1. The Supreme Court may toss Roe. But Congress can still preserve abortion rights, A simple majority vote in the Senate would nullify the threat to reproductive health posed by the Mississippi case., By Neal Kumar Katyal, The Washington Post, June 7, 2021, 6:00 AM, Opinion
The Supreme Court’s recent decision to accept a major abortion case out of Mississippi has led to fear among many Americans that Roe v. Wade will be overruled next year. There is some chance of this — but that’s why it is crucial to understand that reproductive rights do not depend only on the justices.
Here’s the thing: Congress can, right now, by simple majority vote, protect those rights and nullify any threat posed by the Mississippi case or any other.
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Citizens can easily feel disempowered when issues they care about are reduced to analyzing the proclivities of nine people in Washington sitting in black robes. Since 1973, the questions about reproductive rights have been dominated by the court, not Congress. But now we have an opportunity to recalibrate the balance and guarantee reproductive justice for Americans in every state. We don’t need the court to protect these rights. We just need a majority vote in Congress.
Neal Kumar Katyal, a law professor at Georgetown University, formerly served as acting solicitor general of the United States.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/07/roe-abortion-congress-mississippi/
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2. Pope voices ‘pain’ over Canadian deaths, doesn’t apologize, By Frances D’Emilio, Associated Press, June 6, 2021, 1:47 PM
Pope Francis on Sunday expressed his pain over the discovery in Canada of the remains of 215 Indigenous students of church-run residential schools and pressed religious and political authorities to shed light on “this sad affair.” But he didn’t offer the apology sought by the Canadian prime minister.
Francis, in remarks to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, also called on the authorities to foster healing but made no reference to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insistence, two days earlier, that the Vatican apologize and take responsibility.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pope-voices-sorrow-over-canadian-deaths-doesnt-apologize/2021/06/06/9d5068ae-c6ba-11eb-8708-64991f2acf28_story.html
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3. A bit of clarity about spectacular ‘resignation’ of German cardinal, By John L. Allen Jr., Crux, June 6, 2021, Opinion
Covering the Catholic Church is a tough gig for reporters, not least because we’re often forced to be killjoys. We’re forever put in the position of raining on a media parade, and such was the case again Friday with the sensational “resignation” of Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich.
Bishops resign all the time, but what made this one a headline is A) Marx is a big fish in the Church, a key ally and confidante of Pope Francis; B) While the German church has been hit hard by clerical sexual abuse scandals, Marx personally hasn’t been accused of abuse or significant wrongdoing; C) Nevertheless, he volunteered to resign anyway in order to take “institutional responsibility” for the church’s failures.
That’s a noteworthy development by any standard. However, there are at least three immediate misunderstandings about the story – natural and, to some extent, inevitable – which quickly went into circulation Friday as the news made the rounds.
Here’s the obligatory reality check.
First, Marx has not resigned, because in the Catholic system bishops don’t get to resign of their own accord. They can submit their resignation to the pope – in fact, they’re required to do so at the age of 75 – but it’s always up to the pope whether to accept.
Second, the mere fact Marx has tendered his resignation doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going anywhere. Aside from the fact that this particular resignation, if anything, likely will boost Marx’s stock, popes routinely keep bishops in office well after they’ve submitted their resignations. The late Cardinal Kazimierz Świątek of Belarus, for example, turned in his mandatory resignation letter in 1990 but served until the ripe old age of 91 in 2006, sixteen years later.
Third, even if Marx’s resignation as the Archbishop of Munich were accepted, he would remain a cardinal in good standing, fully eligible to vote for the next pope, and would also continue to hold all the Vatican positions to which Francis has assigned him, including serving as chair of the Council for the Economy and as a member of the pope’s Council of Cardinals on Vatican reform. In other words, all that would change is that Marx would no longer be in charge in Munich – otherwise, it’s status quo.
https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2021/06/a-bit-of-clarity-about-spectacular-resignation-of-german-cardinal/
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4. Pope Francis: Ecosystem degradation ‘a clear outcome of economic dysfunction’, By Catholic News Agency, June 4, 2021, 12:00 PM
Pope Francis said Friday that environmental degradation is “a clear outcome of economic dysfunction.”
In a June 4 message marking the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the pope underlined the importance of protecting the environment and reforming the global economy.
“The current environmental situation calls us to act now with urgency to become ever more responsible stewards of creation and to restore the nature that we have been damaging and exploiting for too long,” the pope said.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/247899/pope-francis-ecosystem-degradation-a-clear-outcome-of-economic-dysfunction
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5. Religious Freedom a Casualty of the Ideological Hijacking of Public Schools, By Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, National Catholic Register, June 4, 2021, Opinion
Summer vacation is almost here. As my children finish the school year, the value of education is very much on my mind. Perhaps that’s why I was so struck by a recent — and quite remarkable — speech by former Attorney General Bill Barr. He is sounding an alarm: America’s public schools are being overtaken by progressive ideologues, and religious freedom is among its casualties.
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Both the Catholic Church and the U.S. Supreme Court recognize that parents are the primary educators of children. And after listening to the litany of troubling ideas taking hold in many public schools today, I am relieved that I have chosen to send my school-age children to private religious schools. I also know that access to vouchers would definitely help lighten the financial burden I carry, as well as encourage other parents to consider alternatives to public schools.
https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/religious-freedom-a-casualty-of-the-ideological-hijacking-of-public-schools
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
