Leon J. Podles :: DIALOGUE

The New York Times has described the new cooperation between the Unites States and Mexico in combating the drug trade. What the Times (perhaps wisely) did not mention is that the narcotraficantes are popular in Mexico, at least in some areas. 
Popular Catholicism, as Arturo Vasquez reminds us in his blog Reditus, has some unusual saints. [...]

[Read more →]

As Christopher Caldwell details in his Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West, the elites in Europe have long tried to convince the voters that there is no danger from Moslem immigration. The voters are not convinced. 
The Swiss run their country by referendum, to the horror of the elites, and the [...]

[Read more →]

The situation was similar in the U.S. Rudy Kos in Dallas thought the hierarchy would protect him as it had protected the other molesters with whom he shared rectories. 
Brendan O’Connor in The Independent: 

It is now clear that one of the functions served by the Catholic Church in Ireland was that of a club. It was [...]

[Read more →]

As the Murphy Report noted, church discipline in Ireland was almost totally neglected in Ireland. In thirty years only two canonical trials were held, and these were held in opposition to the chief canonist. 
The Roman Catholic Church sometimes suffers from legalism, to which voluntarist moral theology and casuistry contributed. But law has a place in [...]

[Read more →]

The late Father Richard Neuhaus of First Things was upset by my book Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. He thought that there was no justification for the level of anger I felt. He preferred the detached, scholarly approach that Nicholas Cafardi took in Before Dallas: The U.S. Bishops’ Response to Clergy Sexual Abuse [...]

[Read more →]

The question of lying is a vexed one in moral theology. 
Lying is wrong. But in every situation? 
The classic modern example: the Nazis come to you and ask if you know where the hidden Jews are. You do, but you lie and save a life. 
But it is never right to do evil that good may come [...]

[Read more →]

President Clinton went to Georgetown Law. Apparently he picked up one element of Catholic doctrine and practice. 
About Lewinsky, he famously said “I did not have sex with that woman.”  But it all depends what you mean by sex. 
The Irish Times, in “Church Lied without Lying,” details the Catholic justification for and practice of such weaseliness, [...]

[Read more →]

Almost two years ago Bishop Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island privately asked Congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island not to take communion because of Kennedy’s support for abortion rights. Kennedy has chosen to make this request public, and Tobin has responded.
What Tobin did was not exactly an excommunication, I would guess (does an excommunication [...]

[Read more →]

Father Michael asks some good questions. 
These is no psychological classification of “ephebophile.” An ephebophile is just a homosexual who likes teenage boys, just as there are many adult heterosexuals (such as Roman Polanski) who like teenage girls. The term ephebophile is a smokescreen to disguise the fact that some homosexuals have teenage victims. 
I do not [...]

[Read more →]

Very few cases of clerical abuse of minors involved true pedophilia: the sexual abuse of pre-pubertal children. Pedophiles often claim not to be homosexuals, and they may well be correct is this claim, but pedophilia is not the main problem in clerical abuse.
Most cases involved children at or above the age of puberty, and the [...]

[Read more →]

As someone suggested in the comments, it might be better from a moral point of view to have the priest and the people facing the same way. 
I think that main problem with having the priest face the people is that it feeds narcissism to be aware that all eyes are on you, and too many [...]

[Read more →]

The discussion over at dotCommonweal reveals at attitude toward marriage that it is private affair which the couple should be able to celebrate in their own way. 
In the Western Church, following Roman law, the essence of marriage is considered the mutual consent of the spouses. The priest is only a witness, and his presence was [...]

[Read more →]

My of my least favorite social duties is weddings. The normally low level of Catholic Church music plunges to new lows as “their favorite song” (sometimes schlocky-romantic, sometimes full of innuendos) is played during Communion. The bride has confused a ball gown and a wedding dress. A ball gown is daring and slightly immodest; a [...]

[Read more →]