Lew Daly (author of God's Economy) has an interesting essay about the history and future of the faith-based initiative, and its connection with the Court's approach to church-state separation. Check it out.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Lew Daly on the faith-based initiative
The Democrats' new "Bob Casey problem"?
Someone ought to tell the president and the speaker of the House that they are creating a new Bob Casey problem for their party. And his name is Bart Stupak.
The Bob Casey in question is the late governor of Pennsylvania, so famously humiliated at the 1992 Democratic convention. Party officials who denied the podium to the pro-life Democrat somehow found speaking slots for several pro-choice Republicans. That moment helped tar the Democrats as a party of abortion intolerance—a problem the party thought it put behind it in 2006 when the governor's son, Democrat Robert Casey Jr., was elected senator as a pro-life Democrat.
Now party elders are making the Casey mistake all over again. A nine-term congressman from northern Michigan, Mr. Stupak is the kind of Catholic who once constituted the heart of the Democratic Party. Just like Gov. Casey before him, Mr. Stupak's stand for life—in this case, his fight against tax dollars for abortion—is making him a thorn in the side of a Democratic president. . . .
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Honoring Joe Vining: The fun never stops at Villanova
The long awaited 4th Annual Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture is approaching. This year's conference is a "celebration and exploration of the path-breaking work of Joseph Vining." Speakers include Jeff Powell, Steve Smith, Judge John Noonan, and many others. Congrats to our own Patrick Brennan for (another) great contribution to the Conversation. Go here for more info.
Monday, October 5, 2009
A must-read book, forthcoming . . .
Now, this has little to do with "Catholic Legal Theory" (though we have talked often over the years about urbanism and the like), but . . . I am delighted to note the impending publication of this book, "Ordering the City," by the lovely and talented Prof. Nicole Stelle Garnett.
The Center for the Study of Law and Religion . . .
. . . has a (first-rate) new website. Check it out.
Religious education and the Church's evangelizing mission
Here is a letter, from the Congregation for Catholic Education, to the presidents of the various bishops' conferences, on the mission, and importance of Catholic schools:
The nature and role of religious education in schools has become the object of debate. In some cases, it is now the object of new civil regulations, which tend to replace religious education with teaching about the religious phenomenon in a multi-denominational sense, or about religious ethics and culture – even in a way that contrasts with the choices and educational aims that parents and the Church intend for the formation of young people.
Therefore, by means of this Circular Letter addressed to the Presidents of Bishops’ Conferences, this Congregation for Catholic Education deems it necessary to recall some principles that are rooted in Church teaching, as clarification and instruction about the role of schools in the Catholic formation of young people, about the nature and identity of the Catholic school, about religious education in schools, and about the freedom of choice of school and confessional religious education. . . .
Read the whole thing.
Robby George on "The Moral Witness of the Catholic Church"
Read Robby's lecture, here:
. . . In sum, if the Church is to honor the healthy secularity that has been called for by Pope Benedict XVI, her shepherds and pastors from the Pope himself on down must be, at times, quite bold in denouncing grave injustices and violations of the common good, and at other times self-restrained in speaking out about matters of public policy upon which Gospel principles by themselves do not resolve differences of opinion among reasonable and well-informed people of goodwill. . . .
Pope Benedict XVI on an "integrated education"
PB16 is speaking the good stuff. Are our Catholic schools and universities listening?
. . .
The proper autonomy of a university, or indeed any educational institution, finds meaning in its accountability to the authority of truth. Nevertheless, that autonomy can be thwarted in a variety of ways. The great formative tradition, open to the transcendent, which stands at the base of universities across Europe, was in this land, and others, systematically subverted by the reductive ideology of materialism, the repression of religion and the suppression of the human spirit. In 1989, however, the world witnessed in dramatic ways the overthrow of a failed totalitarian ideology and the triumph of the human spirit. The yearning for freedom and truth is inalienably part of our common humanity. It can never be eliminated; and, as history has shown, it is denied at humanity's own peril. It is to this yearning that religious faith, the various arts, philosophy, theology and other scientific disciplines, each with its own method, seek to respond, both on the level of disciplined reflection and on the level of a sound praxis. . . .
Lumen Christi Institute: The Imago Dei
This conference-event, sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute in Chicago, looks great.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Welcome to Bob Hockett!
And the MOJ party rolls on! Robby George joined us a few weeks ago and today I am delighted to announce that Bob Hockett (Cornell) has also signed on. For more about Bob's wide-ranging, excellent work, go here.
Strange (but interesting) times, I suppose, when "A blog dedicated to the development of Catholic Legal Theory" has more participants from Cornell than from Notre Dame, Boston College, or -- well, almost anywhere (Go, St. Tommy, go!).
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