I missed a significant anniversary last month, on December 7.
No, not Pearl Harbor Day, December 7 1941, when a deadly Japanese surprise attack on American bases in Hawaii pulled the U. S. into World War II.
Nor was it December 7, 1973, my son’s birthday. Continue reading Pearl Harbor, Pope Benedict & the Contested Catholic Discovery of Religious Liberty
Administrators jailed for 32 years, and eight years, as activists warn of ploy to infiltrate website
AFP in Dubai — Thu 5 Jan 2023
An investigation by parent body Wikimedia found the Saudi government had penetrated Wikipedia’s senior ranks in the region, with Saudi citizens acting or forced to act as agents, two rights groups said.
Continue reading Breaking: Is Nothing Sacred? Saudis Jail Two Wikipedia Editors
It was tempting to open with a passage from Volodimir Zelensky’s memorable address to Congress. But that is everywhere today. Instead, here’s a bit from a tribute by columnist David Ignatius:
Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, likes to quote a comment attributed to Napoleon: “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Zelensky is the embodiment of that everlasting truth.”
Quoted by David Ignatius, Washington Post, 12/21/2022: Continue reading Quotes for the Day
[NOTE: Some readers might wonder: why does this Quaker blogger post so often about Catholic church issues & development?
Is it just because I was raised RC? No doubt that upbringing left its marks. [If you’re interested, this background is explored in my memoir, Meetings.]
But there are broader reasons. Here are a few:
— The RC church is the biggest Christian denomination
— In the U.S., it is run increasingly by a rightwing, clerico-fascist faction of the church.
— That faction has become a major pipeline of authoritarian influence in key American institutions, supposedly public and secular (eg., the Supreme Court).
–This authoritarian & theocratic drive has been increasingly effective, with continuing impact far beyond the RC church, on many other groups, many of whose adherents don’t even realize it–
–That would include Quakers.
Perhaps the most important independent watchdog on all this is the National Catholic Reporter. I don’t agree with all their perspectives (having long since left most RC dogmas behind); but their work is the best we’ve got.
This deep report outlines the impact of one key activist rightwing Catholic, Leonard Leo. He was once aptly described by justice Clarence Thomas as “the No. 3 most powerful person in the world,” and readers can get a better understanding here of the Catholic side of that quip.
It matters.]
Leonard Leo has reshaped the Supreme Court. Is he reshaping Catholic University too?
National Catholic Reporter — December 15, 2022 — News
by John Gehring
[John Gehring is Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life and author of The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope’s Challenge to the American Catholic Church.
During a June gathering inside a century-old gothic building at the Catholic University of America, mingling among the crowd gathered to say farewell to departing president John Garvey was one of the most powerful men in Washington.
Leonard Leo, the chief adviser to Donald Trump on Supreme Court nominations, listened as one of those picks he helped secure on the bench, Amy Coney Barrett, delivered remarks praising Garvey, her longtime mentor and former law professor at the University of Notre Dame. Leo and Barrett’s presence together that night reflects the rising influence of conservative Catholics on the law at a time when the Supreme Court’s rightward transformation is reconfiguring American jurisprudence on issues of abortion, voting rights and religious liberty. Continue reading After Buying the Supreme Court for Rightwing Catholicism — Why not Add a Few Universities? Deal!
Even after all these years, I find it a somehow appealing story: 491 years ago, in December 1531 near Mexico City, a humble peasant named Juan Diego told the archbishop of Mexico City he had been visited while climbing a hill by a heavenly woman, now known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. The lady told Juan Diego she wanted a church built in her honor nearby, and directed him to deliver this message to the archbishop.
The archbishop scoffed (fake visions were plentiful in Catholic cultures). Juan iego reported the rebuff to the lady at her next apparition, but she sent him back. The bishop, a Spanish-born bureaucrat, was still dubious, and insisted that Juan Diego bring a miraculous sign from this alleged heavenly lady before his story would gain any credence. Continue reading Considering My Marian Pilgrimages, on Guadalupe Pilgrimage Day in Mexico