Short takes from this week's news on matters Catholic (with the addition of a report on Peter LaBarbera's appearance at Sinclair Community College):
Kate Geiselman:
It’s just a matter of time. Love will always win. Gay or not, our agenda included graham crackers, and they weren’t going to eat themselves.
Barbie Latza Nadeau:
"What he [John Paul II] did to the Church internally is a sadder story, most strikingly in his failure on the abuse crisis," [Jason] Berry says. "Sheltering Maciel was an act of blind hubris. By elevating [John Paul II] to the same status as 'good Pope John,' Francis will draw groans from both sides of the Catholic divide."
James Carroll:
The Catholic culture of canonization assumes that, while God has put in place a set of natural laws to which all humans are subject, including the laws of suffering and death, exceptions are readily made for God's favored ones — that is, those lucky enough to have a saint as a patron.
Patricia Miller:
But the Catholic bishops don’t suffer from a lack of outlets for their views, so it's not clear why the editors of America thought their shadow spokesperson needs a platform, especially for outlandish ideas that are insulting to women, lack empirical validity, and are far from the mainstream of Catholic practice and opinion on family planning.
David Pasinski:
I truly hope that [Cardinal Sean] O'Malley is working behind the scenes with [Bishop Robert] Finn directly and that his resignation will happen soon. Certainly if he is still here by 2015, Francis reform and reputation will suffer greatly ... and somewhat deservedly.
If I were writing David Pasinski's observations about the fact that Bishop Robert Finn continues undisturbed as bishop of Kansas City, I'd remove the word "somewhat" from that final sentence.
