Blogs
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Pope Francis has created a new Secretariat for Communications in the Roman Curia into which all existing Vatican communications offices and operations will be incorporated. At the same time, he has appointed the Italian Monsignor Dario Edoardo Vigano, Director of the Vatican Television Center, as its first prefect.
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Today the United States Supreme Court once again redefined marriage for the entire country. This time Justice Kennedy and four other unelected federal judges (with lifetime tenure) have declared that every state must define marriage as the union of any two consenting adults. This requirement we are told arises from the 14thAmendment’s protections of due process and equal protection.
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The historic decision in Obergefell v. Hodges obviously means a great deal for the same-sex couples nationwide who can now enter civil marriages, and for their children. It also leaves open the many significant questions that arisen about effects on the religious liberty of dissenters.
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From time to time I hear of people looking for a spiritual getaway, a place to pray and re-center. A place that is familiar to many in Jesuit circles, especially on the west coast, is El Retiro San Iñigo, the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, just outside San Jose, CA.
It's a beautiful, quiet site that offers retreats for men and women of all ages and backgrounds. It offers weekend retreats, 8-day retreats, and even the 30-day Spiritual...
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Court-watchers and constitutional-law experts almost unanimously expected that the justices would do what they did in Obergefell v. Hodges. The result is not a surprise, nor is the fact that the author of the opinion for the five-justice majority was Justice Kennedy. His opinion in today’s case confirms and solidifies his legacy with respect to the Constitution and sexual-orientation controversies and it represents the “next step”—and, again, the expected one—in a line of other...
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It will probably come as no surprise that this morning’s Supreme Court decision was not exactly welcomed by representatives of the U.S. bishops’ conference. Its president Archbishop Joseph Kurtz described the Obergefell v. Hodges decision as a “tragic error” and other reactions across the country from bishops and state conferences continued apace.
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“The joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the women and men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ” ("Gaudium et Spes," no. 1).
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We called them “Lightning Bugs,” though I think we might also have said “Fireflies.” Hard to remember. It’s been half a century since I went hunting for them. They’d appear this time of the year, flickering above the grass of the lawn, as the last light of a long, summer eve faded. I thought them nothing less than miraculous, sparkling and darting about. Had someone told me that they were cousins of Tinker Bell, I would have believed it.
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Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Kentucky, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called today's Supreme Court decision interpreting the U.S. Constitution to require all states to license and recognize same-sex marriage "a tragic error.”
Jesus Christ, with great love, taught unambiguously that from the beginning marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman," Archbishop Kurtz said. "As Catholic bishops, we follow our Lord and will continue to teach...
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Thanks to the Supreme Court, Republican candidates will be able to continue attacking the Affordable Care Act without having to come up with an alternative. (Or, at least, a plausible alternative.) But a Republican president may find himself in a no-win situation.