Common Ground vs. Dialogue
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Sunday, June 07, 2009 4:00 AM
At an Istanbul mosque. (CNS/ABianchi, Reuters)
Yesterday, I noted that Obama’s vision, spelled out at Cairo and Notre Dame, is radically different from Benedict XVI’s.
Benedict wants religions to acknowledge their differences in search of truth. Obama wants them to acknowledge their sameness in search of peace.
Obama is very cleverly, with fine intentions, proposing relativistic secularism as the world’s common ground.
(This continues... READ MORE
Filed under weekend commentary
3 Things Obama Didn't Say
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Saturday, June 06, 2009 9:03 AM
(Ali Jarekji/Reuters)
Obama told his Muslim audience: “[W]e must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors.”
Hmmm … here are three things he didn’t seem to want to say openly in Cairo:
He didn’t praise doubt, or promote LGBT, or read the Koran’s other verses.
1. He didn’t praise doubt.
Specifically, he didn’t say this (I’ve added... READ MORE
Filed under cairo, notre dame, obama, weekend commentary
Obama, Notre Dame and Islam
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Saturday, June 06, 2009 4:14 AM
cns/reuters
At Cairo, Obama had to reach out to Muslims whose religion he admires but who tend to extremist positions (jihad) that he rejects.
At Notre Dame, Obama had to reach out to Catholics whose religion he admires but whose positions (the right to life) he rejects.
The two speeches he gave had some surprising similarities.
In Cairo, he praised a version of Islam that suited his purposes.
His hope... READ MORE
Filed under cairo, notre dame, weekend commentary
Bernardin vs. Obama
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Sunday, May 31, 2009 10:32 AM
Cardinal Bernardin in 1994 (Reuters/Scott Olson)
At Notre Dame, Obama referred to Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
“That must have had Cardinal Bernardin turning over in his grave,” writes Elizabeth Lev.
Then, she finds an extraordinary quote from the cardinal himself ... and in the Register, no less.
Obama “cleverly backed up his pro-choice arguments by quoting the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s ‘seamless garment’ project,” wrote Lev, “which... READ MORE
Filed under notre dame, obama, weekend commentary
'National Treasure' vs. 'Angels & Demons'
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Saturday, May 30, 2009 4:47 AM
Angels & Demons is basically National Treasure, set in Rome ... which could have been so much cooler than National Treasure. But it was so much worse.
Jerry Bruckheimer’s work may have been derivative, commercial and silly. But as it turns out, that works better for a treasure hunt story than ponderous, arrogant and overblown.
My wife and daughters reviled me for paying money to see Angels &... READ MORE
Filed under movies, weekend commentary
What About Cutie's Sacraments?
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Friday, May 29, 2009 9:30 AM
CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz
As we report below, Father Alberto Cutié has decided to join the Episopal Church.
Some questions arise ...
1. What will his status be as a Catholic?
2. Is he excommunicated?
3. Will he still be a priest?
4. Will his sacraments be valid?
I put them to canonist Msgr. Jason Gray, judicial vicar of the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., by e-mail.
1. What will his status be as a Catholic? HE IS IN... READ MORE
Filed under alberto cutie, excommunication, weekend commentary
Is the Abuse Irish?
Posted by Tom Hoopes
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:49 AM
Did persecution play a role? (wiki)
Damian Thompson has a tough question to ask about the Irish abuse scandal. “How much of the abuse was Irish and how much of it was Catholic?”
“Journalists noticed (but scarcely dared point out) that” the worldwide abuse scandal “seemed concentrated among the Irish Catholic diaspora.”
He said a prominent American priest scholar agrees.
Thompson reports in the Telegraph that he had dinner with... READ MORE
Filed under irish abuse, weekend commentary
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