Category: Theology
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A City Divided – How Israel’s Wall Is Splitting the Holy Land
Deal W. Hudson January 10, 2005 I met my guide, Helmut Konitzer, at the airport. A German who visits the West Bank to assist the sisters, monks, and priests living there, Helmut had the look of a well-cut drifter. I wasn’t surprised when he told me his preferred mode of transportation was his motorcycle, especially…
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Postmodern Buchanan
Deal W. Hudson Two books read together can unexpectedly illuminate one another. That was my experience reading Pat Buchanan’s The Death of the West and a scholarly book written for public consumption-The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics, by Mark Lilla of the University of Chicago. There’s much in the Buchanan book I agree with, especially…
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Government Cannot Love
Deal W. Hudson In the midst of Valentine’s Day sentiment, it’s refreshing to hear someone who speaks plainly about love. At a White House briefing on February 6, Jim Towey, the new Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives, said something that ought to be heard–“government cannot love.” Towey, who is…
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It’s Not About Celibacy
Deal W. Hudson The recent pedophile problems in various U.S. Catholic dioceses, especially Boston, have led – predictably – to a new wave of questions about priestly celibacy. Let us be clear: There is no relation between the vow of priestly celibacy and the incidence of pedophilia among Catholic priests. How do I know this?…
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Public Lynching of the Priesthood
Deal W. Hudson Let me ask you a question: Do you really think that the media, and The Boston Globe, in particular, are really interested in strengthening the Church? I think we all know the answer to that. It should be very clear from the coverage of this scandal that the real object of the…
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Stop the Cheering
Deal W. Hudson I was stopped in the hallway at CNN yesterday by a well-known Catholic newscaster who asked me, “Why are the liberals cheering the fall of Cardinal Law?” This comment comes from someone who unabashedly describes himself as a “leftie.” I told him, sadly, that the cheering on the left is being echoed…
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Liberals Planning for Vatican III?
Deal W. Hudson I guess it was just a matter of time. As you and I both know, critics of the Church are taking advantage of the sex scandal to push forward their own agendas. We’ve seen it time and again in newspaper editorials, radio call-in shows, and TV interview programs. And now, to the…
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How to Refute Arguments Against Priestly Celibacy
Deal W. Hudson 5 Arguments Against Priestly Celibacy and How to Refute Them 1. Allowing priests to marry would end pedophilia. It is completely untrue that celibate priests are more likely to be pedophiles than any other group of men, married or not. Pedophilia affects only 0.3 percent of the population of Catholic clergy, and…
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The Bishop’s Secret Letter
Deal W. Hudson As you may already know, the Catholic world has been buzzing about a confidential letter composed by eight American bishops in which they called for a Plenary Council to address problems in the Church. Journalists and pundits have been speculating and debating about the alleged contents of the letter and the identities…
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Remembering September 11th
Deal W. Hudson September 11, 2002 Many of us have been dreading the approach of the one-year anniversary of September 11th. After a long year of suffering under the memory of that horrible day, most of us are loath to relive it. We want to forget, or at least not subject ourselves anew to the…
Deal W. Hudson 