Conscience articles from December 2005

Conscience archives from December 2005

Editor's note.
December 22, 2005... FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS, THERE SEEMS TO BE A REAL conversation about poverty. It's not that anything much has changed; poverty remains an ever-present but much-ignored issue, by the political elite at any rate. The aftermath of...

Latin America.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2005... IN HER ARTICLE, "LATIN America's Abortion Battles" (Autumn 2005), Joanne Mariner highlights many of the opportunities and challenges facing advocates for women's health and rights who are working to end unsafe abortion in Latin America. In...

A different Spain.(LETTERS)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2005... IT SEEMS I LIVE IN A DIFFERENT Spain from the one Robert Latona describes in his article, "Two to Tangle" (Autumn 2005). He describes a society irritated and concerned about the changing relationship between church and state. This concern, in...

Opposing war.(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2005... FRANCES KISSLING'S ARTICLE, "A Cautionary Tale," (Autumn 2005), is an excellent statement on the problem facing progressive religionists today. One thing that did trouble me was the call to "oppose the war," as if there were only one. I...

Condoms4Life and the World Youth Day 4 All Coalition.(church reform, sexual and reproductive health and rights and youth activism)
December 22, 2005... CATHOLIC WORLD YOUTH Day is a jamboree that takes place every three years or so, attracting hundreds of thousands of young Catholics to its host city. August 16-21, 2005, the 20th Catholic World Youth Day was held in Cologne, Germany, where...

The sex abuse crisis: the Vatican "scapegoats" gays for abuse crisis.(priest sex abusers)
December 22, 2005... ARCHBISHOP EDWIN O'Brien, who is overseeing a Vatican-imposed evaluation of every seminary in the United States, has confirmed that the Vatican is seeking to impose a ban on homosexual men becoming priests. In an interview with a conservative...

News update.(pain perception)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... A survey of current scientific knowledge on the possibility that fetuses feel pain has shown that a human fetus probably does not have the functional capacity to experience pain until at least the third trimester of pregnancy. The authors noted...

Come again?(IN CATHOLIC CIRCLES)(Oregon child support case)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... "Damned if you do, damned if you don't." In a 1994 legal brief explaining why the Archdiocese of Oregon shouldn't have to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a parish, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada...

The economics of abortion access in the US: restrictions on government funding for abortion is the post-Roe battleground.(abortion funding)
December 22, 2005... "SARAH" IS A 31-YEAR-OLD ALASKAN mother who works full time, making $1,000 a month. She has no health insurance. When she was 15 weeks pregnant and unable to get an abortion in Alaska (where there are only three abortion providers and none...

Aid [not equal to] help: development aid is driven by politics, not a desire to alleviate poverty.(economic conditions)
December 22, 2005... FOREIGN AID IS ON THE MARCH again. Its banners bear heartwarming slogans like "promoting compassion" (the Bush administration), "a world free of poverty" (the World Bank) and "mutual respect and solidarity" (Tony Blair's Commission for Africa)....

Women, World Summits and Millennium Development Goals: keeping women's gains center stage at the United Nations.(equality and women's empowerment)
December 22, 2005... WHEN HEADS OF GOVERNMENTS from around the world--the overwhelming majority of whom are men--met at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September, women advocates worldwide paid considerable attention. The 2005 World Summit was yet...

A fear of failure: the Vatican puts its antiabortion message above poverty alleviation.
December 22, 2005... In the run up to the recent UN World Summit, high-ranking Vatican officials instructed Catholic bishops around the world to ensure that "no 'religious leader' of the Catholic church and subject to our jurisdiction agree and sign" an interfaith...

Catholic bishops on poverty: perhaps despite themselves, the US hierarchy has had it right.
December 22, 2005... THE TELEVISED IMAGES OF poor, black families--especially mothers holding their small children in an inadvertent and ironically grotesque replica of a Madonna and child--trudging through the rising flood waters of Hurricane Katrina as it...

Catholic laity and religious on poverty: an account of how the preferential option for the poor manifests itself in the lives of some Catholics.
December 22, 2005... THERE IS NO DEBATE ABOUT the fact that poverty in the US is a huge issue. According to the US Census update in 2004, there are 33.5 million impoverished people in America. The Urban Institute estimates that in 2000 there were 3.5 million...

Penalizing poor women: welfare policies in the United States penalize larger families while denying the means to plan for smaller ones.(determining poverty)
December 22, 2005... IN 1996, WELFARE, AS THE TERM is commonly understood, ceased to exist. Poor families, primarily mothers and children, had to start earning their keep. Promoted by Democratic President Bill Clinton and eagerly passed by the Republican Congress,...

The lessons of poverty .(Economic conditions)
December 22, 2005... BEFORE THE DREADFUL EVENTS IN LOUISIANA, Mississippi and Texas unfolded on our television screens in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Conscience had asked a number of commentators to discuss poverty. We wanted to examine how poverty and...

What is abortion?(parental consent laws)
December 22, 2005... IN THE SPRING OF 2005, GEORGE Lakoff, the insightful, practical and smart linguist challenged abortion proponents to reconsider its use of "choice" rhetoric. Responding to a wave of backpedaling by otherwise progressive individuals (former...

A taboo too far: what my conscience tells me about church sexuality.(child sexual abuse scandal continues)
December 22, 2005... The child sexual abuse scandal continues to have many repercussions for the Catholic church all around the world. Conscience has received many submissions and proposals on this subject, far too many to print, but this piece by the noted...

Eden & ethics for a grown-up society: how the Song of Songs can give us a new sexual ethic for the 21st century.(cardinal rules)
December 22, 2005... FOR MOST OF THE HEBREW BIBLE there are three cardinal rules governing sexual ethics: 1. Men are in charge of the family as they are of the society. God addresses Eve: "Your desire shall be toward him, and he shall rule over you." 2....

A distinct lack of ambition.(The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The End of Poverty. Economic Possibilities for Our Time Jeffrey Sachs (Foreword by Bono) (Penguin, 2005, 320pp) 1-59420-045-9, $27.95 IT IS SIGN OF THE TIMES THAT few readers are likely to do a double take when reading The End of Poverty....

A partially told history of American Catholics.(Catholics in America: A History)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Catholics in America: A History Patrick W. Carey (Praeger, 2004, 290pp) 0-275-98255-6, $49.95 PATRICK CAREY'S BOOK IS ONE of a series on different religious denominations (Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians) published by Praeger, and...

From sexual and sacramental control to sexual and sacramental abuse.(Life Choices: Toward a Catholic Theology of Reproductive Options )(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Life Choices: Toward a Catholic Theology of Reproductive Options Anthony T. Padovano (Catholics for a Free Choice, 2004, 106pp) 0-915365-11-1, $25.00 ANTHONY PADOVANO--NOTED theologian and author, married Catholic priest and the first...

One story, two (very) different accounts.(Abortion and Nation, Abortion and Divorce Law in Ireland )(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Abortion and Nation Lisa Smyth (Ashgate Publishing, 2005, 196pp) 0-7546-3592-9, $94.95 Abortion and Divorce Law in Ireland Jennifer E. Spreng (McFarland & Co, 2004, 259pp) 0-7864-1657-0, $45.00 THE PROSPECT OF TWO MORE books dealing...

The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Catholic Worker Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins Mark Zwick and Louise Zwick (Paulist Press, 2005, 358pp) The Zwicks offer the breadth and depth of their knowledge gleaned as the founders and editors of the Houston Catholic...

Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2005, 528pp) This is the first time that such a compendium has been published. Designed to serve as a...

Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Gay Catholic Priests and Clerical Sexual Misconduct: Breaking the Silence Donald L. Boisvert and Robert E. Goss (eds) (Harrington Park Press, 2005, 272pp) Breaking the Silence is a controversial collection of essays written by leading...

Learning to Dance: Advancing Women's Reproductive Health and Well-Being from the Perspectives of Public Health and Human Rights.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Learning to Dance: Advancing Women's Reproductive Health and Well-Being from the Perspectives of Public Health and Human Rights Alicia Ely Yamin (ed) (Harvard University Press, 2005, 169pp) In this groundbreaking collection of articles, six...

The Moral Veto: Framing Contraception, Abortion, and Cultural Pluralism in the United States.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Moral Veto: Framing Contraception, Abortion, and Cultural Pluralism in the United States Gene Burns (Cambridge University Press, 2005, 314pp) This book offers an analysis of the current and historical framing of the debates surrounding...

A New Reformation.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... A New Reformation Matthew Fox (Wisdom University Press, 2005, 102pp) Provoked in part by the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Fox exposes the corruption of the papacy and argues that there is a growing divide within Christianity today....

Prayer: A History.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Prayer: A History Phillip Zaleski & Carol Zaleski (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, 355pp) In Prayer: A History, Carol and Phillip Zalesld demonstrate their expansive knowledge of prayer in a thorough and highly informative exploration of...

Sexing the Church: Gender, Power and Ethics in Contemporary Catholicism.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Sexing the Church: Gender, Power and Ethics in Contemporary Catholicism Aline H. Kalbian (Indiana University Press, 2005, 166pp) Dr. Kalbian, an assistant professor of religion at Florida State University, explores the ways in which...

The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition Huston Smith (Harper San Francisco, 2005, 160pp) Smith draws from both his faith and academic background to offer a broad and, at times, introspective view of the Christian tradition...

The Ties That Bind: Women's Public Vision for Politics, Religion and Civil Society.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... The Ties That Bind: Women's Public Vision for Politics, Religion and Civil Society Amy Caiazza (Institute for Women's Policy Research, 2005, 126pp) Through material gathered in 75 qualitative interviews, Amy Caiazza uses the voices of...

To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... To Heal a Fractured World: The Ethics of Responsibility Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (Schocken Books, 2005, 279pp) Rabbi Sacks, currently the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain, engages in a thorough exploration of the...

Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son Peter Manseau (Free Press, 2005, 364pp) Growing into his own faith as the son of a priest and a former nun who broke their vows to the church in order to marry, Manseau's memoir on his...

Postscript.
December 22, 2005... "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense--an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection--is not." --Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, who was the...

Index: poverty and US cathedrals.
December 22, 2005... Estimated cost of Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for the Archdiocese of Houston/Galveston $40,000,000 Cost of prodding two million children with immunizations for preventable diseases in...