People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.Pope Benedict XVI • Denouncing same-sex marriage in his annual Christmas speech today. Benedict has long been viewed, dating back to his ascension to the papacy, as a staunch traditionalist on the Catholic Church’s longtime social positions, and his views on homosexuality have proven no exception: “When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God.” source
DOMA Arigato, St. Joseph. A NY woman legally married last October to another woman (known as Jane Roe and Jane Doe, respectively) is suing her employer, Catholic hospital St. Joseph’s, for not extending insurance benefits to her wife. Because St. Joe’s is self-insured, they have freedom under DOMA and the federal government to not extend medical benefits to same-sex couples. This may well be the first case of its kind to take on both the federal government and a Catholic institution, and its decision could have far-reaching consequences —especially for religiously affiliated institutions — nationwide. source
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How dare they go after 57,000 dedicated women whose median age is well over 70 and who work tirelessly for a more just world? How dare the very men who preside over a church in utter disgrace due to sexual misconduct and cover-ups by bishops try to distract from their own problems by creating new ones for women religious?Catholic theologian Mary E. Hunt, responding to a Papal directive that, as Nicholas Kristoff puts it, “accused the nuns of worrying too much about the poor and not enough about abortion and gay marriage.” (via ericmortensen)
First Mexico, then Cuba: Pope Benedict was well-received in Mexico, where almost 350,000 people attended his Sunday Mass. But Cuba’s a bit of a challenge: Focusing less on his mass appeal there, the Pope hopes to use his trip to unite the world’s Catholic countries with those considered to be less Catholic. And Cuba, which until recently was an officially atheist nation, is certainly “less Catholic.” Smaller crowds were expected to attend his services in Cuba — despite the government providing transportation and a paid day off of work. Pope Benedict said last week that he hopes the people of Cuba can move away from Marxism to “find new models, with patience, and in a constructive way.” Hopefully he helps them along while wearing funny hats. source
Nicholas Kristof makes a good point here on the birth control issue that was on Obama’s plate this week — “If we have to choose between bishops’ sensibilities and women’s health, our national priority must be the female half of our population” really gets at the heart of the argument — and the headline is pretty effective for a NYT hed. The headline itself is a talker, which you can’t always way with the New York Times.
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