Bishop

The Catholic bishops really don't get it. Many of us are disturbed by what is happening to our church, but it will take a lot more than a PR campaign to change perceptions ("U.S. Catholic bishops plan united front," June 13). We are not as concerned by presentation as we are by the content of what many bishops are saying. We are opposed to the continuing suppression of women, the campaign to violate the civil rights of our gay fellow citizens, the protection of pedophile priests, the increase in financial scandals, the lack of transparency, general corruption as well as the unrelenting attacks on our truly ethical and moral president as well as Catholic politicians.

It's time to meet the really, really bad parents. Look, no mom and dad are perfect. They make mistakes. They miss ball games. But Megan Draper's folks (played by guest stars Ronald Guttman and Julia Ormond. Julia freaking Ormond) fight loudly in French, cheat at an American Cancer Society Ball and basically make their daughter feel like crap. Also making her daughter feel like crap, in a particularly non-French but more brutal way, is Peggy's mom. Sigh. I want to give my parents a call and just have them say something nice to me. Lets start with Megan folks, who are visiting from Montreal (yet have really, really, really French accents)

Baltimore Archbishop-designate William Lori said that the U.S. is witnessing "an erosion of religious liberty" and that a sign of it is the Obama administration's attempt to ensure Catholic schools, hospitals and charities provide birth control coverage as part of their employees' health insurance package. Lori, appearing as part of an Easter-morning round-table discussion on NBC's "Meet the Press," said he would not characterize the current atmosphere as a "war" on religion. But he termed the proposed federal mandate, which has been altered to make it more palatable to Catholics, "one of the most important of these underminings of religious liberty.

At a time when Roman Catholic bishops are waging political wars against contraception and same-sex marriage, one of the church's most hard-line generals was named Tuesday to head its historically important Baltimore archdiocese. The Vatican appointed Bishop William E. Lori, 60, of Bridgeport, Conn., the next archbishop of Baltimore, a move that observers say could thrust the city, where American Catholicism was born, into the center of two hot-button issues. "He's smart, he's articulate, he sticks to the party line," said the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior research fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

The argument by Catholic bishops and other conservatives that providing contraception and reproductive health services for all women is a denial of Catholics' religious freedom is without merit ("O'Brien's quixotic fight," Feb. 9). The law is not forcing anyone to use contraception. It is saying it should be available without cost for those who want it, even those employed by religious-run institutions like universities and hospitals. Let's relegate to the past the many women who suffered debilitation or death because of too frequent pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases.

Thanks to the Sun's recent mischaracterization of the Maryland Catholic bishops' statement on religious freedom ("Bishops assail same-sex marriage," Nov. 10), many readers responded to one element - only five paragraphs long - of a 12-page document well worth reading carefully. The statement, "The Most Sacred of All Property: Religious Freedom and the People of Maryland," cites several examples of the problems that arise when government policies conflict with the deeply held moral and religious beliefs of individual citizens and religious institutions.

Alexander Hamilton "Ham" Bishop III, a respected headmaster who led five independent schools during his lengthy career in education, died of kidney failure complications Saturday at Manor Care Health Services Dulaney. He was 85 and lived in North Baltimore. Educational colleagues said he was often sought out as a school administrator. In 1994, he was the first head of the Odyssey School, founded by parents of dyslexic children. "He gave the new school instant credibility," said Marty Sweeney, Odyssey's head.

At a time of staggering poverty, rampant unemployment and growing income inequality, Catholic bishops will gather for a national meeting in Baltimore today and remain largely silent about these profound moral issues. A recent Catholic News Service headline about the meeting - "Bishops' agenda more devoted to internal matters than societal ills" - is a disappointing snapshot for a church that has long been a powerful voice for economic justice. The U.S. bishops' relative silence contrasts with a recent Vatican document that urges stronger regulation of the financial sector and a more just distribution of wealth.

In a directive worthy of the oxymoron "slavery is freedom," from George Orwell's novel "Animal Farm," the Roman Catholic Church in effect has said that "discrimination is religious liberty" ("Bishops assail same-sex marriage," Nov. 10). In their directive, local bishops warn that if same-sex marriage is legalized in Maryland, Catholic businesses may actually have to supply food or flowers to people who are homosexuals. Imagine! This directive is a transparent (and desperate)