Droppings from the Catholic Birdcage: "I Saw Goody Proctor with the Devil"

I love every comment in the thread responding to my post yesterday about the busy-busy "somebodies" and poison-pen "tipsters" who are poring over obituaries of late to try to entrap gay employees in Catholic institutions or suspected gay employees in Catholic institutions. Katy's send-up of the hysteria ("Real and suspected gay people are EVERYWHERE," and "I have in my pocket a list of gay folks . . .") is hilarious and spookily appropriate.

Carla Hale, Teacher Fired by Catholic School in Ohio: An Update, with Links to Recent Articles

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of ClevelandGirl, a reader of Bilgrimage I've mentioned in the past, I have a set of links to share today, which provide an update on the story of Carla Hale. Hale is the teacher whom Bishop Watterson high school in Columbus, Ohio, fired last month after she mentioned her partner Julie in her mother's obituary (and see here).

"A Tipster" Reports Suspected Gay Man, Timothy Nelson, to Eau Claire Catholic School, and Job Offer Is Rescinded

Am I the only person in the world who notices (and wonders about) the following pattern?

Colleen Baker on Dirty Freddie Trying to Attend Mass: No Dirty Gays Allowed, but Dirty Priests and Bishops . . . .

At the same time I was writing about how Dirty Freddie got "welcomed" (not!) to Mass yesterday at Cardinal Dolan's cathedral, it turns out Colleen Baker was also writing about it at her Enlightened Catholicism site--something I've just learned from a comment Colleen left here. As Colleen points out, it took ten police folks to deal with this "threat" from a group of ten Catholics trying to attend Mass?!

Frank Cocozzelli on the Neo-Confederate Agenda of Catholic Thinker Thomas E. Woods

I've been meaning to recommend Frank Cocozzelli's recent fascinating introduction to the thinking of an up and coming theorist of the Catholic fringe right, Thomas E. Woods. Visit the Wikipedia page devoted to Woods, and you'll see that he's described there as a "New York Times-bestelling author" who's a political analyst and American historian. Read what Rachel Tabachnik wrote about Woods early in April at Talk to Action, and you'll find another reason he ought to be on our radar screens: he's front and center in a new Ron Paul curriculum project for home-schooled young people.

Archbishop of San Francisco Cordileone Calls Rhode Island Marriage Equality "Injustice"

And in other news related to Dirty Freddie and how the Catholic church "welcomes" him: the bishop of Rhode Island, Thomas Tobin, has made yet another statement about the deep "injustice" done to Catholics in Rhode Island when gay folks who have long been denied justice now have the right to enjoy all the benefits of civil marriage that everyone else enjoys. No, hang on. Wait a moment.

Dirty Freddie Goes to Mass, Dirty Freddie Finds Police Waiting for Him: Dolan's "Welcome" to Gay Catholics

At Huffington Post, Joseph Amodeo recounts what happened to him and nine other Catholics when they tried to go to Mass yesterday with dirty hands. Before heading to Cardinal Timothy Dolan's church, St. Patrick's cathedral in New York, they blackened their hands with ashes.