Pastoral discretion advised: Is excommunication the best response?

By Bryan Cones| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Church Culture
Law must always be tempered by mercy if justice is to be truly served.

Excommunication was once considered a passé feature of the ancient church, conjuring up images of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walking barefoot in the snow in 1077 to Canossa to seek the mercy of Pope Gregory VII. Or perhaps one thinks of the memorable scene from Becket, when Richard Burton's Archbishop Thomas, with no lack of ceremony, turns his authority against Peter O'Toole's King Henry II.

Bryan Cones is a writer living in Boston. See more posts by Bryan Cones

It's time to take our medicine: An interview with Sister Carol Keehan, D.C.

By A U.S. Catholic interview| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
Health care reform is about more than reducing insurance premiums, says this Catholic health care executive. It’s about caring for the sick.

On March 5, 2009, Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity and president of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), which represents more than 600 Catholic hospitals and medical facilities, participated in a White House roundtable on health care reform. The gathering included members of Congress, journalists, and invited interested parties, such as Keehan.

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It's time to take our medicine: An interview with Sister Carol Keehan, D.C.

By A U.S. Catholic interview| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
Health care reform is about more than reducing insurance premiums, says this Catholic health care executive. It’s about caring for the sick.

On March 5, 2009, Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity and president of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), which represents more than 600 Catholic hospitals and medical facilities, participated in a White House roundtable on health care reform. The gathering included members of Congress, journalists, and invited interested parties, such as Keehan.

See more posts by A U.S. Catholic interview

A Catholic doctor’s Good Samaritan plan

By Michael Grady| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
When I give talks on health care reform to faith communities, I often use the parable of the Good Samaritan.

After the priest and the Levite have passed by an injured traveler, the Samaritan man is moved with compassion, providing first aid and then medical care for the stranger. The parable poignantly exemplifies the core tenet of our Catholic social teaching: the respect for human dignity. Sadly, the United States is alone among industrialized societies in its failure to recognize the fundamental right to health care that human dignity demands.

Michael Grady is a family physician and member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Silverton, Oregon.

See more posts by Michael Grady

A Catholic doctor’s Good Samaritan plan

By Michael Grady| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
When I give talks on health care reform to faith communities, I often use the parable of the Good Samaritan.

After the priest and the Levite have passed by an injured traveler, the Samaritan man is moved with compassion, providing first aid and then medical care for the stranger. The parable poignantly exemplifies the core tenet of our Catholic social teaching: the respect for human dignity. Sadly, the United States is alone among industrialized societies in its failure to recognize the fundamental right to health care that human dignity demands.

Michael Grady is a family physician and member of St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Silverton, Oregon.

See more posts by Michael Grady

Michael Denson: Walking the last mile with death row inmates

By Michelle Bearden| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture

Michael Denson lives in a state where 87 percent of the residents support the death penalty.

As far as the Frisco, Texas man is concerned, that's all the more reason for him to devote his spare hours to serving a population that his fellow Texans would just as soon see disappear.

Michelle Bearden covers faith and values for the Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tampa, Florida.

See more posts by Michelle Bearden

Michael Denson: Walking the last mile with death row inmates

By Michelle Bearden| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture

Michael Denson lives in a state where 87 percent of the residents support the death penalty.

As far as the Frisco, Texas man is concerned, that's all the more reason for him to devote his spare hours to serving a population that his fellow Texans would just as soon see disappear.

Michelle Bearden covers faith and values for the Tampa Tribune and WFLA-TV, the NBC affiliate in Tampa, Florida.

See more posts by Michelle Bearden

Frosty reception

By Carol Crossed| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
A casual encounter in Greenland has an American pro-life activist gritting her teeth.

I was in the Arctic Circle, in Greenland, for some R&R and to learn about polar explorations. Having fallen in love with a pair of child's sealskin slippers, I was poised to buy them.

"You are from the United States, no?" the woman behind the counter asked in her nicest ever tour-guide voice. "It is one country you cannot bring in the skin of the seal."

By Carol Crossed, a consistent life activist and member of the Board of Directors of Feminists for Life of New York. See more posts by Carol Crossed

Frosty reception

By Carol Crossed| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
A casual encounter in Greenland has an American pro-life activist gritting her teeth.

I was in the Arctic Circle, in Greenland, for some R&R and to learn about polar explorations. Having fallen in love with a pair of child's sealskin slippers, I was poised to buy them.

"You are from the United States, no?" the woman behind the counter asked in her nicest ever tour-guide voice. "It is one country you cannot bring in the skin of the seal."

By Carol Crossed, a consistent life activist and member of the Board of Directors of Feminists for Life of New York. See more posts by Carol Crossed

How do you say "pro-life" in French?

By Simon Caldwell| Print this pagePrint | Email this pageShare
Article Culture
The politics of abortion in Europe is both more complex and more nuanced than on this side of the Atlantic.

Simon Caldwell is a writer in London.

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