Delaware Valley High School postponed the (national, usually student-run) Day of Silence. Which is bizarre enough, but the school’s justification is to give them time to come up with a broader ‘message’ – i.e., accepting any differences.
Sounds good, until you remember enumerated anti-bullying policies almost always work better than broad, sweeping ideals.
Vatican accuses US nun association of promoting ‘radical feminist themes’ – The best part of this article: ‘Conservative Catholics, however, have long complained that the majority of sisters in the U.S. have grown too liberal and flout church teaching.’ How conservative do you need to be to think the majority of nuns are too liberal?
Then again, ‘liberal’ consists of horrible things like being ‘silent on the right to life from conception to natural death’ – it seems the main reason they are now being considered problematic is because the nuns are disagreeing with the bishops on things like the recent birth-control issue. Specifically, the nuns actually agree with the 98% of Catholic women who use birth control. Agreeing with other women, apparently, is now out-of-control radical feminism.
My favourite commentary on this comes from The Wild Hunt:
Another religion. That is what Catholic Women Religious in America are being accused of, practicing another religion. When nuns start advocating for the ordination of women, for making poverty and health care a priority over abortion and making sure gays can’t marry, they are no longer Catholic. They trigger an atavistic fear in the Catholic mind, the fear that women will start listening to a Goddess instead of a God.
I’d go a step further and argue the ‘conservative Catholics’ are afraid women might actually think through their beliefs instead of blindly listening to men, but considering the current church gender roles ‘God’ and ‘men’ seem a little too tightly intertwined anyway.
Archbishop of Wales recommends church embrace gay marriage, because ‘All life-long committed relationships deserved the welcome, pastoral care and support of the Church.’ Amen.