Category: Culture
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More Problems at the Catholic Campaign for Human Development
Deal W. Hudson August 23, 2010 The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the anti-poverty program run by the USCCB, came under fire this past year for funding groups who were explicitly supporting abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage. After its internal investigation, the CCHD claimed there were problems with only five groups out of the 51 listed…
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What Nietzsche Can Teach America
Deal W. Hudson August 31, 2010 I have often learned my most valuable lessons from my worst enemies. In graduate school, I spent several years wrestling with the texts of the atheistic philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who taught me one unforgettable lesson: Those who lack the tragic sense of life are apt to invent realities to…
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The Whole Story
Deal W. Hudson September 9, 2010 During four years of college and seven of graduate school, most of it in philosophy and theology, I heard only one lecture on virtue – the virtue of art. Thus I consider it miraculous that the language of virtue has returned to public discourse. But the virtues don’t tell…
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The Catholic Tea Kettle Continues to Boil
Deal W. Hudson September 23, 2010 Over the past two weeks, I’ve had extensive discussions with a wide group of Catholic leaders about the state of the Church in the United States. The frustration and impatience among Catholics, which I discussed last February in “Is It Time for a Catholic Tea Party?” continue to grow.…
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If We Become Like Them, Will They Like Us?
Deal W. Hudson September 27, 2010 Hardly a day goes by when I fail to see some news report or op-ed on the advisability of the Catholic Church to end the male-only priesthood, the mandatory celibacy requirement, the ban on contraception and abortion, or its view of homosexuality. Usually, the story is set against the…
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The Catholic Press Warily Enters the Digital Age
Deal W. Hudson October 6, 2010 As I write, there is a Catholic Press Conference being held at the Vatican, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. Three representatives were invited from each country, and one of them was Greg Erlandson, president of Our Sunday Visitor. Erlandson is an astute and experienced observer of Catholic media, and…
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The False Charge of “Politicizing the Church”
Deal W. Hudson October 12, 2010 Popular Catholic blogger Jeff Miller of the Curt Jester thinks my notion of a Catholic Tea Party is a “bad idea.” It may, in fact, be a bad idea, but if so, not for the reasons he gives. There’s no need to rehearse the entire argument because it comprises variations on a single…
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Will the Catholic Campaign for Human Development Keep Its Promises?
Deal W. Hudson November 1, 2010 Last week, the USCCB issued its “Review and Renewal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development.” The document contains a series of recommendations to reform CCHD grant awards in response to alarming disclosures that financial support was going to groups that supported abortion and same-sex marriage. Five groups were defunded, but…
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Politics, Culture, or the Church?
Deal W. Hudson November 6, 2010 Anyone who has been to a Catholic conference has heard the following remark rise up out of the audience: “What we really need to do is to pray and get before the Blessed Sacrament!” Anyone who has spoken at a Catholic conference has had to confront this statement. Usually,…
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The Catholic Campaign’s New Problem with Coalitions
Deal W. Hudson November 9, 2010 When the USCCB issued its document a few weeks ago announcing the “Review and Renewal of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development,” I wondered aloud if the CCHD would be able to keep its promises. As it turns out, one of the promises was broken the moment the document was published. “Review and…
Deal W. Hudson 