New York Times Coverage of What Benedict Knew When: Commentary from the Community of Survivors of Clerical Sexual Abuse

Another late-in-the-day posting, and another piece commenting on the New York Times article to which I linked early today.  The article to which I want to draw attention now is Joelle Casteix's statement today re: the Times article, at the website of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Tom Roberts on the New York Times Coverage of the Abuse Crisis: The Misplaced Papal Priorities of John Paul and Benedict

I realize I'm being exceptionally chatty today, but it's hard not to be right now, with one significant article after another coming out about the deep-seated problems of the Catholic church and its clerical culture.  

I want to note right now Tom Roberts' latest article at National Catholic Reporter, commenting on the New York Times article about which I posted earlier this morning.  A significant quote:

Ireland on Verge of Enacting Same-Sex Civil Unions: Catholic Nations Continue to Lead in Human Rights Movements for LGBT Persons

Back in 1997, when Steve and I were still living in the Charlotte, North Carolina, region after having been fired by Belmont Abbey College near Charlotte (Steve was let go at the same time the school fired some seven or eight faculty or staff widely thought to be gay or lesbian), I remember a series of letters in the Charlotte paper when President Clinton appointed James Hormel, an openly gay man, to the position of ambassador to Luxembourg.  As well as I recall, the letters continued on into 1998, after we moved away from Charlotte, but at a time in which I continued to read Charlotte news to keep up with events there.

Benedict, a Citizen of Sodom in Good Standing for 40 Years: More News Coverage about What Benedict Could Have Done When

I noted a few days ago that the mainstreaming of truth-telling news coverage about the scandal caused by the cover-up of clerical sexual abuse cases has the potential to create major public image problems for the Catholic church right now.  As I noted this, I discussed Dan Rather’s upcoming report on how U.S. Catholic dioceses are filing bankruptcy to shield their wealth as victims of childhood abuse come forward, and I talked about a recent New York Review of Books article discussing the horrific story of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel.

Why Catholics Can't Sing: Benedict's Retrieval of "Old" Liturgy as a "New" Liturgical Movement

At  National Catholic Reporter, John Allen has just published an excerpt from Joseph Ratzinger’s (now Pope Benedict) 1997 memoirs entitled Milestones.  Allen is publishing this excerpt as Benedict issues a motu proprio on the “new liturgical movement” he has sought to effect in the church—a new as in back-to-the-future movement which self-consciously and deliberately retrieves the “old” liturgy in the name of making it new again, following Vatican II’s liturgical reforms. 

On the Gulf's Destruction by Oil, Science Experiments, and Toxic Rain

Oil is dangerous.  Oil is toxic.

These are fundamental scientific facts that I refuse to put out of my head, even as the governor of Mississippi informs us that oil mixed with water is not harmful at all, and as the governor of Florida encourages folks to frolic in the oil-polluted waters of Florida’s western beaches.

And why am I so sure that oil is dangerous and toxic?  I’m sure of this for the following reason: my brothers and I were spectacular failures at school science fairs throughout our grade-school years.  We were so bad at preparing demonstrations for science fairs that, if a negative grade could have been given for projects, we should have gotten minus points, year after year.

For a Little Levity: Tea Party Jesus

For a little levity as a hot summer day ends (levity with a nice pinch of acerbity in it): don't miss this Huffington Post article about a new blog called Tea Party Jesus, which puts the words of some of Jesus's most devoted American neocon followers into his mouth.  Complete with pictures.  

Hint: click on the link to the Tea Party Jesus blog before reading the HuffPo article about it, and try to match the outrageous statement to the "Christian" political leader who made it.  The HuffPo article gives the game away by providing subtitles with the name of the author of the outrageous statement.