Judges and Catholic teaching

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, probably the best known Catholic judge in the country, recently sat down for an interview with Tim Russert at MSNBC, saying among other things that his religion had “nothing at all” to do with strict interpretation of the Constitution.
Over at dotCommonweal, David Gibson started an interesting discussion about Scalia’s argument that there’s no such [...]

The pope and the prez

Some people would hesitate to quote St. Augustine to Pope Benedict XVI. Not President George W. Bush.
Granted, he limited his citation to the words “Pax tecum” (”Peace be with you”) so it wasn’t exactly an academic exhibition.
Throughout his welcoming talk yesterday, it struck some of us that the president was sounding a lot like the pope. [...]

Papal inflight press conference

Here are Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks to reporters on his plane. His remarks in Italian have been translated into English.
(Introductory remarks)
My trip has above all two objectives. The first objective is the visit to the church in America, in the United States, naturally to the entire nation. There’s a particular reason: the Archdiocese of Baltimore [...]

Is McCain pro-life?

Now that Sen. John McCain appears to be this year’s presumptive Republican presidential nominee, one developing storyline is whether he’ll have the support of the pro-life movement this fall. A glimpse into that debate can be found in the pages of the National Catholic Register. A column last week headlined “McCain Sits Down for Life,” which [...]

‘Super Tuesday’ gets attention

This week’s “Super Tuesday” balloting in nearly two dozen states has the attention of some local Catholic newspapers where the contests are being held. Some examples: The Catholic Explorer in the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., covered how one parish offered a workshop on how Catholic voters should approach the state’s presidential primary. It also has an [...]

And then there were none — or maybe one

When Rudy Giuliani officially announced his withdrawal from the race for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday, a field once crowded with Catholic candidates became nearly bereft of them. Only Republican candidate Alan Keyes remains, but he has not gained enough support — financial or otherwise — to be included in candidate debates or to receive [...]

Pro-life prospects on Supreme Court anniversary

Next Tuesday marks the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion. Timed to the anniversary, Our Sunday Visitor offers an analysis of the political deadlock in Washington that has led to the current pro-life stalemate.

Local Catholic tries to bring faith back to ‘Ds’

This story may upset you or please you depending on your political affiliation, but in Oregon the Catholic Sentinel has a story on a Catholic man who is trying to organize and expand the numbers of religious believers in the Democratic Party in a state which is the home of the nation’s largest percentage of [...]

Yesterday’s call for civility in American politics: the full text

Last I checked, not many news organizations or bloggers (with one exception) have covered what for us was one of yesterday’s top stories: a statement by a group of prominent lay Catholics calling for a “spirit of civility” in all political discussions, including in the church.
The statement is certain to be controversial because it directly [...]

‘Can bishops agree on Communion for politicians?’

The ongoing discussion within the church over whether Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion should be denied Holy Communion may reach another critical juncture next week when the U.S. bishops vote on a new draft statement on the much wider question of Catholic political responsibility during a presidential election year. Such statements have been issued [...]