The Associated Press has broken the story. VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI says in a new book that condoms can be justified for male prostitutes seeking to stop the spread of HIV, a stunning comment for a church criticized for its opposition to condoms and for a pontiff who has blamed them for making the AIDS crisis worse. The pope made the comments in a book-length interview with a German journalist, “Light of the World: The Pope, the... Read more
“Besides that, they learn to be idlers, gadding about from house to house, and not only idlers but gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not” (1 Tim 5:13 RSV). There is a serious problem with the internet and the kind of dialogue which often happens on it. Not only does it lack charity, people gossip about those they disagree with, leading to all kinds of false witness. Detraction and calumny are a common practice, despite the fact that both... Read more
Readers familiar with my blog Pentimento will know that two autumns ago, my family moved from New York City to a small city in northern Appalachia for my husband’s work. It was hard to leave our longtime home, as these things always are, but the move and its effects were baffling, even shocking, to us in ways we hadn’t anticipated. Except for a few nice neighborhoods, the city we now live in, being the county seat, has a reputation for... Read more
The New York Daily News reports: President Obama dropped a bipartisan bombshell today, announcing he will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom next year to ex-President George H.W. Bush. The magnanimous gesture of bestowing the nation’s highest civilian honor to the 41st U.S. President came a day after ex-President George W. Bush gave a respectful nod to Obama at the groundbreaking of his library in Dallas. I think President Obama wants to work with the GOP, and this is a... Read more
We at Vox Nova are privileged to offer a guest post from David Cruz-Uribe, SFO. We look forward to offering more quality guest commentary. We accept submissions at [email protected]. As the bishops continue their fall meeting in Baltimore, it is clear that some issues are not going to go away, particularly the divisions between the bishops and other Catholics (individuals and organizations) over health care. Over at America Magazine, Vincent Miller has written a “Memo to the Bishops” in which... Read more
Dear readers, a quick hello. I’m delighted to join the crew of Vox Nova. I’m a wife and mother, a New Yorker now living in Northern Appalachia, and a former professional opera singer and music educator. I still gig occasionally, and am working on a book based on my doctoral dissertation, which is about the representation of music in narratives of religious conversion in Victorian art and literature. I also blog at Pentimento, where my primary concerns (as I expect... Read more
Since we’re so cozy and close, let’s just skip between Catholic and fundie Churches! Let’s have a complete merger! Let’s follow the example of Marco Rubio and Dinesh D’Souza! Read more
Part VII-1 When we come to human sin, and its origin, things become quite difficult. Revelation seems to give us a history wherein we read how the first man and woman fell from God’s grace.[1] St Paul, moreover, seems to affirm this history, and uses it to show us the universality of human sin: Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned —... Read more
This semester I have been blessed to teach Augustine’s Confessions two times: once in my “Philosophy of the Human Person” course and a second time in senior colloquium. Re-reading it, I was struck at how Augustine describes evil and sin as leading to alienation, nihilism, and existential destruction, but never (as far as I can see) speaks of hellish damnation. This reminded me of a question (and other questions that seem to follow from it) I have only voiced one... Read more
Like many a contemporary Catholic, I am not entirely certain what to make of Paul’s instructions to wives in Ephesians chapter 5. I am, of course, perfectly happy with the emphasis of many commentators who insist on contextualizing the passage in order to highlight that Paul is also making serious demands of husbands. Nevertheless, such contextualization only goes so far. It is one thing to demonstrate that a man’s responsibility to love his wife and give himself up for her,... Read more
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