Note to Readers: Apologies for Slowness in Acknowledging Your Comments

A quick note to readers who have left comments here in the past several days: for a number of reasons, I'm running behind lately, and haven't yet had a chance to acknowledge your comments. I do very much appreciate them, and am hoping to use part of tomorrow to catch up.

In the News: George Zimmerman, Obamacare, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, and Moral Sickness of Cultures

News commentary about disparate topics (though interconnected ones, to my way of thinking) that has caught my eye this week:

Bishop Paprocki's Failed Exorcism Stunt and Moral Arc of History: More Commentary

Fred Clark thinks that Bishop Thomas Paprocki's recent exorcism failed. It was set up to prove the superiority of his episcopal power over, well, the entire state of Illinois, insofar as its elected officials chose marriage equality over the bishops' party line. In particular, it was set up to assert Paprocki's episcopal authority over the Catholic laypeople of Illinois, a majority of whom support the human rights of gay folks, including marriage equality.

As Moral Arc of History Moves to Marriage Equality, Opponents Reveal Real Motive for Opposition: Protecting "Right to Discriminate"

What the Oregon Family Council is doing these days strikes me as a bad move for those who oppose marriage equality. As Zack Ford reports at Think Progress, opponents of marriage equality in Oregon recognize that they are likely to lose if (when) the issue is put to a vote in a popular referendum. Supporters of marriage equality are collecting signatures for such a referendum.

From Rev. Emmett Coyne: Interdict from Below

Rev. Emmett Coyne

This morning, I'd like to share an essay by Rev. Emmet Coyne, a retired priest of the diocese of Manchester, New Hampshire, and author of The Theology of Fear. Emmett has kindly offered to let the essay be published here. It's a proposal to rehabilitate the ancient Catholic practice of interdict, but to turn it upside down, so that lay Catholics begin to use it to call their pastoral leaders to accountability. Here's Emmett's essay:

A Footnote to My Previous Posting about Theologians' Statement on Marriage and Family: You Are Invited to Participate

A quick footnote to my previous posting: when I read the statement on marriage and family published by Catholic theologians at John Wijngaards's website earlier today, I did not notice that

Quote for Day: Church "Has Still Done Very Little to Foster the Acceptance of Persons with Alternative Sexual Orientations As Dignified Members of the Church and Society"

Though the church has made some progress in accepting the fact that not all persons find themselves called to a life-long, heterosexual union, it has still done very little to foster the acceptance of persons with alternative sexual orientations as dignified members of the church and society. The task of educating the faithful to respect all human persons who do not conform to one’s own personal expectations, especially when those persons are living honorable lives, is yet to begin in the majority of Catholic parishes.