Conscience articles from June 2004

Conscience archives from June 2004

Editor's note.(presidential election campaign)
June 22, 2004... RELIGION AND ITS PLACE IN PUBLIC POLICY IS FRONT AND CENTER in the coming presidential election campaign, with George W. Bush, a born-again Christian who wears his faith on his sleeve, up against John Kerry, the first Catholic candidate since...

The next step.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2004... IN RESPONSE TO THE ROUNDTABLE discussion, "What should abortion rights activists in the US be aiming for?" (Spring 2004), our aim should be a better articulation on the meaning of "choice." Prochoice organizations need to take hold of the word...

Kate Michelman.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2004... I WAS HANDED A PROMOTIONAL copy of your magazine at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, in April and was delighted to see your profile of Kate Michelman. I heard Kate speak at an event in New York several years ago, and I don't think...

Bishops' electioneering.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2004... MANY OF US AMERICAN Catholics feel betrayed by the politicization of the Blessed Sacrament by the Vatican, a couple of US bishops and right-wing conservatives. The hypocrisy of this political effort is ruinous to the moral authority of our...

Kudos.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 22, 2004... I PICKED UP MY FIRST COPY of Conscience yesterday evening at my local BooksAMillion and was completely blown away by what I read. The breadth and depth of opinion in the magazine, the coherent manner in which it was expressed and the courage...

The bishops and the US elections.(The Church and State)
June 22, 2004... THE ELECTORAL INTERVENTIONS of Catholic bishops and conservative Catholic organizations gets full coverage elsewhere, but a summary of the important events appears here. * Vatican official Cardinal Francis Arinze, prefect of the...

Brazilian bishops warn priests off politics.(The Church and State)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE BISHOPS' CONFERENCE in Brazil has warned its priests against direct participation in politics and reminded them of their duty to help the poor. An episcopal message stated, "We are worried that some of you [priests] allow yourselves to be...

Senators, members of Congress and former first lady decry stem cell policy.(The Church and State)
June 22, 2004... FIFTY-EIGHT US SENATORS, 206 members of Congress and former first lady Nancy Reagan have called on President Bush to loosen his restrictions on research using stem cells derived from human embryos. The calls followed the long-awaited release of...

Bush seeks Vatican help in presidential run.(The Church and State)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC Reporter has said that President George W. Bush asked the Vatican to intervene in US politics by encouraging bishops to support him on "family and life" issues. During a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of...

Massachusetts bishops lead campaign against gay marriage.(The Church and State)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... A LENGTHY EXPOSE IN THE Boston Phoenix has revealed the lengths that the church hierarchy is going to oppose same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. One legislator, who understandably declined to be identified, said, "I would describe the church's...

Diocese to appeal court ruling on providing contraceptive coverage.(Catholic Health Care)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... SACRAMENTO BISHOP WILLIAM K. Weigand has announced that the diocese will take a California court decision to the US Supreme Court. The ruling stated that Catholic Charities of Sacramento is not a religious institution and must provide...

NGO opposes Catholic hierarchy's role in preventing HIV/AIDS.(The Church and HIV/AIDS)(nongovernmental organization )(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT must stop pandering to the Catholic hierarchy's strict opposition to the use of condoms or it risks a huge increase in HIV/AIDS, the nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch has warned in a new report,...

European union condemns hierarchy's "bigotry" on condom use.(The Church and HIV/AIDS)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE EU COMMISSIONER FOR Development and Humanitarian Aid, Poul Nielsen, has made his strongest statement yet about the Vatican's opposition to the use of condoms. He made his comments on the flagship BBC television program, Panorama, in...

US government rejects scientific advice on emergency contraception, bishops applaud.(The Church and Contraception)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE FOOD AND DRUG Administration has gone against the advice of its scientific body and decided against allowing Plan B, a form of emergency contraception which may be used up to 72 hours after unprotected sex, to be sold over the counter and...

Chilean cardinal opposes emergency contraception.(The Church and Contraception)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... CHILE'S PRESIDENT HAS vowed to go ahead with the provision of free emergency contraception to women who have been raped, despite vocal opposition from the Catholic hierarchy. "If something tragic like a rape occurs, and the person who...

Pope canonizes antiabortion icon.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... ON SUNDAY MAY 16, POPE John Paul II named six new saints, including Italian pediatrician Gianna Beretta Molla. In 1962, Molla died just one week after giving birth to her fourth child. She was 39. Doctors had informed her of the dangers of...

Mexican NGOs raise awareness about legality of abortion.(The Church and Abortion)(Non-Governmental Organization )(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... GIRE, THE INFORMATION Group on Reproductive Choice, a reproductive rights group based in Mexico City, has initiated a campaign to ensure that women know that abortion is legal in cases of pregnancy after rape. Abortion is permitted nationwide...

Uruguayan Senate rejects bill to legalize abortion.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE SENATE IN URUGUAY has narrowly voted against a bill that would have made the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation the first in Latin America to legalize abortion. The lower house approved the bill, "Norms for the Defense of Reproductive...

Catholic University bans civil rights group for prochoice stance.(The Church and Abortion)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY of America in Washington, DC, has blocked the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), from forming a chapter on campus. Catholic University said that the decision was based on the fact that...

Pope John Paul II has given Cardinal Bernard Law an official position in Rome, naming the former Boston archbishop who resigned in the sex abuse scandal in December 2002 as head of a basilica.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... Pope John Paul II has given Cardinal Bernard Law an official position in Rome, naming the former Boston archbishop who resigned in the sex abuse scandal in December 2002 as head of a basilica. Cardinal Law will have the title archpriest of St....

A series of letters between bishops and the lay board appointed to oversee the church's response to the sexual abuse crisis has been published by the National Catholic Reporter.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... A series of letters between bishops and the lay board appointed to oversee the church's response to the sexual abuse crisis has been published by the National Catholic Reporter. The letters reveal serious dissatisfaction by the board with the...

A prominent clerical advocate for the victims of abuse, the Reverend Thomas Doyle, has been fired by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, under whom Doyle served, for apparently challenging O'Brien's authority and arguing that priests did not have to celebrate mass every day.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... A prominent clerical advocate for the victims of abuse, the Reverend Thomas Doyle, has been fired by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, under whom Doyle served, for apparently challenging O'Brien's...

The diocese of Belleville, Illinois, has been held in contempt of court for refusing to hand over records related to the mental health of an accused child sex-abuser.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... The diocese of Belleville, Illinois, has been held in contempt of court for refusing to hand over records related to the mental health of an accused child sex abuser. The diocese has been fined $2,000 and ordered to hand over the records. The...

Paul Shanley, the notorious sex abuser whose case highlighted the extent of the sex abuse crisis, has been defrocked by the pope.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... Paul Shanley, the notorious sex abuser whose case highlighted the extent of the sex abuse crisis, has been defrocked by the pope. In a letter dated May 3, Boston Archbishop Sean O'Malley stated that the decision had been made on February 19. It...

According to the Boston Globe, nine former students at the now-closed Boston School for the Deaf have filed a lawsuit claiming they were the victims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse by the staff of the school.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... According to the Boston Globe, nine former students at the now-closed Boston School for the Deaf have filed a lawsuit claiming they were the victims of emotional, physical and sexual abuse by the staff of the school, including at least 14 nuns...

In an article in the Jesuit magazine America, theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles has argued that the "one strike and you're out" policy.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... In an article in the Jesuit magazine America, theologian Cardinal Avery Dulles has argued that the "one strike and you're out" policy adopted by the bishops to prevent any rerun of the sexual abuse scandal ignores priests' rights of due process...

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson has announced that the diocese is considering a bankruptcy filing because of the costs involved in paying out compensation in the 19 pending cases alleging sexual abuse by clergy.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson has announced that the diocese is considering a bankruptcy filing because of the costs involved in paying out compensation in the 19 pending cases alleging sexual abuse by clergy. Lynne Cadigan, an attorney...

A series of reports in the Dallas Morning News reveals that hundreds of priests accused of abuse have been moved from country to country.(News Update)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... A series of reports in the Dallas Morning News reveals that hundreds of priests accused of abuse have been moved from country to country, allowing them to start new' lives in unsuspecting communities and continue working in church ministries,...

Come again?(In Catholic Circles)(Brief Article)
June 22, 2004... July 2003: "I knew that the controversy was producing a distorted image of [Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa in Honduras], because Rodriguez is not a crusty foreign prelate out of touch with America or modernity. He's...

The politics of communion: the bishops gain little and risk a lot from their use of the sacraments as a political football.
June 22, 2004... SEN. JOHN KERRY CANNOT take communion in St. Louis, in parts of Colorado or in much of New Jersey. A lifelong Catholic, the Democrats likely presidential nominee has been warned by a handful of bishops that he should not approach the communion...

Prochoice Catholic theology 101.
June 22, 2004... WHAT THE TEACHINGS of the Catholic church and canon law say about abortion, communion and excommunication have become an unlikely player in the 2004 US presidential election. As reported elsewhere in this issue, Vatican official Cardinal...

The view from mainstream America: the Catholic voter in summer 2004: a national opinion survey of likely Catholic voters conducted for Catholics for a free choice by Belden Russonello & Stewart.
June 22, 2004... AS ONE-QUARTER OF THE electorate, American Catholics represent more than an important voting group. Over the past three decades, the attitudes of Catholic voters across the United States have been a reliable indicator of the attitudes and...

Overstepping the mark: the bishops' right flank may be in the media spotlight, but the exposure merely reveals its isolation.(Opinion)
June 22, 2004... THERE IS NOTHING THAT THE United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) likes less than the appearance of discord among its members. However, as a recent survey by Catholics for a Free Choice shows, a severe split appears to have...

Speaking double dutch: the political conversation on abortion is passing younger people by.(Culture)
June 22, 2004... ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE THINGS ABOUT THE abortion debate is the stability of opinion about the issue--at least when it comes to the basic question about legality. Since the 1970s, we see only very small changes in both core support for and...

The US bishops' political activism against abortion: a chronology.(Calendar)
June 22, 2004... The Catholic hierarchy has long been at the forefront of the battle against legal abortion in the United States. The following is an edited version of a chronology of the bishops' involvement in the abortion debate that was produced as part of...

Sex trafficking: why the faith trade is interested in the sex trade.
June 22, 2004... IT WAS THE FRIDAY AFTER INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, and the president and first lady's East Room gathering was devoted to "efforts to globally promote women's human rights." There was talk of Iraq and Afghanistan and liberty and freedom. Girls...

Conditioned for murder: Juarez killings show cost of misogyny.(Letter From The Border)
June 22, 2004... BEGINNING IN 1993, SHOCKING REPORTS RESOUNDED from Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, about the abduction and beyond brutal murders of women, mostly young, always brown and poor, found in garbage dumps or left as carrion in the vast surrounding...

A long way from the Vatican: Catholic attitudes towards reproductive rights church-state and related issues in Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico: Catholics for a free choice and Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir.
June 22, 2004... NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY, Catholics differ on the role of the church in certain aspects of their lives. However, one point all Catholics tend to agree on is the fact that the Vatican does not wholly represent the beliefs of the 1 billion...

The death of the nuclear family: towards a new sexual ethic in America.
June 22, 2004... IT IS A TRUTH THAT MOST OF US know. Politicians avoid discussing it publicly lest when they do they sound less honest than usual. The American population is pitifully hypocritical with it. Clergy, seeing it, offer neither wisdom, guidance...

Is the fetus a person?(Opinion)
June 22, 2004... A COUPLE OF YEARS AFTER the passing of the Abortion Reform Act in 1967, Cardinal Heenan, then Archbishop of Westminster, asked my opinion on "why we lost the battle" and what could be done. I offered him two thoughts from my perspective as a...

A call to arms.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... Abortion in the USA and the UK Colin Francome (Ashgate, 2004, 180pp) ISBN: 0754630153, $59.95 Beyond Choice: Reproductive Freedom in the 21st Century Alexander Sanger (PublicAffairs, 2004, 340pp) ISBN: 158648116 9, $26.00 The War on...

Bookshelf.(books about feminism, sexuality and the Catholic Church in America)(Bibliography)
June 22, 2004... Acts of Faith, Acts of Love: Gay Catholic Autobiographies as Sacred Texts Dugan McGinley (Continuum, 2004, 246pp.) Part of McGinley's challenge to the church hierarchy to take gay Catholics seriously, this is a timely exploration of...

Fertile soil for rational debate.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning Brent Waters and Ronald Cole-Turner, (eds.) (Georgetown University Press, 2003, 228pp) ISBN: 087840998X, $26.95. THIS BOOK IS A COLLECTION of essays by various Christian and a...

Too many shades of gray.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... Women of Color and the Reproductive Rights Movement Jennifer Nelson (New York University Press, 2003, 256pp) ISBN. 0814758215, $20.00 I PICKED WOMEN OF COLOR UP after the blurbs promised much for a book we have long awaited and long needed....

Postcripts.(clergy opinions)
June 22, 2004... "If the bishops decide... to slide down the slippery slope of imposing, or even threatening, spiritual penalties for political votes of which they disapprove, they will in the end make it practically impossible for any Catholic to serve in...

Index: prochoice Catholic politicians on abortion.
June 22, 2004... Letter to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, signed by 48 Catholic Members of Congress "We do not believe that it is the obligation of legislators to prohibit all conduct which we may, as a matter of personal morality, believe is wrong....