NEWS
November 17, 2012
I expect the Catholic bishops to hold the line on abortion and contraceptives. No surprise. ("Catholic bishops vow to hold line," Nov. 14.) Too bad, over the years, the bishops did not speak out as fervently about the "unjust war" the United States waged on Iraq where thousands of military, civilian men, women and children died. Too bad, that the bishops were not as fervent in exposing and excommunicating the pedophile priests in their midst. Too bad the bishops did not send letters to all the churches about the slanderous, vitriolic, unfounded accusations about President Barack Obama.
NEWS
November 17, 2012
I and many other active Catholics, and apparently including many in the clergy, are becoming more and more disgusted with our bishops. If marriage is only between a man and a woman according to natural law, and it is the most perfect way to live in family as human beings, as they proclaim, why have they wasted so many millions on interfering with state law and not working on a real problem in their own backyard. Why don't they have the courage to stand up and campaign against the "mandatory celibacy law" of our own priests - surely this is against the natural law, and it certainly didn't come from Jesus.
NEWS
November 15, 2012
Commentator John Gehring asserts that Catholic hospitals and universities would not have to pay for birth control coverage for their employees under an accommodation with the Obama administration that requires insurance companies to pick up the tab ("Finding common ground," Nov. 12). This is not true. Neither the Affordable Care Act nor the finalized implementing regulations contain any such provision. Rather, that arrangement is discussed in the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published by the Department of Health and Human Services in March, which is not law. It is true that the president held a press conference to announce the proposed compromise, commonly referred to as the "accommodation.
NEWS
By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun | November 13, 2012
Meeting for the first time since voters in Maryland and two other states legalized same-sex marriage, members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Tuesday that they have no plans to soften their position that genuine marriage can occur only between one man and one woman. "Are [the results] concerning? Sure they are," William E. Lori, the archbishop of Baltimore, said between sessions at the organization's fall general assembly in Baltimore, which has drawn about 300 bishops and archbishops to the Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Harbor East this week.
NEWS
By John Gehring | November 12, 2012
More than a few Catholic bishops spent this election feverishly warning their flock that voting for Barack Obama put their souls at risk and posed a grave threat to religious liberty. Now that the president has been re-elected with a majority of Catholic voters, leaders of our nation's most influential church have some self-reflection to do at their national meeting in Baltimore this week. Bishops should take pause at recent national headlines ("Catholic bishops make last-minute pitch for Romney")
NEWS
By Jacques Kelly, The Baltimore Sun | November 11, 2012
Roman Catholic bishops convening in Baltimore joined students and volunteers Sunday to transform a Harbor East hotel corridor into a food-packing operation to benefit West African orphans and battered women. Measuring out thousands of plastic bags of dry soy protein, rice, vitamins and dried vegetables, enough to feed six people, the volunteers worked alongside the humanitarian effort's sponsors, Catholic Relief Services and Stop Hunger Now, as well as the bishops. "This is so much more fun than sitting in meetings," said Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, Ariz., who is also Catholic Relief Services board chairman.