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Italian vaticanista Andrea Gagliarducci writes regularly a column at his place called “Monday Vatican”. You should read him.Today, however, he has a piece at CNA about how Pope Francis seems to approach the selection of and translation of bishops. HEREAmong other things, Andrea wrote: Over the past year, Pope Francis has appointed 16 U.S. bishops, most of them in smaller dioceses or as auxiliaries. The major pending question is that of the successor of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, D.C. Cardinal Wuerl is already 76 years old, more than a year beyond the normal retirement age.The post in...

Two left-leaning Catholic bishops, along with “married” homosexual partners, celebrated a special Mass for "Families of the LGBT Community" in San Diego last weekend. The event commemorated the 20-year anniversary of a controversial U.S. bishops’ letter on homosexuality that was censured by the Vatican within a year of its release.   Bishop John Dolan, an auxiliary bishop in the Diocese of San Diego, presided over the October 7 mass commemorating the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) letter on homosexuality "Always Our Children.”  The mass, concelebrated with San Diego Archbishop Robert McElroy and 16 other clergy, took place at St....

The withdrawal of Jesuit Father James Martin’s appearance next month at Catholic University of America-affiliated Theological College stirred reaction that continued into Monday and included San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy defending the controversial priest. McElroy was among those who labeled reports and commentary on Father Martin’s LGBT stances as homophobia, censorship, “verbal violence,” and being a “cancer of vilification” in the Church. The bishop said Father Martin’s critics were overemphasizing chastity and they resent Pope Francis’ call for Catholics to move away from judging others. “There has arisen both in Catholic journals and on social media a campaign to vilify...

James Martin, the sodomy-promoting Jesuit priest, is maintaining his constant promotion and support of sodomy, sex outside of marriage, transgenderism and progressive-liberal politics is supported by his Jesuit superior and confreres, as well as "several cardinals and bishops, both publicly and privately." In a series of tweets, Martin also claims "my prayer tells me that this is the right thing to do, that it's important and that it's a work of mercy." He also accuses critics who call out his endorsement of sodomy as being "uncomfortable with their own complex sexuality." In his new book, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic...

Francis Brought “Vibrantly Transformed" Theology On May 20th, San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy told 55 theology graduates of Santa Clara University, California, that Pope Francis introduced "a vibrantly transformed branch of Catholic theology", writes “ncronline.org”. McElroy claims that Francis’ theology “rejects a notion of law which can be blind to the uniqueness of concrete human situations”. According to the Pope, McElroy claims, moral theology “does not first demand a change of life, but begins with an embrace of divine love, proceeds to the action of healing and only then requires a conversion of action in responsible conscience.” McElroy needs to...

A “Faith Not Fear Summit” held at a Catholic church in the Diocese of San Diego raised fears among some orthodox Catholics that the diocese had been co-opted to promote political liberalism in accord with the views of local Bishop Robert McElroy, named by Pope Francis in 2015 to come down from San Francisco to head this border episcopate.

The Church would ignore the "real crisis" she faces today if she focuses on social justice issues rather than her basic mission to evangelize, Cardinal Robert Sarah warns in a newly-published interview. “The Church is gravely mistaken as to the nature of the real crisis if she thinks that her essential mission is to offer solutions to all the political problems relating to justice, peace, poverty, the reception of migrants, etc. while neglecting evangelisation,” the cardinal told Aid to the Church in Need on April 18. Sarah, who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, said that while...

The very liberal Catholic bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy, who supports giving Communion to the divorced and remarried, contrary to Church teaching, and embracing “LGBT families,” said that social justice activists must become “disruptors” to counter the efforts of the federal government to apprehend illegal aliens. “Well now, we must all become disruptors,” said Bishop McElroy in a Feb. 18 speech at the U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements in Modesto, Calif. “We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families,” he...

“Sophistry” is “subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation… that seems plausible on a superficial level but is actually unsound, or reasoning that is used to deceive.” The word is derived from the Greek sophistēs, the clever “wise men” with whom Socrates had to contend during the dialogues in which he so methodically exposed their errors. Sophistry, sad to say, has become the stock-in-trade of the liberal American bishops who, for the past half-century, have acted as pallbearers for the Church Militant in this country, essentially reducing the Church’s role ad extra to what Antonio Socci has called a “social assistant” to...

The director of the young adult ministry at a parish San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy recently praised for its "welcoming" attitude toward "LGBT worshippers" is an openly gay man who works for an organization that supports same-sex "marriage" and women's ordination. The San Diego Union Tribune reported that McElroy cited St. John the Evangelist in Hillcrest as an example of a parish where "LGBT worshippers 'feel particularly welcome.'" "That’s a very good thing," he said. McElroy was commenting on the Diocese of San Diego's recent synod on the family, after which he encouraged priests to give Holy Communion to the...

Bishop Robert McElroy The following comes from a Southern Cross article by Aida Bustos: SAN DIEGO — “Think big.” That’s what Bishop Robert W. McElroy urged parish delegates to do leading up to the first general assembly in the diocese in 40 years. This assembly, called a diocesan synod, will be held on Oct. 29 and 30. Its focus will be on how the San Diego Diocese and its individual parishes can strengthen marriage and families, give pastoral support to divorced Catholics and invite unmarried couples into the fold, all challenges faced by the Church. The seed for the synod...

San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy celebrated Pope Francis’ call for Christians to apologize to gays and suggested the Catholic Church consider changing how it refers to same-sex attraction and homosexual acts. McElroy’s comments were published June 30 in an interview with the Jesuit magazine America. “I think [the Pope’s call for an apology] opens up a very helpful pathway to dialogue and hopefully healing,” McElroy said. “What we need to project in the life of the church is ‘You are part of us and we are part of you.’ [LGBT Catholics] are part of our families.” After the Orlando terrorist...

What Exiting Is and Isn't Virno believes a radical disobedience is needed to challenge the state's ability to command. This cannot be expressed through resistance to a specific law on the grounds, for example, that it contradicts a constitution. Such resistance is actually a vote of confidence in the state qua state; that is, such activists fight to enable a purer vision of state authority rather than against the idea of a state itself. A wholesale rejection is required. And, yet, revolutionaries who violently confront the state usually suffer one of two fates: they are slaughtered or otherwise broken or...

Iranian Police Shoot At Unarmed Protesters During Tehran Demonstrations Iranian police fired tear gas and live bullets as they fought back thousands of unarmed protesters on the streets of Tehran. By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent 07 Dec 2009 Clashes break out during anti-government protests in Tehran, Iran Photo: EPA There were bloody clashes as young people launched a fresh wave of anti-government protests on the country's official Students Day. Police used warning shots, baton charges and gas but failed to stop rallies, sit-ins and campus marches across the capital. Universities in several cities, including Tehran's top seats of learning,...

On Sept. 21, David Parker was scheduled to go on trial in Lexington, Mass., for an incident that resulted from him disputing the 'right' of a local public school to introduce his then-5-year-old son to the issue of homosexuality. The Parkers wanted to control the timing and content of that discussion. His trial has been delayed. The Parker conflict, the ferocity of community reaction, and the trial's delay constitute a microcosm within the culture war raging between conservatives, liberals and everyone in between. Even kindergarten children are not spared. Before exploring how the second Battle of Lexington typifies the larger...

Betty Friedan (1921-2006) died last Saturday at the age of 85. Eulogies have stacked up quickly for the feminist icon: Friedan founded modern feminism; she rescued women from the '50s; she pioneered the brave 'new woman' who now strides through society. I disagree with those eulogies about the content of Friedan's legacy. The disagreement contains no malice; however, because Friedan is a public and now-historical figure, an accurate view of her social impact is simply necessary. Accuracy may be especially important as the impact of her death is already being used (or abused) by various political organizations and groups to...

David Parker (search) of Lexington, Mass., is scheduled to go on trial on Sept. 21 for asking his son's public school to provide parental notification before discussing homosexuality with the 6-year old. The actual charge is criminal trespassing. But the real issue is whether parents or schools will control the teaching of values to children The conflict began on Jan. 17, when Parker's then-5-year-old son brought home a Diversity Bookbag from kindergarten. Included was Robert Skutch's "Who's In a Family?" that depicts families headed by same-sex couples. Parker had wanted to decide for himself the timing and manner in which...

Those critical of the Boy Scouts of America argue that the Boy Scouts' exclusion of gays, atheists and females makes America more divided and divisive. One side wishes to strengthen the Boy Scouts; the other wishes to destroy the Boy Scouts by forcing politically correct changes upon it. Over the past two decades, the Boy Scouts has been both a flash point and the ground of sustained struggle between traditional and PC values. The central issue is whether the Boy Scouts is a private or public organization.

A review of medical studies published from 1990 to 2003 in three prestigious journals -- the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA and Lancet -- has called the validity of approximately one-third of them into severe question. This is not a mere academic matter. Inaccurate studies become entrenched in laws that govern our daily lives. Using VAWA as an example again, the Act incorrectly assumes that women, and not men, are the victims of domestic violence, and it has been influential in denying men access to shelters. This denial often extends to the older male children of women who seek...

Meet Joe Dirt Stuart K. Hayashi In 2001, comedian David Spade came out with a movie titled "The Adventures of Joe Dirt." It now appears that the film was about Joe Conason, the author of "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth" and an editorialist for the liberal-biased Salon.com. In the person of Brad Pitt, you've already Met Joe Black. Now Meet the Real Joe Dirt. His book purports to expose how right-wingers harness the corporate media to brainwash society. Instead of demonstrating such, however, Joe is too busy flinging his Dirt around. In two...