FAITH: I wrote too much below. But I did want to explain one other thing: Why my faith in the Church has not been shaken by these scandals. I feel a little strange that it hasn’t, at least not for very long. Random personal weirdnesses, crushes, stress, etc. have shaken my faith much more than what is obviously a crisis in the Church in the USA. So I don’t know if this makes me a better witness or a lousier... Read more

SHEPHERDS AND SCANDALS: So Rod Dreher’s op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, criticizing Pope John Paul II for being overly lax in his governance and allowing American bishops to shield predator priests, has provoked a pretty enormous hurricane in the Catholic blogosphere. I’m coming to this discussion very late (Internet time moves fast–too fast, really), so I will use this post to collect the statements I find most persuasive (or, alternatively, the ones we most need to grapple with and... Read more

THE WAY OF THE CROSS: Mark Shea has suggested (and he has always presented it as a possibility, not a certainty) that the Pope’s inaction here is the expression of his Carmelite spirituality, and especially his focus on the Way of the Cross. In essence, this view holds that the Pope is forcing Cardinal Law and the other abuser-shufflers to undergo public humiliation, to take the consequences for the harm they have worked, to take up the cross of public... Read more

HOW MANY ARE REALLY GUILTY?: Who knows? I think there’s been some misuse of the maxim, Innocent until proven guilty. It should be obvious that there are false accusations out there; we are in the late stages of a (delayed, and understandable) media pile-on, after all. In any individual priest’s case, we should always keep that possibility in mind. But “innocent until proven guilty” is a principle of the courtroom, not everyday life. Think about it this way: Do you... Read more

MORE ON D.C., PLUS TWO CORRECTIONS: I’ll respond to the Lord Mage of Good later (probably tomorrow). For the moment, some good points (including correction #1) from Steven desJardins: Correction: We do know that DC’s Medical Marijuana initiative passed in 1998, with 69% of the vote, because a federal judge ruled that Congress couldn’t prevent us from counting the vote. The results were announced 321 days after the election. You reject the idea of merging DC with Maryland because Maryland... Read more

SPECIAL OPS FOUNDATION UPDATE: You know that very cool charity whose link I posted earlier this week? The one that pays for the education of children of Special Operations fighters who die in the line of duty? Maybe you were skeptical of them, or of charities in general, and held off on donating. Worry no more. JB the Kairos Guy shared your concerns. He did some investigating (apparently he works in fundraising), and found that although the foundation has high... Read more

NINOMANIA, a blog devoted to the jurisprudence of Antonin Scalia. Not quite as scary as this… but almost! (I think both links were ultimately from Cacciaguida.) Edited to add that Ninomania looks like it will be pretty meaty and intriguing. And I know the guy who runs it… another one of the YaleMafia. Read more

INTERESTING STUFF ABOUT COPYRIGHT here. Plus what may be the first candidate for US Congress with her own blog. She looks pretty sketch though. Oh well, the ragged edge of innovation ain’t always pretty! (Link via Pigs and Fishes.) It’s a fool’s game to try to predict the course that a new technology will take; but here are a couple rough thoughts on blogging candidates for political office. Benefits to the candidate: If you have an idea-oriented campaign, blogging is... Read more

HEY-O THE DERRY-O, THE FARMER ON THE DOLE: I know I haven’t updated my page on farm subsidies in a while. That’s because I haven’t seen any new developments or arguments. So this is my twofold plea: 1) Please email me at [email protected] if you see any intriguing, strange, or troubling farm-dole news, or, especially, if you read any defenses of the subsidy regime that are either popular or persuasive. I’d also like more stuff on Republicans and the farm... Read more

“She didn’t die of pneumonia, she died of life.” –Red Buttons, “Harlow” Read more