"Trump Administration Is Dismantling Its Predecessor's Moves to Protect Women, Minorities, the Poor, and LGBTQ People": Thoughts About the Morning's News

David Gushee, "The Most Fantastic Association of Men Imaginable"

In one morning, I read (1),

The Trump administration is dismantling its predecessor's moves to protect women, minorities, the poor, and LGBTQ people (Mark Joseph Stern).

Religion (and Politics) Stories in the News: Evangelicals, White Supremacist Marches, Callista Gingrich, Knights of Columbus, Jim Bakker and Antichrist

Some things I have been reading/listening to/sharing in the past few days, which may interest many of you:

As Their Party Puts Forward a Reality-Show Star Who Spouts Racism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia, Catholic Bishops Use "Religious Freedom" Video to Attack Hillary Clinton

Did I just say that the yuuuge affection of large numbers of (white) Catholics in the U.S. for the outright racist (and misogynist and xenophobic) Donald Trump bespeaks colossal moral and pastoral failure on the part of the U.S. Catholic bishops — as do the ugly comments now piling up at the website of the liberal Catholic journal Commonweal, some from Commonweal subscribers, after that journal dared to publish an editorial chastising the Republican party for seeking to deny the right to vote to minority voters? As all of this happens, here's where the U.S. Catholic bishops are, where they want to lead their flock:

With Knights of Columbus Funding and Strong Connections to Well-Heeled Right-Wing Catholic Elite Groups, Crux Promises No Good New for LGBTQ Catholics

Last week, I commented on a recent statement by Kaya Oakes at Religion Dispatches raising critical questions about the choice of John Allen to fund his Catholic news journal Crux with Knights of Columbus funds, now that Boston Globe has announced it will no longer fund Crux. As I noted, Kaya Oakes points out that the Knights of Columbus have established quite a reputation for themselves by sending over a million dollars to California to help snatch the right of marriage from gay citizens of that state with proposition 8, and by making million-dollar-plus contributions to campaigns in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington to combat gay rights. 

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.

Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage 2.0: What Do Fortnights, Marriage Marches, and Vials of Papal Blood Have in Common?

More birdcage droppings for you today (these are definitely the stinky kind):

Financial Transparency Emerges as Major Theme in St. Paul-Minneapolis Abuse Story: Outstanding MPR Report (and Nicole Sotelo on Knights of Columbus)

To my mind, one of the strangest claims that apologists for the Catholic hierarchy who want to assist the hierarchy by bashing survivors of clerical sexual abuse make is that the Catholic church is and always has been transparent in its handling of finances. This claim is so obviously counterintuitive that I can't quite fathom the reasons some apologists try to trot it out as a weapon against survivors and those who stand in solidarity with survivors.

Parsing Cardinal Dolan: Catholic Hierarchy Losing Marriage Equality Battle Because It's about Morality, Not Money

The outgoing leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops, His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, has just observed that the Catholic bishops (who aren't anti-gay at all) have been "out-marketed" by the gays and their allies in the marriage equality battle. For those who don't follow the bishops closely as they talk about these issues, a bit of parsing may be in order:

Faith Seeking Understanding: Catholic Commentary on the State of the Church, Advent 2012

A Monday-morning smorgasbord of smart, thoughtful statements I've read in recent days about matters Catholic:

Gerald T. Slevin: About Obama's Papal Victory--Are Bishops and the Pope Now Chastened? Is Constantine's Curse Now Lifted? Are Catholic Children Now Protected?

Another brilliant posting by Jerry Slevin, which asks what will happen now with the leadership of the Catholic church, after a geo-political strategy which absolutely required it to defeat the current U.S. president has just failed spectacularly in the 2012 U.S. elections.  Here's Jerry's response to that question:

Eugene McCarraher at Commonweal: Leaders of the American Catholic Church and Sickness Unto Death

During the lead-up to the 2012 elections, why did the leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops, Cardinal Dolan, wail that the White House is "strangling" the Catholic church, as  Bishop Jenky of Peoria screamed that he and his church have been targeted by a dictator akin to Hitler in the White House, while Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco tagged President Obama as a "despot," Cardinal George compared the U.S. under its current presidential leadership to the former Soviet Union, and Supreme Knight Carl Anderson spoke of incomparable threats to religious freedom of Catholics in the U.S.?

National Catholic Reporter Editorials on Catholic Winners, Catholic Losers in U.S. Elections

Two valuable editorial statements from National Catholic Reporter as election day arrives in the U.S.: the first maintains that three groups of Catholics are the "winners" in today's elections, regardless of the outcome of specific elections.  These are the nuns on the bus, LGBT Catholics, and Latinos.  

Knights of Columbus Back in News: $15.8 Million Spent Since 2005 to Strip Gays of Civil Rights

Earlier in the week, I excerpted observations from Joanna Brooks's The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith (NY: Free Press, 2012) in which Brooks notes (p. 174) that the fight to snatch the civil right of marriage from gay citizens of California cost $82 million.  Brooks points out that this is the largest amount of money spent to date on a culture-war issue in the U.S.

More from Joanna Brooks on the Steep Price of Bigotry

Another passage this morning from Joanna Brooks's The Book of Mormon Girl: A Memoir of an American Faith (NY: Free Press, 2012) commenting on the amount of money her Mormon community spent to remove the right of civil marriage from the gay citizens of California with prop 8:

The Paul Ryan Selection and Spectacular Pastoral Failure of U.S. Catholic Bishops

The New York Times on Romney's selection of Paul Ryan: after weeks of hearing nothing but vague, mendacious, marshmallow blather from Romney about the (non-)specifics of how he would govern, with the Ryan selection "voters will now be able to see with painful clarity just what the Republican Party has in store for them":

FBI Releases Report about Penn State Sandusky Cover-up: Top Officials Knew

The FBI's Freeh report is now telling us that Joe Paterno and Penn State's president Graham Spanier deliberately engaged in cover-up of Jerry Sandusky's abuse of a minor in 1998.  The report offers incontrovertible evidence to show that Spanier and Paterno knew of the abuse, showed no concern for the victim, took no action, demonstrated no concern to prevent possible abuse of more minors, and allowed Sandusky to retire with kudos for his honorable service to Penn State and with never a mention of his history of abusing minors.

The Lynn Conviction in Philadelphia: A Selection of Commentary

Following the conviction of Msgr. William Lynn in Philadelphia last week for child endangerment, quite a bit of thoughtful commentary has been appearing at blog sites and in news publications.  Here's a selection of statements that, as Jerry Slevin did in his outstanding piece here a few days ago, look at the implications of this conviction for the Catholic church as a whole, and especially for its leaders:

In the News: More "Religious Freedom" Shock and Awe from U.S. Bishops, Civil Rights for Gays

Some news analysis that seems to me worth noting today:

Catholic Identity Again: More on Joan Chittister and Christiane Amanpour

Benedict and Curia, December 2008

I keep hearing in my head snippets of Joan Chittister's dialogue this week with reporter Christiane Amanpour, to which I linked yesterday.  Amanpour says she needs to "push" Chittister, and then she voices what she hears the Vatican and U.S. bishops saying to American religious women: 

You are a part of the Roman Catholic church. 

You either stay in line or you get out of Dodge. 

It's back to basics. 

Toe the line.