Daily Links, April 25: Pope, politicians, president

The sisters at A Nun’s Life have compiled a resource for reflection on the recent LCWR assessment. The first of their questions about the “bigger picture,” the sisters ask, “What are the various centers of authority in the Catholic Church?” The presumed plural nature of these “various” centers will boggle the minds of many Catholics, undoubtedly.

It’s hard to believe that Benedict XVI has been pope for 7 years already.

Add Emily Herx to the list of Catholics for expressing or acting in opposition to the church’s teachings on sexuality. Herx was fired from her teaching job at a Catholic school after requesting time off for IVF treatments. My question: Why did she divulge that information?

Paul Ryan has not heard the last of it from Catholics who find his budget proposal in conflict with Catholic school teaching. And George Weigel, taking the opposite view of CNS’s recent news coverage as my own, complains that the wire service gave too much coverage to Rep. Rosa DeLauro for “badgering” Cardinal Dolan for not speaking up about the budget. It seems that, to Weigel, DeLauro’s appeals to Catholic justice don’t have much weight because of her voting record on reproductive issues.

Speaking of justice, the Supreme Court heard arguments today over the Arizona law, known as SB 1070, that requires law enforcement to question people’s immigration status if there is reasonable suspicion. While that law just smacks of racial profiling (and, no, critics of the law aren’t just “playing the race card” as Arizona Jan Brewer retorts), the issue SCOTUS is discussing is whether or not the state has the right to determine who should be in the country.

And finally, polls are showing the slim majority of Catholics favoring Obama in the upcoming presidential election.