Glenn Reynolds linked this morning to a case, one of many, of a judge who is refusing to perform same-sex marriages.  What to do?  “Marriage equality” supporters, who seem to be winning the day, say he should step down or be fired from his job if he’s unwilling to perform one of the duties, and discard any claim of “religious accommodation” as undeserving because his refusal is bigotry. But here’s an easier solution: take the judges out of it. Make... Read more

Still thinking about marriage, especially in light of some of the comments in my earlier post about divorce and annulments.  So bear with me if this repeats some ideas from prior posts as I try to assemble things once again. On the one hand, you’ve got the sacramental marriage:  a permanent bond, open to children*, and sexually exclusive.  (* Which implies both a willingness to accept any children that might come along, and the ability, based on the sexual complementarity of... Read more

This is a new endeavor at Loyola University in Chicago:  a two-year college program sponsored by the university, intended for needy and first-generation college students, opening its doors in the fall.  See this article in the National Catholic Reporter, and the website of the program itself.  (This was featured in the news a couple weeks ago, but got forgotten about as a draft for a while.) The core idea is this:  at a rate of $10,410 per year (that is,... Read more

So last Sunday I went to church at the neighboring parish, since its mass times fit in better with the activities for the day, and we got there partway through a very earnest woman announcing a new ministry.  Divorce is difficult, she said, and thoughts go through your mind:  excommunication?  Go to another church?  But what if you don’t want to go to Willow Creek or Harvest Bible Chapel?  Even Pope Francis said that divorce can be “morally necessary”* and that... Read more

Greece voted “no” in a referendum over the weekend that asked about whether to accept a specific austerity/bailout package, but was taken as a vote on austerity in general.  I am not an expert on the topic, but have four comments for your, well, comments. 1) It is wishful thinking to imagine that, had Greece only stayed out of the Eurozone, they could have issued drachma-denominated bonds and avoided all this difficulty by just printing more money.  Remember that these... Read more

Was it simply inevitable that the Court would have decided Obergefell as it did? Three thoughts: 1) We talk about Kennedy and his opinion and its lack of substance, and feel as if the decision hinged on the personal opinion of one man.  But what would Ginsberg’s opinion have been?  I can picture it now, especially given her fans who portray her as a crusader for justice of rock star proportions: Every right-thinking person knows in their gut that same-sex... Read more

Yeah, I’m just going to put this out there, as I have some projects to finish before I can get back to work on a substantive post.  In the meantime, something to chew on: What do you think levels of religious observance in the United States will be like in 50, 100 years? And what do you think marriage and childbearing will look like? Read more