"It's Not All in the Past": Commentary on Abuse Stories in the News Now, Across Church Lines and National Lines

“Rev. Marcotte is 32 years old and represents part of the "new guard" of the Catholic Church, yet by all indications, he has been grooming and abusing children since his 2014 ordination.”

Guess it’s not all in the past. #VaticanChikdSexTrafficking https://t.co/kA0PcuXdiD

— Indie Theology (@IndieTheology) October 29, 2019

Irish Voice, "Covering up pedophiles while refusing Joe Biden communion":

As Hallowe'en Approaches….

My apologies to you readers of Bilgrimage for being away from this blog for so long. I may have mentioned at some point that I have been working for quite some time to co-author a book that will be published by University of Arkansas Press. The book, whose title is A Family Practice: The Russell Doctors and the Evolving Business of Medicine, 1799-1989, will come out this spring. I've co-authored it with a cousin of mine, Bill Russell, who is a descendant of the doctors discussed in the book, and Mary Ryan, formerly head librarian at the library of the University of Arkansas Medical School.

Newman Canonized, and Talk of His Love for Ambrose St. John Rocks the World of Macho-Heterosexist Clerics: My Thoughts

1/ It has long been a tactic of homophobes to claim that one cannot identify people in the past as gay when they did not identify themselves that way, even when they spoke or wrote about same-sex relationships in their own lives. This tactic wants to invisibilize gay people.

— 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝔻. 𝕃𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕤𝕖𝕪 🌈 (@wdlindsy) October 14, 2019

Jeff Chu on Meeting the Woman Who Fired Him Because He Was Gay: Valuable Twitter Thread for #RiseUpOct8

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments this week on whether LGBTQ people are protected by existing anti-discrimination law. I've been thinking about this topic. On Saturday at #EvolvingFaith19, I came face-to-face with a woman who fired me from a freelance gig because I'm gay.

— Jeff Chu (@jeffchu) October 7, 2019

The Twitter thread Jeff Chu shared yesterday, which begins with the tweet above, is very important to read today, as the Supreme Court hears more arguments about the "right" of people to appeal to religious belief as their basis for discriminating against LGBTQ citizens in the workplace, in schools, in public services, in housing, in the marketplace, etc.

Douglas Hostetter, Interfaith Paths to Peace

Photo is from Doug Hostetter's Picture of Peace website.

INTERFAITH PATHS TO PEACE

Douglas Hostetter

United Nations NGO Representative

Pax Christi International

Peace Pastor

Evanston Mennonite Church

(former) Visiting Scholar and Adjunct Lecturer

Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

(former) Adjunct Professor 

Goshen College, Goshen, IN

DougHostetter@gmail.com

Presented at 

First International Conference On Peace And Conflict Resolution

University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
April 29-30, 2019

Abstract

The paper draws heavily on my personal experience doing alternative service with the Mennonite Central Committee in Vietnam during the American War in Vietnam (1966-1969) and directing the Bosnian Student Project during the War in Bosnia (1992–1995), when I was the International/Interfaith Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. 

Glitch with Disqus Today

Readers of Bilgrimage: there appears to be some glitch with the Disqus commenting system today, and I wanted to alert you to it. When I go to the blog page and try to reply to comments, Disqus tells me I need to check my internet connection. But when I click one more time immediately after that to post my reply, it goes through.

If you are encountering a message that you are not online as you try to leave a comment here, or are not signed in, clicking your reply a second time may well send it through. I do not know why the glitch is occurring and will try to get a solution to it, but in the meantime, I did not want you all to think you cannot comment here due to this technical problem.

Dominican Priest-Theologian James Alison Receives Affirming Phone Call from Pope: When Will the Call Come for the Rest of Us?

Pope Francis’ call and respect for Alison’s path rights a major injustice inflicted by the Vatican. It should give all Catholics encouragement to follow their consciences and do the work to which God calls them, even if church leaders condemn or exclude. https://t.co/RAMkMOmZiD

— New Ways Ministry (@NewWaysMinistry) September 29, 2019

I am delighted for James Alison's sake. He's a first-rate theologian.