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Catholicism

  • 1/30/2022

    The Catholic Catechism, Abortion, and the Supreme Court

    by Roger Chapman

    Conservative Catholics on the Supreme Court will decide whether abortion remains constitutionally protected. The Catholic Catechism today portrays the Church as opposed to abortion from its beginnings, but most doctrinal commentary dates to the 1980s, when the pro-life and conservative legal movements became a political force.

  • SOURCE: New York Review of Books
    1/26/2022

    Don't Make Dorothy Day a Saint

    by Garry Wills

    As an admirer of the left-wing activist Dorothy Day, Garry Wills argues that the process of canonization would "miniaturize" her work and associations to fit within the narrow confines of sainthood, making her an object of prayer instead of a model for action. 

  • SOURCE: New York Times
    6/27/2021

    The Bishops Are Wrong About Biden — and Abortion

    by Garry Wills

    The historian of Catholicism argues that the US Bishops' demand to deny communion to Joe Biden over his abortion policies rests on a shoddy understanding of the Church's own history with the issue. 

  • SOURCE: The New Republic
    4/15/2021

    Whither the Religious Left?

    by Matthew Sitman

    Has the considerable effort spent for decades to court a "religious left" as a Democratic constituency been a waste of time? Why haven't faith-based social justice movements been more signiicant in the party's base? 

  • SOURCE: LA Progressive
    3/30/2021

    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Progressive Catholicism

    by Walter G. Moss

    Although her religious upbringing is not the most prominent part of her public persona, US Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez follows a tradition of Catholic advocates for justice. 

  • 2/14/2021

    Opportunities for a Catholic President, Then and Now

    by Patrick Lacroix

    Polling of religious voters might encourage Democrats to give up on reaching them. John F. Kennedy's experience shows that Joe Biden, as the second Catholic President, could succeed in narrowing the gap. 

  • SOURCE: The Conversation
    10/19/2020

    Religious Identity And Supreme Court Justices – A Brief History

    by Nomi Stolzenberg

    In recent decades, religious influence on the Court has been shaped by conservatives of different faiths, construed as part of a mythical Judeo-Christian tradition, coalescing around a common agenda defined less by affiliation with a religious denomination than with opposition to liberalism and secularism.

  • SOURCE: The Way of Improvement Leads Home
    9/22/2020

    Amy Coney Barrett and the “Kingdom of God”

    by John Fea

    Liberal critics have seized on a quote from the potential Supreme Court Nominee's graduation speech to Notre Dame law students as evidence of a theocratic mindset. A historian of American religion warns the metaphor of the "kingdom of god" is widely used in political rhetoric.

  • SOURCE: Contingent
    4/25/2020

    Queen of Heaven, Empress of Hell

    by Vanessa R. Corcoran

    Contemporary depictions of Mary tend to be gentle in their holiness, but Christians centuries ago envisioned her as a powerful agent who fought for their salvation.