EDITOR’S NOTE: First of two columns on President Barack Obama’s inauguration. As Aretha Franklin finished singing “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” the queen of soul did what she has done for decades — she improvised. The result was a soaring bridge between the inauguration of President Barack Obama and a sermon 45 years ago at the Lincoln Memorial. “Our fathers’ God, to thee, author of liberty, to thee we sing. Long may our land be bright, with freedom’s holy light,... Read more
When it comes to abortion, the vast majority of Americans know what they want and what they want isn’t going to please Planned Parenthood or the Vatican. What they want is compromise. What they want are shades of gray. In a new Harris Interactive survey, only 9 percent participants agreed that the abortion should be legal for any reason at any point during a pregnancy. On the other side, only 11 percent wanted a total ban. In between were plenty... Read more
It was the kind of quote that is catnip for politicos and scribes inside the Washington Beltway. “What Americans would have found absolutely intolerable only a few years ago, a majority now not only tolerates but celebrates,” proclaimed Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation. Then came the statement that set pundits to chattering for weeks. “I no longer believe that there is a moral majority,” proclaimed Weyrich, in a 1999 epistle that made many liberals cheer and... Read more
After waves of headlines about faith and politics, President-elect Barack Obama was the clear choice as the top Religion Newsmaker of 2008. The odds were also good that the Religion Newswriters Association would pick the White House race as its top news story. But there was a problem. There were so many faith-based issues in play during this election year that America’s religion-beat specialists had trouble deciding which of these hot stories was No. 1. In the end, this was... Read more
It was hard to ignore the papal bull condemning the slave trade, which was read to American Catholic leaders gathered in Baltimore in 1839. Pope Gregory XVI proclaimed that “no one in the future dare to vex anyone, despoil him of his possessions, reduce to servitude, or lend aid and favor to those who give themselves up to these practices, or exercise that inhuman traffic by which the Blacks, as if they were not men but rather animals, having been... Read more
Merry Christmas. No, honest, as in “the 12 days of” you know what between Dec. 25 and Jan. 5. If you doubt the accuracy of this statement, you can head over to the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. There you will find an interactive calendar that bravely documents the fact that, according to centuries of Christian tradition, the quiet season called Advent has just ended and the 12-day Christmas season has just begun. So cease stripping the... Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Second of two columns on teens and ethics. When pollsters ask Americans the Eternal Question they almost always say, “I believe in God.” Ask young Americans about faith and the response is something like, “I believe in God and stuff.” Finding the doctrinal meaning of “and stuff” is tricky. “God made us and if you ask him for something I believe he gives it to you. Yeah, he hasn’t let me down yet,” said a 14-year-old Catholic from... Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: First of two columns on teens and ethics. Take comfort in this: The items on the following “to do” list do not apply to all teens today. Lie to your parents about those wild weekend plans — check. Steal that scarf you want at the mall — check. Download that term paper off the Internet and add a few mistakes to confuse the teacher — check. Inflate your volunteer hours at your church’s soup kitchen to pump up... Read more
It only takes a few words to call back the memories from 30 years ago, all those nightmare images from the jungle sanctuary in Guyana. “Revolutionary suicide” may do the trick, especially when combined with that grim quotation from one survivor, “They started with the babies.” But it was another Jonestown catch phrase that leapt into the national consciousness. Sherri Wood Emmons heard it when she accepted a job with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) only four years after... Read more
When an Orthodox bishop enters a sanctuary, he is traditionally greeted with the following words chanted in Greek — “eis polla eti, despota.” In English this means, “Many years to you, Master.” Witty bishops in the Orthodox Church in America have started using this sentiment as the punch line in a joke about the impact the episcopate can have on their egos. “What happens to a guy?”, said Bishop Jonah, during the church’s All American Council in Pittsburgh. “You put... Read more
Terry Mattingly
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