A practicing Catholic, Melinda Gates, recently delivered a talk at TED, putting birth control back on the global agenda. Gates said that the topic of contraception has become a hot topic in recent years, but asked whether it should be. She believes that many of the world’s social change issues depends on ensuring that women Read more
Rick Santorum, the Catholic pro-life GOP presidential candidate, recently provoked a furor when he attacked President John Kennedy, Jr.’s 1960 speech designed to defuse anti-Catholic bigotry by embracing an “absolute” separation between church and state. It was vintage Santorum, underscoring his unique, sometimes frustrating contribution to the national debate on a host of issues, from Read more
A day before Easter, the head of New York’s Roman Catholic archdiocese faced a challenge to his stance on gay rights: the resignation of a church charity board member who says he’s “had enough” of the cardinal’s attitude.
Joseph Amodeo told The Associated Press on Saturday that he quit the junior board of the city’s Catholic Charities after Cardinal Timothy Dolan failed to respond to a “call for help” for homeless youths who are not heterosexual.
“As someone who believes in the message of love enshrined in the teachings of Christ, I find it disheartening that a man of God would refuse to extend a pastoral arm” to such youths, Amodeo said in his letter to the charitable organization last Tuesday.
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Religious liberty is “off the table” at the White House, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan is urging his fellow bishops to “prepare for tough times”. In a letter to all US Bishops, Dolan said at a recent meeting the White House officials told bishops conference staff that revisiting the mandate or broadening the contraception exemption in order to Read more
Take your lead from liberal Catholics is the Obama administration’s message to the US Catholic bishops on the contraceptive coverage debate, according to Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Dolan says White House aides urged the bishops to listen Catholics who have accepted the administration’s plan, such as the editors of America magazine. Writing on his blog, Dolan Read more
This weekend would be an ideal time for the leaders of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to reconsider the political strategy they have adopted in their fight against the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate. In their bid to undo that offensive mandate, the bishops could theoretically look for help from each branch of the Read more
Cardinal designate Timothy Dolan told the pope and assembled cardinals the Catholic Church needed a “creative strategy” and can be made more exciting by using 140 characters (Twitter) and less. “We know that the Church has lost some of its pizzazz,” Dolan said. “We have to refresh and rekindle that faith.” Pope Benedict chose Dolan to Read more
Catholic gay rights advocate Joe Murray has challenged Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York to a debate on gay marriage.
Murray is the executive director of the Rainbow Sash Movement, which advocates for acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics within the church.
Through a post issued today on Rainbow Sash’s blog, its board of directors state that Murray has challenged Dolan, president of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, “to meet him in the public square at any Catholic university in the United States to debate gay marriage. Such a debate will not only be informative, but could highlight reason over homophobia.”
The archdiocese is aware of the request, but is unlikely to respond.
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The US Catholic bishops say religious freedom is being whittled away by same-sex marriage, abortion and healthcare legislation, and they are vowing to up their efforts to protect it. “For some time now we have viewed with growing alarm the ongoing erosion of religious liberty in our country,” Bishop William Lori, bishop of Connecticut told the Read more