Links for 06/26/15 | National Catholic Reporter

Links for 06/26/15 | National Catholic Reporter by MSW. MGB: On marriage equality, I don't particularly care what the USCCB has to say.  Its their fears I find interesting, the unstated one being that killing self-loathing will hurt the recruitment of priests and that gay marrieds will approach their likely gay priest for a blessing and it will be given.



I like La Stampa's style in going after Acton with a full frontal attack on Capitalism.  Acton would have been better off staying quiet and telling their capitalistic funders to lay low for a while.  Of course, rich people don't think they ever have to lay low.



It is true that Archbishop Wenski lives where the water meets the shore.  Still, he has a lot of Cubans in his See who like Rubio, Cruz and Bush.  Encouraging them to engage rather than to rant is a good idea, but one which I doubt they will take him up on.  Any Republican agreeing with what is one of the best condemnations of capitalism since Marx is unlikely.



Jessica Wrobleski's column on Francis, David Brooks, Rheinhold Neibur and her undergraduates is intersting.  How do you reconcile Laudato Si' with the modern world?  How do you get your orange juice, which I confess I just drank, without peonage in the fields?  Does he really mean that Capitalism must change?  Must one be a revolutionary to be a good Catholic?  In a word, I say yes.  What he is seeking is what must become, and maybe a bit further than what he is seeking - where workers not only get a better deal, but as I suggest, that they own the operation and cooperatively make or buy what they need, rather than acting as individuals in the marketplace.  Francis offers the choice between destruction, exploitation and death or life and love.  Until people get how stark that is, no one will move beyond the familiar and chose life and the future.  Its that serious.



Camosy's story is interesting, although one should understand that the protection of women against criminalizing abortion (and under equal protection principles, if you prosecute the doctor, you really must prosecute the mother too - and the father if he is involved) is a fairly serious issue - even though both sides have largely allowed it to become entwined with electoral politics, the pro-life side most shamelessly in their corruption of the Catholic Church in a massive fraud (that their stated approach is even possible).  The Pope is correct that children should never be a throw-away commodity, including in Catholic adoption agencies.



Society and the Church must come forward to make sure every child can be born and receive a life where a little conspicuous consumption every now and then is a privilege.  That means assisting teens to get married and funding their school (paying them to attend - both parents) and not condemning what is evolutionarily logical sexual activity. It means a $1000 per month per child tax credit distributed during the tax year, mostly with pay or as part of a stipend rather than with a refund.  It especially means that we must up our game in helping Downs children succeed and grow into adulthood and in providing assistance to parents as well - especially in cases which are not as easy to deal with where disability is profound and likely fatal in years rather than decade - or profound and not fatal.  This needs to start now, before the public funding is available.  Each diocese must act to show we put our money where our mouth is for all Downs children in the diocese and all Catholic employees with children.  We can lobby for the public funding too - but both kinds of socialism are necessary - especially as the government cannot constitutionally intervene to simply ban such abortions without wreaking havoc on families with usuccessful first trimester pregnancies.