Details: A record low 41 percent of Americans call themselves ‘pro choice’ on abortion, with the number sliding among independent voters, a key political group, a Gallup poll released on Wednesday showed. The results of the May poll come as abortion and contraception supporters have come under increasing pressure in Congress and across the United States. “Pro choice” is a label for people who favor the right of women to choose whether to bring a pregnancy to term. “Pro life” is a... Read more
Referring to the climactic scene in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” Deacon Bill Ditewig makes some compelling points about the new translation of the Roman Missal — and one word in particular, “chalice.” For his jumping off point, he uses a new essay by Rev. John Donahue, S.J. on the topic. Snip from Deacon Bill: After seven months of the “new” translation, what is being communicated via that “feedback loop”? Fr. Donahue mentions the stumbling over prayers (especially, I would... Read more
This involves a tragic incident from our not-so-distant past that I’d never heard about — but leave it to The Anchoress to find this and send it my way: More than 90 years after a Methodist clergyman killed a Catholic priest in Birmingham, members of both churches gathered to seek forgiveness and reconciliation. “There is no statute of limitations on forgiveness,” said Passionist Father Alex Steinmiller, president of Holy Family Cristo Rey Catholic High School in Birmingham, during a service... Read more
Details: A new Gallup Poll has found that contraception is “morally acceptable” to 89 percent of Americans, including a top heavy 82 percent majority of American Catholics, despite the Church hierarchy’s opposition to the pill. The poll was released a day after Catholic dioceses and institutions sued the Obama administration to block a requirement that employers cover contraception in health care plans offered to women employees. Catholic bishops have rejected an administration compromise under which the cost of birth control... Read more
The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd has been a consistently predictable critic of the Catholic Church; she wrote a piece Sunday, and another one today. Her latest piece has prompted the Catholic League’s William Donohue to post the following letter on his website: +++ My Dearest Maureen, In today’s New York Times, you write the following: “The church insists it’s an argument about religious freedom, not birth control. But, really, it’s about birth control, and women’s lower caste in the church.... Read more
Details: A U.S. district court judge in Delaware ruled last week that members of a local city council who had been reciting the Lord’s Prayer at every meeting for six years must stop the “Christian” practice because it violates the Constitution. The decision by Judge Leonard P. Stark comes in response to a lawsuit filed last year by four Sussex County residents who claimed that the prayer violates the First Amendment. The city council had argued that the Lord’s Prayer,... Read more
How does something uploaded onto YouTube turn into a sensation? Travel blogger Joel Oleson can tell you. He shot and posted online this quirky little video about a baby penguin encountering a person for the first time. Take a look: Then he started noticing it was getting more interest than usual. Traffic began going a little nuts. And the fun began. He got emails and inquiries from places like CBS and Yahoo. Read his whole story here. It’s an interesting... Read more
Here’s a first look at Baz Luhrman’s insanely art-directed-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life high concept rendition of “The Great Gatsby.” I loved the book in high school, and even liked the Robert Redford/Mia Farrow movie of the 1970s, which made pink shirts with white collars unbelievably cool. This version? I dunno. The trailer lurches between being an eyeful — and being awful. This much is certain: it’s something to see. Read more
The great Dan Barry of the New York Times captures something mysterious and nostalgic in this essay about playing basketball on a Sunday morning in a chilly Catholic school gym. Turns out, it’s a lot like church: Bowed and gasping after each game, I feel the mysterious tug on my basketball jersey that tells me I belong in one of the hardwood pews a few dozen yards away, squirming once again inside the Catholic Church of today. But for now... Read more
Reallly. Her name is Zoe. Read all about her here. And yes, her eyes really are blue. Read more
The Deacon's Bench
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