Sara Lin Wilde is a recovering Catholic (and cat-holic, for that matter - all typographical errors are the responsibility of her feline friends). She lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she is working on writing a novel that she really, really hopes can actually get published.
In what is being described as a “surprising achievement,” an “astonishing victory,” and a “stunning election upset,” the provincial Liberal Party won a majority government in Monday’s Quebec elections. This unexpected turn of events led to the resignation of Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois (below). While much of Canada has been focused on what this victory means for the separatist movement, and the implications of that for the country’s politics and economy — our dollar is stronger already! — the secular community in Canada and beyond has been more interested in the fate of Marois’ controversial Charter of Values, which was expected to lead to job loss for public-sector employees who wear religious head coverings such as the Sikh turban or Muslim hijab. Read more
Generally speaking, Canadians like to fancy ourselves decent, tolerant people, (mostly) accepting of cultural diversity in a live-and-let-live sort of way, and openly enthusiastic when it comes to having plenty of restaurant choices for dining out. So when Quebec’s Parti Quebecois acknowledged that its Charter of Values will lead to job loss for people who wear turbans, kippahs, and Islamic head coverings — particularly after Montreal PQ candidate Évelyne Abitbol said explicitly that, following a transition period, those who refuse to comply with the Charter will be fired from public-service positions — PQ leader Pauline Marois understandably felt that a little damage control was needed. Read more
With the Vatican’s blessing — pun intended — Italy’s bishops have adopted a new policy pertaining to their obligations to report child molestation to the police. Specifically, the policy advises that bishops have no official obligation to report the sexual abuse of children to any legal authorities outside of the Catholic Church. According to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, these new guidelines reflect directives from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — the very same Vatican office responsible for investigating cases of sexual abuse (allegedly) perpetrated by priests. Rather than requiring all abusers to confront the criminal justice system, these guidelines call on bishops to consider their “moral duty to contribute to the common good,” as they understand it, in deciding how to approach a given case. This allows plenty of leeway for bishops to make the exact same moral calculation that inspired sex-abuse cover-ups in the first place: better to see a few abusers go unpunished than to blemish the reputation of Holy Mother Church. Read more
I couldn’t make this stuff up. In response to ex-congressman J. D. Hayworth’s angry rant (on his NewsMax television “America’s Forum”) show about how Muslims are striving to impose sharia law on Minnesota’s good ol’ Christian boys, Ralph Reed observed that “bigotry against evangelical Christians is the last acceptable form of bigotry.” Seriously. He responded to a litany of bigoted stereotypes about Muslim Americans by bemoaning how awful it is when people hold bigoted views about Christian fundamentalists. Read more
First and foremost: Pope Francis emphasizes that marriage cannot be extended to same-sex couples because it is, by definition, a heterosexual union, just like the Catholic Catechism says. On the other hand, if we don’t call it marriage… heyyyy, that just might work! In comments he made during an interview for an Italian newspaper (in Italian), the Pope said that the Church could accept civil unions for same-sex couples. Read more
