The Queen and Her Pocketbook: More Important News Items from the Week

And in truly important news as one week ends and another begins: in case you've ever wondered what the Queen (i.e., HM Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Ireland, and the Dominions) totes around in that regally large purse of hers, wonder no more.  Jessica Misener spills the beans (or, more precisely, dumps the purse upside down and rummages through its contents) in a tell-all article at Huffington Post yesterday.  It appears Her Majesty's pocketbook contains predictable ladylike articles including reading glasses, lozenges, tubes of lipstick and mirrors, a fountain pen (is there any other kind?), and crisply folded banknotes to place in the church donation plate of a Sunday.

End of Week News Roundup: More on HHS and Komen Discussions

Eugenio Zampighi, "Reading the News"

As one week ends and another begins, several articles that caught my eye in the past week re: why a broad selection of American Catholics refuse to be atavistic sheep for the bishops as our bishops declare war on the Obama administration over guidelines for contraceptive coverage in health care programs:

A Donation Feature: An Explanation

As the weekend goes on, I wanted to post a quick note to tell readers about a change I made to Bilgrimage yesterday.  Some of you may have noticed that I added a donation button to the blog.  I want to explain why I decided to take this step.

Conversation about HHS Guidelines and Komen Reversal Continues: Kevin Clarke at America on Standing by Our Bishops

As I said last week, I had hoped to put the discussion of the Catholic bishops' war against the Obama administration over the HHS guidelines behind me on this blog.  Then along came the kerfuffle over the decision of the Susan G. Komen foundation to withdraw support from Planned Parenthood, and the unholy war (which hasn't really gone away at all, of course, since it's about the bishops trying to influence the fall elections on behalf of the Republicans) flared up again.

Catholics and Gun Owners, Unite against Obama for Life!

Rolling Stone on Suicide Epidemic in Anoka-Hennepin School District: Pro-Life Voice Still Silent

I wrote yesterday,

. . . [H]ow do any religious leaders (and educated, purportedly morally sensitive people who defend them) possibly imagine that they can be thought of as pro-life when we in the U.S. have been living through an epidemic of suicides of young people who are gay or gender-questioning in recent years?  And when the pro-life bishops and their educated defenders are simply silent about this phenomenon?

Catholic Bishops on Warpath, Komen Foundation Severs Ties with Planned Parenthood: A Pro-Life Week to Remember

At Alternet, Sarah Seltzer provides a helpful primer for those trying to decipher what's going on with the Susan G. Komen-Planned Parenthood controversy.  At Salon, in an article to which I just linked but will link again here for another purpose, Joan Walsh notes that the news that Komen is (to all intents and purposes) severing its ties to Planned Parenthood comes on the heels of the Catholic bishops' (and Catholic centrists') flurry of pro-Republican politicking the past week or so, vis-a-vis the Obama administration's decision about the HHS guidelines.