Reading Time: 3 minutes You know the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion. They oppose it wholeheartedly. They fight against any policy moves that would put women’s best interests ahead of their fetuses. Catholic hospitals famously won’t perform the procedure even in dire circumstances (like ectopic pregnancies). And yet 56% of all U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in […]
Catholic Church
Posted inHistory
Remembering the Catholic Church’s role in the immolation of Vietnam
Reading Time: 6 minutes Nearly sixty years after a Vietnamese Buddhist monk set himself on fire in Saigon, we have largely forgotten the reason—not the US invasion, but an oppressive Roman Catholic regime that precipitated what came to be called the Buddhist crisis.
It’s time for the Catholic Church to acknowledge its active hand in that disaster and the war that followed.
Posted inReproductive rights
The Catholic Church waited too long to kick Frank Pavone out of the priesthood
Reading Time: 4 minutes Frank Pavone, a Catholic priest who became known for his anti-abortion extremism and MAGA cultism far more than anything Jesus-related, has (finally) been removed from the priesthood by the Vatican. The previously unreported laicization occurred on November 9 with “no possibility of appeal,” according to the Catholic News Agency. Given that Pavone’s work with the […]
Posted inEducation
A constant struggle: Catholics still control Irish schools
Reading Time: 3 minutes Forty years ago, twice a week, my Irish primary school teacher marched my entire class of six- and seven-year-olds to the nearby church to prepare for Holy Communion. This sacrament is the first exposure of Irish children to the Roman Catholic theory that ceremonial wafers and wine literally transform into the body and blood of […]
Posted inLaw
Catholic diocese agrees to secular oversight after botching sex abuse cases
Reading Time: 3 minutes Two years after New York Attorney General Letitia James sued the Diocese of Buffalo along with former bishops Richard J. Malone and Edward M. Grosz for putting children at risk for decades while they covered up sexual abuse by dozens of priests, the two sides have reached an unprecedented settlement that includes government oversight of […]
Posted inBooks
Unholy Catholic Ireland: Despite secular shift, many cling to Catholicism
Reading Time: 8 minutes For much of the past century, Ireland was practically synonymous with the Catholic Church. The Church was arguably the most powerful institution for generations of Irish people. But all that began to change in recent years and it’s happened faster than anyone could have anticipated. “Holy Catholic Ireland” is quickly turning unholy. Ireland is now […]
Posted inReligious News
Pope Francis is lying about having ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual abuse
Reading Time: 3 minutes In a lengthy interview with CNN Portugal, Pope Francis insisted, falsely, that he had a “zero tolerance” policy when it came to the sexual abuse of children. In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview in Rome last month, the Pontiff said the church had “zero tolerance” for abuse and said that “a priest cannot remain a priest […]
Posted inReligion
What to do with a disused church: A quiet sign of Catholic surrender in the UK
Reading Time: 3 minutes Near my home in suburban UK sits a Catholic church attached to a primary school. Although we are less religious than our American cousins, who are themselves secular, our education system is still hugely under the influence of religion. About 37% of primary schools are faith schools. For just under a decade, the church on […]
Posted inReligious News
No, NYT—the Catholic Church is not ‘New York’s hottest club’
Reading Time: 3 minutes What is New York’s hottest club? Apparently it’s the Catholic Church, where child sexual abuse has been a rampant problem for decades, where women are forbidden from participating in the highest levels of leadership, where abortion rights and the existence of transgender people are both denied, where same-sex marriage is considered immoral, where financial scandals […]
Posted inLaw
Court OKs sale of 43 Catholic Church properties to settle sex abuse claims
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Catholic Church will have to sell off dozens of properties in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador in order to raise money to pay settlements for victims of child sex abuse. It’s the latest twist in a decades-old saga—and only a few of the buildings will likely remain Catholic churches under new ownership. […]