NYGaribaldi's blog

SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) Needs Our Help.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Catholic neoconservatism has been guruless since the passing of  Richard John Neuhaus.  I thought at first, that newly minted conservative Catholic Newt Gingrich might be the logical successor.  Much like Neuhaus, Gingrich was a Protestant who converted to a strident form of Catholicism, thus straddling both worlds.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Well, it's that time of the year when this column hands out its annual Coughlin Award to a co-religionist of mine who best exemplifies an exclusionary, strident interpretation of the Catholic faith. This year's field of finalists was thick with deserving recipients. There was Deal Hudson was notable for his efforts to sabotage universal health care; Archbishop Charles Chaput also caught our panelist's eye for his knack for rendering religiously supremacist proclamations, also in relation to health care reform legislation. And the there was of course, perennial favorite Bill Donohue.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

I recently  called on mainstream Catholics to remonstrate against the aggressive behavior of reactionaries within the Church.  Increasingly bishops are playing politics with the Mass itself, denying Catholic elected officials who dissent on some matters, the sacrament of Communion.  Such coercion appears to me, and to many other Catholics, as part of an effort to compel all Americans to live under Catholic orthodoxy, subject to the interpretation of the prelates.

As I have written, dignified but firm acts of resistance are now the order of the day. In this post and the next, I will put forth and discuss possible paths for resistance. One obvious such path is to call out the hierarchy when they are being hypocritical. So let's begin there. One obvious example is the hypocrisy of church reactionaries when it comes to the politics of tobacco.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

Lately, the Catholic Right has unabashedly sought to impose its will on society.  From its recent advocacy against marriage equality in Maine; to the inquisition of American nuns who challenge Vatican hard-liners; and now the U.S Bishops who have threatened to sabotage health care reform unless they got their way on abortion policy in the House version of the legislation.
As a Catholic, I am beyond frustration with Church leaders and lay persons who seek to replace American pluralism with an ultra-orthodox form of Catholic morality. I say it is time for remonstrance from mainstream Catholics.

Remonstrance is a word that has gone out of fashion. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary offers this definition:
Main Entry: re·mon·strance
Pronunciation: ri-_män(t)-str_n(t)s\

Originally posted at Talk to Action

In posting on his blog site, recently installed Archbishop for the Diocese of New York, Timothy Dolan, accused The New York Times of anti-Catholicism. Apparently His Eminence equates any discussion of Church affairs as anti-Catholic bigotry.  

But if Archbishop Dolan were concerned about real examples of anti-Catholicism, he ought to address the teachings of Religious Right activist Pastor John Hagee.''

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

On Tuesday November 3rd, voters in Maine can either vote yes or no on "Question One," a potential people's veto of recently enacted legislation a recent bill that established the right of homosexual couples to marry.

While the Bishop of Portland, Richard J. Malone, has weighed in heavily with his opposition to marriage equality, he is not the only Catholic making his voice heard on the ballot measure. Many other Pine State Catholics are speaking out for marriage equality and just as importantly, in defense of maintaining a pluralistic American society.

Originally posted at Talk to Action.

On October 7, 2009 the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of a seven-foot cross currently standing in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County, California. Erected by veterans of the First World War in 1934, the religious symbol has become a significant bone of contention in the ongoing effort to define the proper separation of church and state. But beyond the basic issues of constitutionality, the occasion has provided a fresh platform for two members of the Catholic Right -- Bill Donohue and Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court Antonin Scalia to spew some extraordinary, and extraordinarily revealing, expressions of religious supremacy.

The day before oral arguments, The New York Times provided some background in an ediorial about the legal tug of war