Conscience articles from June 2003

Conscience archives from June 2003

Editor's note.(Editorial)
June 22, 2003... ABC. RARELY HAS AN ACRONYM MEANT SO MANY different things to so many different people, but when you consider that it represents a centerpiece in the establishment's campaign to prevent the spread of HIV, then perhaps it's not so surprising. The...

Art, Religion and Censorship. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2003... I WAS DELIGHTED TO read the "Art, Religion and Censorship" roundtable section. I seldom see rational discussion of contemporary art in any Christian publication; my husband and I (both Roman Catholic) have spent the past 25 years trying to get...

Sex, Lies and Duct Tape. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2003... I WAS GLAD TO SEE Jennifer Block's article, "Sex, Lies, and Duct Tape," sharing information about the Bush administration's assaults on sexual health information. What Block didn't point out, however, was that these efforts are often cloaked...

The Bishops Go to the Movies. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2003... I VERY MUCH ENJOYED Marjorie Heins' article on film censorship, "The Bishops Go to the Movies," but I think there's another aspect of the church/film relationship that deserves mention. In upholding free speech rights, the Supreme Court...

Catholic censorship. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2003... V-DAY, A GLOBAL Movement to end violence against women and girls, was recently the subject of Catholic censorship efforts, but fortunately such attempts often rebound. Despite a recent campaign by the Cardinal Newman Society--a conservative...

Coercion in family planning. (Letters).(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2003... I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO your attention the coercive practices that have been carried out in Slovakia towards its Roma (Gypsy) communities. Slovak Roma were victims of a forced sterilization policy during the communist regime between 1972 and...

"Cardinals fail more often than condoms". (The church and AIDS).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... CATHOLIC ORGANIZATIONS have raised concerns over yet another statement against condoms by a Catholic leader. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of the Washington archdiocese, issued a pastoral letter in May opposing the use of condoms...

Catholic lawmakers hinder plans to slow spread of HIV/AIDS. (The church and AIDS).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... CONSERVATIVE CATHOLIC lawmakers attached amendments to a $15 billion funding boost to fight HIV/AIDS globally, undermining the potential of the legislation. Representative Chris Smith (Republican, New Jersey) proposed giving relief...

Catholic hierarchy's opposition to condoms under further scrutiny. (The church and AIDS).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... THE SWISS GOVERNMENT'S provocative campaign to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS was partly stymied by Catholic bishops who successfully demanded that a billboard that was to appear outside Catholic churches be withdrawn. The government paid for some...

Mexican bishops denounce first lady for advocating condom use. (The church and AIDS).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... TWO CATHOLIC BISHOPS IN Mexico have spoken out against the first lady, Marta Sahagun, wife of President Vicente Fox, after she advocated the use of condoms to protect against the spread of HIV/AIDS. She called for "the moral courage to fight...

Keating compares bishops to Mafia, resigns. (In Catholic Circles).(former governor Frank Keating)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... The head of the bishop-appointed National Review Board, former Oklahoma governor Frank Keating, has resigned, days after suggesting that the desire of some bishops to keep secret their investigations into the child sexual abuse scandal was...

Vatican rebuffed in quest for privileged place for religion in European Constitution. (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... THE MUCH-DEBATED DRAFT of the European Constitution has been published, with no mention of God or Christianity in the preamble, despite intense pressure from the Vatican. The governments of the 15 member states and the ten Accession Countries...

Mexican bishops face legal challenge. (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... BISHOPS IN MEXICO FACE A legal challenge over their involvement in the forthcoming national and regional elections. One of the parties in the election, Mexico Posible, has filed a criminal complaint over Bishops Felipe Aguirre of Acapulco,...

Vatican's new dictionary is a "crusade against reason and science". (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A NEW "ETHICAL GLOSSARY" from the Vatican claims that condoms do not protect against sexually transmitted diseases; characterizes homosexuality as an "unresolved psychological conflict;" and claims that nations that approve of gay marriages...

Weekly Standard is no standard for theological competency. (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... THE WEEKLY STANDARD, a right-wing US magazine, revealed its lack of competency in Catholic theology when J. Bottum, the magazine's books & arts editor, claimed that Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota had been instructed by his bishop to stop...

Vatican demands conformity from bioethicists. (The Church and State).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... THE PONTIFICAL ACADEMY for Life has issued an ethical code for biomedical researchers. The code, published in the March 13 edition of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, is being distributed to bioethicists who will be asked to sign it...

Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix, Arizona, who made an "unprecedented" admission of guilt in exchange for avoiding indictment for obstruction of justice in a series of sex abuse cases, has resigned following his indictment in a fatal hit-and-run incident in which a local man, Jim Lee Reed, 43, died. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * Bishop Thomas J. O'Brien of Phoenix, Arizona, who made an "unprecedented" admission of guilt in exchange for avoiding indictment for obstruction of justice in a series of sex abuse cases, has resigned following his indictment in a fatal...

The bishops' National Review Board will send investigators into all 195 US dioceses over the coming months to check that bishops are complying with promises to openly resolve existing complaints and ensure that future scandals over sex abuse are dealt with promptly. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The bishops' National Review Board will send investigators into all 195 US dioceses over the coming months to check that bishops are complying with promises to openly resolve existing complaints and ensure that future scandals over sex abuse...

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has followed the dioceses of Louisville and Boston, among others, in trying to argue that its files related to priests are confidential and protected by the First Amendment and therefore must remain sealed, despite prosecutors' requests to open the files in their bid to resolve abuse cases. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has followed the dioceses of Louisville and Boston, among others, in trying to argue that its files related to priests are confidential and protected by the First Amendment and therefore must remain sealed,...

The Catholic church in Ireland has paid out more than $320,000 to settle a case of sexual abuse and, for the first time, issued a formal apology. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The Catholic church in Ireland has paid out more than $320,000 to settle a case of sexual abuse and, for the first time, issued a formal apology. The damages were paid to a man who had been abused by Fr. Sean Fortune, perhaps the most...

The Diocese of San Bernardino in California has sued the Archdiocese of Boston for transferring a notorious pedophile, the Rev. Paul Shanley, while claiming he was a "priest in good standing." (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The Diocese of San Bernardino in California has sued the Archdiocese of Boston for transferring a notorious pedophile, the Rev. Paul Shanley, while claiming he was a "priest in good standing." The suit accuses the Boston archdiocese of...

An order of Franciscan friars, the Indiana-based Province of Our Lady of Consolation Conventual Franciscan Friars, is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * An order of Franciscan friars, the Indiana-based Province of Our Lady of Consolation Conventual Franciscan Friars, is suing the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The Franciscans were themselves sued by a former altar boy demanding damages after he...

New York State has passed legislation requiring "anyone in a position of trust" to report suspected cases of child abuse to the authorities. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * New York State has passed legislation requiring "anyone in a position of trust" to report suspected cases of child abuse to the authorities. Religious had previously been exempt from such legislation but that is no longer the case as a direct...

The Vatican held a closed-door scientific and clinical meeting with psychologists and therapists. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The Vatican held a closed-door scientific and clinical meeting with psychologists and therapists in Rome on the medical, psychological and psychiatric aspects of pedophilia.

Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal, and New Hampshire Catholics for Moral Leadership have called on Bishop John McCormack of Manchester, New Hampshire, and his auxiliary, Bishop Francis...

The diocese of New Hampshire has settled 61 claims of abuse. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * The diocese of New Hampshire has settled 61 claims of abuse for $6.5 million.

Almost three dozen victims of sexual abuse have filed suits against the Diocese of Rockville Centre, naming 17 priests, Bishop William Murphy and other diocesan officials. (Sex Abuse Update).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... * Almost three dozen victims of sexual abuse have filed suits against the Diocese of Rockville Centre, naming 17 priests, Bishop William Murphy and other diocesan officials. The suits seek more than $1 billion in damages and compensation.

Papal Encyclical. (End Notes).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... THE POPE HAS ISSUED THE 14th encyclical of his papacy, on what he considers to be abuses of the Eucharist. The encyclical included reminders that divorced Catholics who remarry may not receive communion, nor may Catholics receive communion in...

UK priests oppose church ban on contraception. (End Notes).(Brief Article)
June 22, 2003... A STUDY BY A CATHOLIC priest in Liverpool and an academic at the University of Wales in Cardiff, to be published under the title The Naked Parish Priest by Continuum Books later this year, suggests that as many as 43 percent of the almost 1,500...

Getting real about HIV/AIDS: ABC does not stop at abstinence.(abstain, be faithful, use condoms)
June 22, 2003... NGONI WAS A YOUNG MAN OF 20 WHEN I FIRST MET HIM. He went to church faithfully and kept to the rules. He had stayed celibate just like the priest instructed, until he got married to a young woman he met at the church. He joined our factory...

Sexual illiteracy.
June 22, 2003... IN 1989 I SPENT A SABBATICAL IN South Africa lecturing at various universities throughout the country. This included a pleasant week with the faculty of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of the Transkei, an area then defined...

Living with sin: the Catholic hierarchy and reproductive rights in the Philippines.
June 22, 2003... TEXT MESSAGING HAS BECOME the lobby tool of choice in the latest battle between reproductive health advocates in the Philippines and their anti-choice opponents. The battleground is around a piece of legislation: the Reproductive Health Care...

Gaining ground: despite political and religious opposition, Latin American activists force advances in reproductive rights.
June 22, 2003... DESPITE WORSENING ECONOMIC inequality, political upheaval and the weight of a highly activist Catholic hierarchy, activists in Latin America have won several battles to establish and defend sexual and reproductive rights. Polls consistently...

New battleground, same old story: antichoice activists find their way to Brussels.
June 22, 2003... THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT has become the latest battleground in the ongoing conflict over the provision of reproductive health services. In July 2002, members of the European Parliament (MEPS) adopted a report, Sexual and Reproductive Health and...

Vaticanology: Lexicon: the Vatican's newspeak guide. (Opinion).
June 22, 2003... CARDINAL ALFONSO LOPEZ Trujillo, who commissioned the recently-published Lexicon on Ambiguous and Colloquial Terms About Family Life and Ethical Questions, should perhaps have considered a few other issues before he sent this 900-page tome to...

Flip-flopping: reflections on presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich, a "prolifer" for choice. (Opinion).
June 22, 2003... CONVENTIONAL WISDOM HOLDS that about 20 percent of the US population believes that abortion should be legal without exception or regulation. Another 20 percent or so believes that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. Both groups...

"The Magdalene Sisters": a movie that lifts the lid on Catholic totalitarianism.(Movie Review)
June 22, 2003... FROM THE OPENING MOMENTS OF THE MAGDALENE SISTERS we know we're in primitive territory. A furious crescendo on a bodhran, backing a ballad about illicit sex sung by a priest at a wedding, immediately alerts us to award-winning writer-director...

With God on his side.
June 22, 2003... RELIGION IN AMERICA IS MUCH like Nature in the famous saying of Horace: "Nature, pitchfork it out how you may, keeps tumbling back in on you, slyly overbears your shying from it." In the same way, no matter how much Thomas Jefferson and James...

Contraceptive emergency: Catholic hospitals overwhelmingly refuse to provide EC.(emergency contraception)
June 22, 2003... AT LEAST FIVE MILLION TIMES this year, (1) American women will need emergency contraception (EC) to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected intercourse. Whether because of a broken condom, an unplanned moment of passion or the tragedy...

Straining to present a religion under siege.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... The New Anti-Catholicism: the Last Acceptable Prejudice Philip Jenkins (Oxford University Press, 2003, 258pp.) READING PHILIP JENKINS' The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice reminded me of a scary moment from my early...

The handmaids of the hierarchy.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America John J. Fialka (St. Martin's Press, 2003, 368pp.) The Vatican's Women: Female Influence at the Holy See Paul Hofmann (St. Martin's Press, 2002, 207pp.) IF, LIKE ME, YOU PAY ATTENTION to...

An easy choice: globalize safe abortion.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Abortion & Common Sense Ruth Dixon-Mueller, PhD and Paul K.B. Dagg, MD (Xlibris, 2002, 298pp) YOU KNOW LESS THAN YOU think you do. Ruth Dixon-Mueller and Paul K.B. Dagg's Abortion & Common Sense begins with a quiz that affirms the reader's...

Bookshelf.
June 22, 2003... Abortion in the Ancient World by Konstantinos Kapparis (Duckworth, 2002, 264pp.) One for the historians: a fascinating survey of the reasons for and debates around abortion in ancient Greece and Rome. Agony In the Garden: Sex, Lies and...

Resources for the long haul: the church on the brink of destabilization.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... Sacred Silence: Denial and the Crisis in the Church Donald Cozzens (Liturgical Press, 2002, 200pp) Toward a New Catholic Church James Carroll (Houghton Mifflin, 2002, 130pp) BOTH OF THESE SHORT BOOKS (Cozzens: 200 pages; Carroll: 130...

Hierarchical power games: sex and celibacy in the catholic Priesthood.(Book Review)
June 22, 2003... The Other Side of the Altar: One Man's Life in the Catholic Priesthood Paul E. Dinter (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, 240pp.) NOW in his late fifties and married with two stepdaughters, Paul Dinter is a laicized Roman Catholic priest. The...

Postscript.
June 22, 2003... "You are also the victims of the child abuser... to use a current war analogy, you are the victims of friendly fire." --Bishop Raymond Boland of Kansas City-St. Joseph speaking to the National Federation of Priests' Councils. (1) "In...