Month: June 2012

On hearing Sister Farley praised and Vatican blamed

The church should ignore Sr. Farley’s deviancy? 

The Vatican has condemned a leading American nun for writing a book in which she praises female masturbation and approves divorce and gay sex and marriage, warning that the book must not be used by catholic educators.

The Vatican’s criticism of Sister Margaret Farley, a professor emeritus of Christian ethics at Yale University, comes amid escalating tension with America’s nuns, after the Holy See accused them of preaching “radical feminist” ideas.

She won points for Christian charity, hers and her sisters in religion and now calls in her chits in pursuit of compliance/silence by the Vatican?  Is that how it works?

The head of the Jesuit order in East Africa explained to other theologians gathered here last week that a simple gesture had different meanings in different cultures.

In the U.S., said the Rev. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, a man beating his hand against his chest is a liturgical expression of penance. Back home, he said, the same gesture is an expression of defiance.

“Perhaps,” the Rev. William O’Neill said to his fellow theologians, “that’s exactly what we should be signifying.”

The audience, all members of the Catholic Theological Society of America, applauded O’Neill’s aside with appreciation.

One does wonder.

Is Romney a human being?

I hate it when people tell me what I know is true that I see as not in my best interests.

Thing is, he has my vote for his knowing how people make money. Vs. the incumbent, who knows how to play golf. Play it often, I mean.

On the other hand, the golfing has got out of hand, says Romney.  Oh?

It seems to me [says Future of Capitalism blogger] Mr. Romney doesn’t quite have it right. It might help the economy if President Obama spent more time golfing and less time in his office making decisions, signing legislation, or making pronouncements that are unhelpful to the economy.

Too true, too true.

Chicago Newspapers

Congratulations to the media relations/promotion people at Lurie Children’s Hospital for the over-the-top coverage of its recent move and even now in back-to-business stories.

Those things don’t just happen. Lots of work goes into it, from influence of influential board members, who may be directors on various media boards, down to release writers and arrangers.

Over the top, I fear, however. How much Lurie is too much? Just asking.

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Dissent, glorious dissent has its limits?

Vatican just doing its job in re: U.S. nuns under fire, says St. Louis columnist:

Both the Vaticans proposed reform of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and its rebuke of a controversial book written by the theologian Sister Margaret Farley are targeted critiques intended to fulfill one of the Catholic hierarchys most vital functions: defense of the deposit of faith. That defense necessarily entails public clarification about what does and does not constitute authentic Catholic teaching.

Question is whether bishops should ignore what violates teaching. Name me the organization that lets important stuff pass, and you name one in decline.

Dissent can never get out of hand? Yes?  No? As Cardinal George told a breakfast audience at the Union League Club weeks ago in connection with the HHS mandate, it’s a matter of one’s identity. He called the mandate identity theft. Sounds right.

Sisters for Justice . . .

. . . in the matter of them vs. Vatican:

Alma, Mich., Jun 14, 2012 / 02:15 am (CNA).- Physicians who are also Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma are criticizing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and its defenders for using an impoverished language of politics instead of the language of faith in the dialogue with the Catholic hierarchy.

There is no basis for authentic dialogue between these two languages. The language of faith is rooted in Jesus Christ, His life and His mission, as well as the magisterial teaching of the Church, said the physician-sisters statement, which was issued after a June 2 meeting on the contributions of religious women in the healing ministry of the Catholic Church.

The language of politics arises from the social marketplace, they said. The Sisters who use political language in their responses to the magisterial Church reflect the poverty of their education and formation in the faith.

Can they say that? What would Carol Marin say?

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Meanwhile, from a knowledgeable source regarding this group of Mercies:

The three founding mothers are incredible ladies. They “re-founded” the Sisters of Mercy going back to their foundress’ spirit. Most of them are professional women: doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists and they have been a great help to the Church, even if they are a small group.
The sort of thing that restores faith . . .

Chicago, Chicago, my kind of second-rate city

Chicago was the cat’s meow in the ’90s. Millennium Park and all that. “The Milan of the Midwest,” said Wash Post. No more, says Aaron M. Renn in City Journal.

. . . [D]espite the chorus of praise, its becoming evident that the city took a serious turn for the worse during the first decade of the new century. The gleaming towers, swank restaurants, and smart shops remain, but Chicago is experiencing a steep decline quite different from that of many other large cities. It is a deeply troubled place, one increasingly falling behind its large urban brethren and presenting a host of challenges for new mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Two hundred thousand people left town. It was the only one of the 15 biggest U.S. cities to lose anyone in the 2010 census. Cook County also lost people, one of only two to do so of the nation’s 15 largest counties. The other one? Detroit’s Wayne County. The Loop lost 18.6% of its private sector jobs. The city’s “real per-capita GDP ranks eighth out of the countrys ten largest metros,” says Renn.

I don’t remember reading anything like this in Chi newspapers. Can you imagine reading this?

Its easy to see how fiascoes like the parking-meter lease happen where civic culture is rotten and new ideas cant get a hearing. Chicagos location already isolates it somewhat from outside views. Combine that with the culture of clout, and you get a city thats too often an echo chamber of boosterism lacking a candid assessment of the challenges it faces.

Echo chamber of boosterism, yes. It’s in the papers every day, defensive, wagon-circling, self-protective. Second-rate indeed.

Renn? He’s an urban analyst, consultant, and publisher of the urban policy website The Urbanophile. Frankly, if he were Joe the Bartender, it wouldn’t matter, the points are so telling.