More on Forgiveness and Clergy Abuse Situation: Kaya Oakes on Need for New Understandings

finally starting to directly reckon with how white evangelicalism taught 'forgiveness:' what it is, who it serves, how it's offered or received.

tl;dr: in many contexts, what white evangelicalism teaches as forgiveness is merely an affirmation of the status quo.

— Blake Chastain (@brchastain) March 3, 2020

A month ago, Ruth Krall offered us a valuable statement about the "sin or crime" dilemma facing religious bodies as they deal with sexual abuse of vulnerable people by religious authority figures. Should a community frame sexual abuse of the vulnerable by pastors, priests, religious authority figures primarily in terms of forgiveness? Or should religious communities begin from the starting point of recognizing that sexual abuse of minors is a crime, as they deal with these issues?

Patricia Miller on Catholics Driving Exodus of Nones, Kaya Oakes on How Nones Aren't Coming Back — And Why Should They, Considering What the Church Is Offering?

Two more helpful pieces of commentary on the recently published PRRI report about why Americans (and especially younger ones) are leaving religion behind — both at Religion Dispatches:

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "Instead, We Are Left with the Likes of John Allen and Rocco Palmo Who Are Just Pole Dancers at Bishop Conventions"

In response to Kaya Oakes's recent article about John Allen's decision to turn to the Knights of Columbus to fund his Crux journal, which I discussed yesterday, Tony Adams writes, 

As Crux Turns to Knights of Columbus for Funding, A Reflection on Catholic Heterosexism and Lack of Solidarity with LGBTQ People Among Heterosexually Privileged "Liberal" Catholics

Tomorrow's my birthday, but Steve has informed me that the Birthday Rules dictate that one's birthday begins at sundown the day before, so I'm settling into the start of my birthday celebration as I type this posting, and hope that will make me more douce than usual. I doubt it.

As Easter Nears, I'm Pondering Kaya Oakes's Question, "Is the Catholic Church in America Getting Worse for LGBTQ People and Women?" (My Answer: Yes)

An open thread for Holy Week: is the Catholic church in America getting worse for LGBTQ people and women? https://t.co/q0KR9LKpfU

— kaya oakes (@kayaoakes) March 24, 2016

I've replied to Kaya Oakes's tweet (and Facebook posting) above. Here's my reply: Yes.

"Spotlight" Shines Brighter, Wins Best Feature Oscar!

Well. This is amazing news to have awakened to this morning. Even as His Eminence Cardinal George Pell was saying the following in Rome after his security guards had strongarmed Australian journalists,*

"What Proceeded from There Encapsulated the Vast Reasons Why Women Abandon Organized Religion": Kaya Oakes on What Happened When She Tweeted, "God's Not a Dude"

Kaya Oakes, The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Believers, Seekers, and Those in Between ( Maryknoll, NY: Orbis 2015): 

Kaya Oakes on Why Americans May Not Get Pope Francis's Insistence on Mercy: "Racism, Homophobia, Violence"

What Americans should give up during #Lent: racism, homophobia, violence. Why we fail at mercy, by me. @RDispatches https://t.co/9o8x3rhrFi

— kaya oakes (@kayaoakes) February 8, 2016

Defining Christianity by Exclusion of LGBT Human Beings: "If This Is the Christianity They Want, Perhaps It Is Time for That Christianity to Die"

Thinking back this morning to Kaya Oakes's post-Obergefell essay last November: as she points out, anti-LGBT right-wing Christians have really lost the battle to exclude LGBT people from the circle of humanity and the church. But the more they recognize the futility of continuing this losing battle, the angrier — and more exclusionary — they become. 

Kaya Oakes on How "Whitest, Malest, Straightest, Most Educated" Representatives of Christianity Are Driving People from Religion

Kaya Oakes, writing yesterday at Religion Dispatches about the battle that Christians opposed to marriage equality have lost:

Clouds of Witnesses: More Testimony About How Obergefell Affects Real Human Beings and Real Human Lives — The Challenge for Catholics

Some more testimony for you today: two days ago, I offered you some testimony from my own spot about what Obergefell and its extension of rights to LGBT citizens meant to me as an openly gay, married Catholic theologian who has been shut out of employment, my vocation, health insurance coverage, and the manifold benefits that come from being part of a community. Shut out, quite specifically, by Catholic institutions and by the men running the Catholic show, who love to talk endlessly about human rights and love as they continue doing this to LGBT folks . . . .

Vatican. Vatican. Vatican. Women. Women. Women. ("Equal" but Different and Subordinate.)

This is the image the Vatican chose to represent a conference about women. http://t.co/4l4q7uKalH link via @NCRonline pic.twitter.com/z7lcHb9Jj5
— kaya oakes (@kayaoakes) February 2, 2015

The Vatican's Pontifical Council on Culture (whose members are all cardinals and bishops) will discuss women tomorrow. And for several days after that. And as Kaya Oakes says (see the tweet above), this is the image their website is using to advertise their discussion?

Commentary on Cardinal Burke and the New Emangelization Project

"Men need to dress and act like men..." -Cardinal Burke, pictured, in an interview http://t.co/uAkzd65VgH pic.twitter.com/BRHsOP8aSR
— Michael O'Loughlin (@MikeOLoughlin) January 6, 2015

Twitter's aflame now with tweets about Cardinal Raymond Burke's new emangelization program, with tweets like Michael O'Loughlin's above. Do a search at Twitter with the search terms "Cardinal Burke," and you'll discover a sartorial smorgasbord of amazing photos of His Eminence modeling for us that manly resplendence he finds absolutely necessary to the maintenance of a manly civilization and manly church that will attract real manly men to the manly Christ and his manly priesthood.