Quote for Day: Naomi Klein on Why We're Stuck with Climate Change — It's about the Economic Elite, Stranglehold, and the Fetish of Centrism

Naomi Klein is incisive — and powerful — as she explains why the human community is unable to address climate crisis that is now threatening the whole planet and therefore all of our existences:

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: What's Changed Since Selma? Ask the Five Supreme Catholic Men.

At Commonweal, Dominic Preziosi asks what has changed since Selma, and Tom Blackburn replies: 

Women in the Catholic Church: Critical Voices Engage the "Francis Revolution" (with Notes about John Boyne's Novel A History of Loneliness)

In a New York Times article yesterday, Elisabetta Povoledo notes that, though Pope Francis has spoken of the importance of women in the life of the church, critics note that he is "strikingly tone-deaf toward the sensitivities and needs of women," and that he has flatly declared that he will not discuss the possibility of ordaining women — the sole door to any official power in the governing structures of the Catholic church. She adds, 

Remembering Selma's Bloody Sunday (in Light of Ferguson): Some Links for You

Read these excerpts (and articles) commenting on Selma and Ferguson as a narrative, and I wonder what story they tell. What story do they tell about us? What story do they tell about us and our unfinished (perhaps now hopeless?) quest for participatory democracy in the United States?

Remembering Bloody Sunday: "Those Small Acts That Are Actually Gargantuan Acts of Bravery"

As Amy Goodman notes in this moving interview with Congressman John Lewis, history is made by seemingly ordinary folks engaging in small acts of courage that are actually gargantuan acts of bravery. As Goodman notes, these are often overlooked in the official versions of history we're taught in schools, churches, families. 

To My Fellow Catholics Hiding Behind Pseudonyms While Using Catholic Blog Sites to Attack Gay Folks: Have the Decency and Courage to Come Out of the Closet, Please

As this long week of Lent ends, I want to issue a note of thanks to my fellow Catholics like Dennis Herrera who stand in solidarity with their gay brothers and sisters, and who state unambiguously that the ugly, discriminatory treatment that Catholic leaders like the archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, keep dishing out to gay folks and those who love them, makes their job as Catholic parents infinitely more difficult. 

I'm Here: Grateful for Your Concern and Comments

I'm very grateful to those who have been asking where I am (in a comment thread at my last posting). I appreciate your concern, and apologize for having abandoned the dialogue here for a period of time.