Not the Holy Spirit?
Authorial privilege: Let’s start today’s roundup by noting the passing of a journalistic giant, Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. What a life. Read the WaPo obit here and the NYT’s version here.
Deacon Greg Kandra has a nice roundup and remembrance, and plucks this from the NYT obit:
After Mr. Bradlee’s divorce, a third marriage was a questionable proposition. He said he once told a reporter that he would marry Ms. Quinn when the Catholic Church elected a Polish pope. On Oct. 16, 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland became pope; four days later, the couple were married.
A better religion angle? Well, that’s tough, I guess. But religion and journalism do have many overlapping magisteria, none more central than this one:
"It changes your life, the pursuit of truth." –#BenBradlee
— Elizabeth Tenety (@ETenety) October 22, 2014
It’s also important to remember that his wife, Sally Quinn, launched the Post’s “On Faith” section, and in a 2012 interview, which has never been run before, Bradlee talks to her about religion, dying, the afterlife, and God:
“I believe there is a force for right. It’s called a hundred different things … which I believe in. If I couldn’t believe in him I couldn’t be an honest person.”
Watch it all here:
And follow the Post’s Carlos Lozada on Twitter for the definitive roundup of Bradlee-isms. That guy was made for Twitter, as well as ink. Then again…
Top Saudi cleric: “Twitter is the source of all evil”
Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric has said Twitter is “the source of all evil and devastation.” Which is a very tweetable sound bite. And guaranteed to make him the object of derision, which is exactly what has happened, especially where people tweet all the time, something I did not know.
Then again, go a couple sound bites deeper: Speaking on his “Fatwa” television show late Monday, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said that if Twitter “were used correctly, it could be of real benefit, but unfortunately it’s exploited for trivial matters.”
“People are rushing to it thinking it’s a source of credible information but it’s a source of lies and falsehood,” he said.
Okay, he’s not entirely wrong. But don’t tweet me on that.
Chicago’s new archbishop to ditch the mansion?
Archbishop-designate Blase Cupich was seen as a personal Pope Francis pick when he was tapped to succeed Cardinal Francis George in Chicago, and he may be following Francis’ lead by ditching the nineteen-chimney, 125-year-old mansion that has traditionally been home to Chicago archbishops. Instead, reports the NBC affiliate, Cupich may live in the cathedral rectory downtown. What to do with the mansion, valued at $14 million?
Cardinal George’s exit interview
The Trib’s ace religion reporter, Manya Brachear Pashman, sat down with His Eminence and got the straight scoop (not that the Cardinal has ever been terribly reticent) on his 17 year tenure, the story behind Francis election, and what he sees as the dangers ahead for the pontiff:
“They’ve got the pope in a box now. … The danger of that is he’s like a Rorschach test, sort of,” George said. “People project onto him their own desires, and so you’ve got people who are expecting all kinds of things. Some of them might happen. A large number of them won’t and so there will be great disillusionment. … People will write him off.”
The Pope may need to get his own house in order
It’s not just Cardinal George who is worried, but a number of other prelates on the conservative wing of the U.S. hierarchy are voicing reservations following this month’s Vatican synod on the family.
Rhode Island Bishop Thomas Tobin wrote that he thought the synod was “rather Protestant” and added: “Pope Francis is fond of ‘creating a mess.’ Mission accomplished.” Meanwhile, as I wrote here, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said the debate on church teaching at the summit in Rome sent a confusing message and “confusion is of the devil.”
Just as interesting, if not moreso, was Chaput’s suggestion that Catholic clergy get out of the civil marriage business in response to the growth of gay marriage — and act of “principle resistance,” he said. Will that get any traction?
At the National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters tries to make sense of the “confusion.”
“Celibate Queer Catholics”
They are leading the way toward greater acceptance of gays in the Catholic Church according to this Slate essay, pivoting off an upcoming conference at Notre Dame called “Gay in Christ.” “There’s beginning to be a realization that the same-sex marriage fight is a losing one, and Christians have made themselves look pretty bad in the process,” says conference speaker Ron Belgau, who runs the celibate Christian blog Spiritual Friendship.
“No family without work!”
That was Pope Francis’ clear message at his Wednesday public audience in St. Peter’s Square today. “Please, I appeal to all those with responsibility: no family without work!”
Pope to New York: “I’m coming”
At least that’s what Cardinal Timothy Dolan clearly indicated in a blog post this week:
“[W]e better start preparing for a visit by the Holy Father the end of next September. No, it’s not official yet, but I’m rather confident he’ll spend a day with us in eleven months.
What the heck is happening in Idaho?
That case of the Christian ministers getting fined for not marrying a gay couple in their “Hitching Post” business? It’s complicated, and some questionable tactics on both sides. Luckily, Andrew Sullivan is here to sift through the competing claims. Sully’s verdict:
“I still favor maximal religious liberty – even for a public accommodation like this one because requiring individuals to perform a marriage ceremony against their beliefs is just something we don’t do in a liberal society. And look at the context: Idaho now has marriage equality. That’s huge – and our core goal must be to reassure those who disagree with us, that we’re seeking merely civil equality, and nothing else. These people were looking for a fight. Far preferable not to give them one.”
Thoughts?
The Best of the Rest from RNS:
- Mark Driscoll speaks for first time after resigning Seattle megachurch
- Israeli rabbis say accused rabbi’s conversions are kosher
- Italy’s ‘singing nun’ Sister Cristina covers Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’
- Stop freaking out about Renee Zellweger’s plastic surgery
That’s it for now, stay tuned to this space for updates later in the day.
