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Contemporary Issues

Pride and Prejudice: The uneasy relationship between gays and lesbians and their church

Wednesday, February 22, 2012
By Online Editor
Pride and Prejudice: The uneasy relationship between gays and lesbians and their church
As church leaders turn up the volume on same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian Catholics find themselves wondering just where they stand in their church.On a clear, windy Sunday in March 2010, Father William Breslin told his parishioners at Sacred Heart of Jesus in Boulder, Colorado why the parish school would not re-enroll a child of same-sex parents for the coming school year.“I hate the fact that I
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Built of living stones

Wednesday, February 8, 2012
By U.S. Catholic
Built of living stones
The history of African American Catholicism began with the arrival of the Spanish settlers in the 16th century in Florida. In fact, on the first page of the 16th-century baptismal registers are the names of black infants who were baptized into the Body of Christ along with white infants in St. Augustine Church.
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Bring remarried Catholics back to the table

Tuesday, January 10, 2012
By Online Editor
Bring remarried Catholics back to the table
The Austrian bishops have offered remarried Catholics a path to the sacraments for 30 years now. Let’s follow suit.A number of years ago, during a forum for divorced and remarried Catholics at a Jesuit retreat house in Austria, a woman shared her story: “After my divorce I went through a long period of deep self-doubt and depression. In addition I had difficulties with my two children.
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A woman on the altar: Can the church ordain women deacons?

Tuesday, January 3, 2012
By Online Editor
A woman on the altar: Can the church ordain women deacons?
The issue of women priests may be a settled matter, but that doesn’t mean a woman can’t serve the church as a deacon.Celebrating the opening of the archives of her work on women in the diaconate at Loyola University Chicago’s Gannon Center for Women and Leadership, scholar Phyllis Zagano minced no words about the topic that has been her life’s project: “Women as deacons is not a concept for the fu
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You’re cut off: No more cup for the people?

Sunday, November 6, 2011
By Online Editor
You’re cut off: No more cup for the people?
UPDATE: Since this article was published, the diocese of Phoenix has overturned its initial decision about eliminating communion from the cup.
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Parishes: Let's stop ignoring domestic violence

Friday, October 14, 2011
By Online Editor
Parishes: Let's stop ignoring domestic violence
It’s time for parishes to help battered spouses and their children step out of the shadows and get the assistance they need.Not long ago Juan and Carmen came to see me to register for the baptism of their third child. I had officiated at their wedding 10 years before.
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Hispanics in the pews, not on the altar

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
By Online Editor
Hispanics in the pews, not on the altar
Over the last several years, priestly ordination classes have gotten younger and more diverse, according to a 2011 study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate out of Georgetown University. There are more Asian and black vocations. Asians are actually overrepresented, making up 4 percent of the U.S. Catholic population and 10 percent of the ordination class.
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Have faith in our youth

Thursday, June 12, 2008
By U.S. Catholic
Have faith in our youth
Young people can change the world, this Muslim interfaith organizer says. They just need a chance to share their traditions with each other.
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Pride and prejudice: A history of the relationship between gay and lesbian Catholics and their church

Monday, February 20, 2012
By Online Editor
Pride and prejudice: A history of the relationship between gay and lesbian Catholics and their church
1969: Dignity, the first group for gay and lesbian Catholics, is founded. The Stonewall Riots, considered the beginning of the gay rights movement, follow a police raid on a gay bar in Greenwich Village. 1973: The American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
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The mamas and the papas: What it's like for Catholic parents of GLBT children

Monday, February 20, 2012
By Online Editor
The mamas and the papas: What it's like for Catholic parents of GLBT children
Parents have much to say about the church and their children.The young priest preached on the sanctity of life at a Denver hospice. Afterward an older couple asked him if their son, who had died of AIDS, would be in hell forever. The priest said he couldn’t answer that.More than 20 years later Shawn Reynolds still remembers the anguish on the couple’s faces.
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