Catholic Church
The full picture of 1517
As we remember the Reformation over the next couple of years, we should also recall its global context.
Catholics without popes
On February 11, comedian Stephen Colbert asked historian Garry Wills if he was in favor of the next pope being not John Paul III or Benedict XVII but “Nobody the First.” Wills smiled and said, “Ah, very good idea.”
For some Catholics, this idea is more than a joke.
Blame it on Luther
How has Western society become so fractious, polarized and secular? Why are we powerless to curb consumerism? Brad Gregory blames the Reformation.
Stopping child abuse
A Penn State VP felt pressured to leave because she didn't understand the "Penn State way." It's a way that's not limited to Penn State.
JFK's privatized religion
John F. Kennedy's famous
Houston speech on church and state during
the 1960 presidential campaign elicited Rick Santorum's after-the-fact disgust. Though Santorum
misrepresents the speech in some ways--Kennedy didn't say anything about
limiting religious institutions and leaders from speaking on public issues--he
is right to find the speech theologically lame.
Why appeal to conscience when you can misrepresent the church instead?
Candidate John F. Kennedy: If
the time should ever come--and I do not concede any conflict to be remotely
possible--when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or
violate the national interest, then I would resign the office.
