Newly released papers from the Clinton library show Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan drafted legal language to narrow an abortion ban and took a broad view of religious freedom while White House counsel, according to the AP and the NYT.
Pope Benedict XVI hailed priests on Sunday as gifts to the world and didn’t mention the clergy sex abuse scandal. In particular, Benedict mentioned a Polish priest who was beatified June 6 as a martyr during a Communist crackdown in the 1980s. On Monday, Benedict hailed the bishop slain in Turkey this month as a messenger of dialogue and reconciliation. On Saturday, the pope told European bankers that money is not an end, but a means to safeguard “human capital.”
Seventy-five percent of Irish adults say the country’s top churchman, Cardinal Sean Brady, should resign for his role in covering up the sexual abuse of children. The Catholic Theological Society of America gave its highest honor to a theologian whose work has been questioned and criticized by the U.S. Catholic bishops.
Canadian Anglicans talked a lot about blessings for same-sex unions, but didn’t do anything about it. After a 4.5-month hiatus, the California gay marriage trial is back in business and scheduled to wrap up on Wednesday. Hawaii’s governor, a Jewish Republican, met with two rabbis while she considers vetoing a bill that allows civil unions for gay couples. Documentarians rounded up a gay man willing to be counseled by disgraced evangelical Ted Haggard, which went swell, according to the man.
Ethnic enclaves are losing their historic Catholic parishes in Cleveland, as the diocese shutters parishes due to a lack of funds, priests, and suburban flight. A flagship Catholic school in Philadelphia is closing, too. A thread of grief ties America’s small Ahmadi Muslim population together after an attack on their co-believers in Pakistan. Cuba freed a political prisoner and began to transfer six others as part of a deal with the Roman Catholic Church. Anti-abortion Kenyan churches are blaming the government for two explosions that ripped through a rally protesting the country’s proposed constitution.
Young Indians are playing with their gods, a kosher food vendor is suing the New York Mets over Sabbath sales at the ballpark, and the family behind the Hobby Lobby chain is scooping up historic Bibles.
