1. A ‘Time to Heal’ Agenda, Here are three easy ways Biden can reach out to Trump voters., By The Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2020, Pg. A20, Editorial
Joe Biden said Saturday night that after the election “this is the time to heal in America.” In that spirit, and to be constructive, we thought we’d offer a couple of suggestions for what you might call the healing agenda. These aren’t major policy concessions, but they would have symbolic political significance.
The former Vice President could start by ending government harassment of the Little Sisters of the Poor. That’s the order of nuns who have objected for a decade to being forced to cover contraception and abortifacients in their health-care plan under ObamaCare.
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Next we’d suggest ending Mr. Biden’s opposition to the Opportunity Scholarships in the District of Columbia that provide a lifeline for thousands of low-income children trapped in bad public schools. The teachers unions hate this program because it challenges their education monopoly and, under Barack Obama, Democrats killed it for a while.
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For a triple play, Mr. Biden could also speak up against those on the left who want to stigmatize and purge from civil society anyone who has worked in the Trump Administration. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one of the instigators of the purge campaign. Mr. Biden doesn’t have to admire the Trump Administration to say that most of the people who have served in it did so honorably.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-time-to-heal-agenda-11605050461?
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2. Australian anti-graft agency dismisses Vatican speculation, By Rod McGuirk, Associated Press, November 11, 2020
An Australian anti-graft agency said on Wednesday it was not investigating the transfer of Vatican funds to Australia because of a lack of evidence of wrongdoing, further undermining Italian media speculation that the money might be linked to the overturned convictions of Cardinal George Pell for child sex abuse.
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera speculated last month that Vatican investigators were looking into whether Pell’s nemesis at the Holy See, ousted Cardinal Angelo Becciu, wired 700,000 euros ($823,000) in Vatican money to a bank account in Australia, and whether that money was tied to Pell’s sex abuse trial.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-oceania/2020/11/australian-anti-graft-agency-dismisses-vatican-speculation/
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3. The Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis Is Far from Over, By Elizabeth Bruenig, The New York Times, November 11, 2020, Pg. A24, Opinion
Tuesday’s report is, I suspect, as remarkably unflinching as it is precisely because it was written by a layperson, the American lawyer Jeff Lena, who was given vast investigative power by the church. It should be seen as a model for accountability processes for bishops and other senior church officials going forward.
The church stands at a crossroads. It can continue to fight legislation that would empower victims to seek redress and respond to abuse long after the fact, such as the suspension of statutes of limitation in sex abuse cases. Or it can confess the way it asks us to confess, and repent the way it asks us to repent: Fully, openly, over and over again, as often as it takes, as painful as it is.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/opinion/McCarrick-Catholic-sex-abuse.html
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4. Pope Francis vows to end sexual abuse after McCarrick report, By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press, November 11, 2020
Pope Francis pledged Wednesday to rid the Catholic Church of sexual abuse and offered prayers to victims of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a day after the Vatican released a detailed report into the decades-long church cover-up of his sexual misconduct.
Francis concluded his weekly general audience Wednesday by recalling that the report into the “painful case” of the former high-ranking American cardinal had been released the previous day.
“I renew my closeness to victims of any abuse and commitment of the church to eradicate this evil,” Francis said. He then paused silently for nearly a minute, apparently in prayer.
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/11/pope-francis-vows-to-end-sexual-abuse-after-mccarrick-report/
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5. McCarrick report shows previously unknown anonymous letters, By Luis Andres Henao and Elana Schor, Associated Press, November 11, 2020
The Vatican’s report on ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick revealed the previously unknown contents of six anonymous letters accusing him of pedophilia that were sent to U.S. church leaders in the early 1990s and later forwarded to the Holy See.
New York’s then-archbishop, Cardinal John O’Connor, forwarded them to the Vatican in 1999, shortly before he died, along with a six-page confidential memo in which he recommended McCarrick not be promoted to any important U.S. diocese because of a “scandal of great proportions” that would erupt if the allegations became public.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/11/mccarrick-report-shows-previously-unknown-anonymous-letters/
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6. U.S. Church leaders point to clericalism as reason for rise of McCarrick, By John Lavenburg, Crux, November 11, 2020
Prominent leaders of the Catholic Church in America point to a “culture of clericalism” that led to laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick rising through the ranks of the church despite decades-long accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
The comments come after the Vatican released its long-awaited report on the rise of McCarrick on Tuesday. It spans from 1930-2017, detailing who knew what and when regarding McCarrick’s sexual harassment and abuse of minors and seminarians going back to the early 1970’s.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, said on his radio show that McCarrick himself is the only person that deserves more blame than the totality of the culture that existed.
“The real villain here, there’s only one. That’s Ted McCarrick,” Dolan said to Father Dave Dwyer on Conversation with Cardinal Dolan Tuesday afternoon. “The second villain here is, I’m afraid we have to say, a climate that held priests above the law, that gave priests special privileges, that said you need to be accountable to no one and we call that the sin of clericalism.”
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/11/u-s-church-leaders-point-to-clericalism-as-reason-for-rise-of-mccarrick/
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7. Christians, Muslims again top list of faiths facing hostility worldwide, By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service, November 10, 2020
Christians top the list for countries where they face either governmental or social hostility, according to a new report issued Nov. 10 by the Pew Research Center.
Christians have topped the list each year since Pew started collecting data in 2007.
The number of countries where Christians face some form of hostility rose from 143 in 2017 to 145 in 2018, the latest year for which statistics are available. Christians were followed in order by Muslims, Jews, “others,” folk religions, Hindus, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2020/11/christians-muslims-again-top-list-of-faiths-facing-hostility-worldwide/
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8. Supreme Court delays decision on Mississippi abortion law, again, By Christine Rousselle, Catholic News Agency, November 10, 2020, 6:00 PM
Pro-life advocates are hopeful the Supreme Court will review an abortion law in Mississippi, even though the court once again delayed its decision on whether to hear the case.
Lynn Fitch, the state’s attorney general, has asked the court to review its law, which bans abortion after fifteen weeks of gestation and has been challenged by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The state’s only abortion clinic offers abortions until the 16th week of a pregnancy.
Mississippi’s previous governor, Phi Bryant (R) signed the ban into law in 2018, but it was subject to immediate legal appeal and blocked by a district court. In 2019, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the law to be unconstitutional. Fifteen weeks is considered to be prior to fetal viability outside the womb.
The Supreme Court had been expected to announce whether it would heat the case on Friday.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/supreme-court-delays-decision-on-mississippi-abortion-law-again-63761
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9. In ‘What It Means to Be Human,’ Carter Snead Challenges Our View of Culture, Law, By Maureen Ferguson, The Daily Signal, November 10, 2020, Opinion
In “What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics,” published by Harvard University Press, O. Carter Snead lays out an inspiring and integrated vision of the human person and proposes a new methodological approach to lawmaking based on this deeper understanding of our embodied humanity.
Snead is one of the world’s leading bioethicists and director of Notre Dame’s de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. He has served on numerous governmental commissions and advised all three branches of the federal government on bioethics and human rights.
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In short, Snead argues that we are made for love and friendship, and that this allows us to care for those who are vulnerable and dependent. Our laws ought to encourage that love and friendship, reflecting our vulnerability and dependence.
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Snead moves nimbly between beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues, including reproductive technologies, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Showing how each reflects an “expressive individualistic” anthropology, he exposes our public policy as a hollow and empty promise of protection.
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From beginning-of-life to end-of-life issues, from the beginning to the end of “What It Means to Be Human,” Snead issues a thought-provoking challenge to our modern legal regime that is premised upon a misconception of the human person.
Snead offers a road out of this unhappy and illusory cul-de-sac, a road that requires the fortitude to accept our bodily reality and the generosity of spirit to love generously.
Maureen Ferguson is a senior fellow for The Catholic Association.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2020/11/10/in-what-it-means-to-be-human-carter-snead-challenges-our-view-of-culture-law/
___________________________________________________________ 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. |
