end, marriage equality will likely be upheld by the Supreme Court - so this action is merely so that both sides can fight over the drive for a federal constitutional convention on this and other conservative issues (as well as repealing Citizens United). Such a convention is no more likely to have a result than doing this through Congress.


The bishops, as employers, are afraid of civil gay marriage because they have no leg to stand on in resisting it - as they honor heterosexual civil marriages, so not honoring civil gay ones can only be because of bigotry.

They are more afraid that Catholics for marriage equality will demand that civily married gay family members get a religious ceremony (and that a largely gay clergy will grant these requests privately in much the same way many priests bless marriages where annulment rules have not been fully followed). They are even more afraid that gay seminarians will demand the right to marry or will simply get married and not seek ordination.

What may scare them most is the prospect that donors will realize that giving the bishops money can be avoided altogether when the alternative exists to reorganize most church institutions as non-profits with no episcopal veto over their management - from parishes to schools to Catholic Charities. Once donors put their feet down, there is really nothing the bishops can do to prevent their being written out of the management of Church property.

Time for Some Good News: The Catholic Academy

Time for Some Good News: The Catholic Academy by MSW. My response:

The Catholic Church is still in an intellectual ghetto on all things biological, asking a cardiologist to write Evangelicum Vitae, when an embryologist might be more appropriate to the task (of course, it would be impossible to find a credible embryologist who would uphold the view John Paul wanted to maintain). Their ignorance of human anthropology in maintaining a first parents golden age myth, simply to uphold Augustine's constructs on original sin, is also troublingly anti-intellectual. The entire unwillingness to reconsider the bioligical basis of homosexuality and how that relates to whether it can be considered at all sinful in a monogamous setting is also a sign of continued ghettoization.


Sadly for the hierarchy, a much more well educated faithful is on the verge of outgrowing it or simply ignoring much of what it says. Serious mental gymnastics are required if the intellectual relevance of much of Catholic dogma is to be maintained. Of late, many priests in their forties and fifties are being recruited, with fewer young people coming to the priesthood - especially younger who are not victims of overly orthodox parenting and education. There is hope, however, that a corps of Spriti of Vatican II clergy will assume leadership in short order and set things right.