Category: Church
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Sed Contra: Bush Courts the Catholics
Deal W. Hudson May 1, 2001 Only a few days after his inauguration, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush dined with the newly installed archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore (now Cardinal) McCarrick. In spite of concerns about security, the dinner took place in the archdiocese’s chancery, not the White House. On January…
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Sed Contra: The Political Enigma of Catholic Minority Groups
Deal W. Hudson June 1, 2001 The top priority of Republican Party strategists over the last few years has been winning more support from two groups—religiously active voters and racial and ethnic minorities. In the case of Mass-attending Catholics who also belong to minority groups—Hispanic, Asian, and African-American—this outreach effort poses an intriguing question: Will…
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Sed Contra: College at the Crossroads
Deal W. Hudson July 1, 2001 The University of Dallas (UD) has long been counted among a handful of strong Catholic colleges where committed Catholic parents can safely send their sons and daughters. Billing itself as “the Catholic university for independent thinkers,” UD is one of the top liberal arts universities in America. It is…
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Sed Contra: Delivering Bad News
Deal W. Hudson October 1, 2002 Some Crisis readers may be startled by the lead story in this issue, “The Price of Priestly Pederasty.” They might argue that such a story damages the Church’s reputation and hurts the Church’s evangelical outreach. While such arguments are plausible, they also can undermine Catholic journalism and its benefits…
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Sed Contra: Better Late Than Never
Deal W. Hudson October 1, 2002 Representatives of a group called Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) started appearing in the media—mainly the Boston Globe—in the months following the revelations about sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston. Initially, the group appeared credible. I know many faithful Catholics added themselves to the organization’s mailing list, hoping…
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Sed Contra: More Than a Mood
Deal W. Hudson July 1, 2002 In our recent “Christianity From the Outside” symposium (May 2002), Emmy Chang remarked that she is tempted by faith when she feels expansive emotions—the sight of a dearly loved friend makes her ready to believe that God exists. Yet she worries about a faith that is undermined by subjectivity…
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Sed Contra: Learning to Listen
Deal W. Hudson May 1, 2002 It’s difficult for those of us in the evangelism business to listen. After all, if you’re proclaiming the “good news,” isn’t it you do the talking? But it shouldn’t always be this way. Evangelism begins with listening: first to the Word of God and then to those who must…
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Sed Contra: More Stories, Fewer Lectures
Deal W. Hudson April 1, 2002 In November, Crisis will celebrate its 20th anniversary. Since I arrived here six years ago, Crisis has become more a genuine magazine and less a journal—gradually publishing more articles based on original reporting. While this is expensive and requires more editorial attention, you have let us know that this…
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Sed Contra: Zogby’s Catholic Poll Misses the Point
Deal W. Hudson January 1, 2002 The Jesuits usually take pride in being up-to-date. Sadly though, their association with a recent poll of Catholics shows they’re willing to employ some truly outdated methodologies. Pollster John Zogby was commissioned by Le Moyne, a Jesuit college in Syracuse, New York, to conduct a series of polls measuring…
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Sed Contra: Inside the Pandora’s Box
Deal W. Hudson January 1, 2003 It goes without saying that if priests had kept their vow of celibacy there would be no sexual-abuse scandal. But we still hear the claim, from Voice of the Faithful and others, that celibacy is somehow the fundamental cause of the crisis. How does such an obvious contradiction get…
Deal W. Hudson 