In a statement at COP28, the USCCB committee called decarbonisation of the economy the "preeminent environmental challenge faced by all nations" that must be addressed without burdening middle-and low-income citizens with increased costs.

However, according to Reuters, the US bishops continue to hold on to substantial investments in fossil fuel companies, directly benefiting from these industries.

"US dioceses hold millions of dollars of stock in fossil fuel companies through portfolios intended to fund church operations and pay clergy salaries, according to a Reuters review of financial statements.

"And at least a dozen are also leasing land to drillers, according to land records," reports Richard Valdmanis.

US Bishops stand firm

Despite Pope Francis' impassioned calls to shun highly polluting fuels, the USCCB stands firm in its reluctance to divest from these industries.

Reuters investigations into the financial reports of various American dioceses reveal substantial holdings in energy stocks and land leases with drillers.

While the Vatican and other global Catholic institutions embrace divestment strategies, the USCCB's investment guidance, guided by the Christian Brothers Investment Service, advocates active shareholder engagement with major oil and gas companies rather than wholesale divestment.

Media mirrors money

According to Sabrina Danielson, a professor at Creighton University, the bishops' financial engagement with major oil and gas companies is mirrored in the Catholic media they own.

Danielson has studied the media engagement of US bishops on the issue of climate change.

Fewer than 1% of the more than 12,000 columns by US bishops in official publications since 2014 mentioned climate change, Danielson found in a 2021 study.

She says that many of those mentioning climate change downplayed the urgency of global warming or described the topic as controversial.

Vatican continues to lead

The approach of the US Catholic bishops on Climate Change runs counter to the Vatican's lead.

In 2008 when Benedict XVI was pope, the first of 2,400 solar panels were installed on top of the papal audience hall in Vatican City.

Then, following this first move and several others in between, on 16 November 2023 the Vatican announced a new sustainability programme.

As part of the programme the Vatican

• will expand the number of charging stations for electric cars
• signed an agreement with German carmaker Volkswagen to replace the city-state's entire car fleet with electric vehicles by 2030
• ensure its electricity comes exclusively from renewable sources.
  

Sources

Crux Now

US News & World Report

Reuters

NBC

CathNews NZ

Rome Reports

The answer to that was easy. "Religion doesn't cause war unless it is corrupted by politics."

Much later, I thought we had missed the most important question: "Why do people need religion?"

As far as we know, we are the only species that have this restlessness, this desire to put shape to the sense of Otherness that invades our lives.

There is no evidence that animals have such an inclination.

It has always been in us. The history of humankind fills us with searches for meaning beyond ordinary sensory experience.

We have created religious art and artefacts for thousands of years.

It's as though we are constantly reaching out for a greater reality we have forgotten. It lies wordless within us, and in the knowing of our unknowing, we call it God.

We recognise it in the parables of creation and culture and in the richness of the rituals we make for it. Great teachers help us to grow in its mystery but still can't explain it.

What we can say for sure about the Otherness is generous. It is abundant. It will fill any space we make for it and take us to a larger place.

It brings me to my life-long connection with Christ Jesus, whose Otherness becomes Oneness.

I reflect on that.

Then I think of my youngest son who, after two hours of filming the Dalai Lama, became a Buddhist, and my friend Nourina whose face shines with the beauty of Islam.

I acknowledge a wise Hindu friend, Swami Damodarananda who was devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and had that statue in his temple alongside the usual Hindu aspects of God.

Then there was Rabbi Larry who lectured in a Wisconsin seminary and emailed me Torah studies all about the Otherness that could not be named.

For Catholics, Otherness makes us one in the Eucharist, where the presence of Jesus reminds us that life is all about being blessed, broken and handed out to the world.

The abundance in all religious traditions takes me back to a present I received for my nineteenth birthday.

It was a tiny wooden Buddha.

My fundamentalist stage of growth could not cope with it.

I put it in the fire.

I actually thought my religious intolerance was virtue.

Twenty years later, in Taiwan, I walked by a river gorge where white marble boulders sat in blue water, and bush covered banks were alive with butterflies.

I heard a waterfall and saw a small path leading to it.

The path went down through a mist of spray and disappeared behind falling water.

Behind the waterfall, was a small shrine with a white marble Buddha and some joss sticks in a jar.

The beauty of that shrine with light dancing through the curtain of water brought a spacious feeling of peace and healing.

I felt Jesus Christ smiling in the white marble.

Later, more words came - fire and water, crucifixion and resurrection, the abundance of the Otherness.

Now, all of that brings me back to the big question that was missed in the interview.

Why do we need religion?

That answer also is simple.

It's because we are religious beings.

This is our sacred inheritance.

The sense of Otherness and the need to acknowledge it is within us all.

• Joy Cowley is a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and retreat facilitator.

War planes and ships launched over 100 missiles at three chemical weapons storage and research facilities near Damascus and Homs.

The airstrikes sought to punish President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected chemical attack in the rebel-held suburb of Douma, east of Damascus, on 7 April.

Forty-two people died in the attack.

According to the Pentagon, the airstrikes aimed to take "the heart out of" of President Bashar Assad's chemical weapons programme.

They say the strikes targeted a research centre in Damascus, along with a chemical weapons storage facility and command post west of Homs.

At the same time, the Pentagon acknowledges the Syrian government can probably still attack with chemical agents.

In a joint statement, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, the Melkite-Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem have denounced the strikes.

Their statement says they condemn "the brutal aggression that took place [during the weekend] against our precious country … under the allegations that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons."

They say the airstrikes are a "clear violation of the international laws and the UN Charter", and described them as an "unjustified assault" on a sovereign country that is a member of the UN.

"It causes us great pain that this assault comes from powerful countries to which Syria did not cause any harm in any way.

"The allegations of the USA and other countries that the Syrian army is using chemical weapons and that Syria is a country that owns and uses this kind of weapon is a claim that is unjustified and unsupported by sufficient and clear evidence."

Pope Francis has called for peace in the region.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Boston Globe
• BBC
• ABC
• The Tablet
• Image: Daily Star

News sources say Gingrich is a practising Catholic. She is the third wife of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich who is one of President Trump's most vocal Catholic allies.

News sources also say Gingrich was instrumental in her husband's conversion to the faith in 2009.

The two were married in 2000. Two years later Newt Gingrich petitioned the Archdiocese of Atlanta to annul his previous marriage on the grounds that his former wife, Marianne, had herself been previously married.

Gingrich will have her work cut out representing President Donald Trump's views at the Vatican while respecting those of Francis.

Key differences between Trump's views and those of Francis include the way they respond to refugees and migrants and over care for the environment.

The Senate questioned Gingrich about these differences when they interviewed her for the ambassadorial role in July.

At that time she said: "The pope and the president share a great concern about our environment,"

"If confirmed, I look forward to working with Holy See as the United States pursues a balanced approach to climate policy."

When asked about disagreements over migrants, she said "We have a deep commitment in this country to work to forward peace and stability so people don't have to become refugees."

Gingrich is the former president and CEO of Gingrich Productions, a multimedia production and consulting company. She is the author of the "Ellis the Elephant" children's American history series and co-author of "Rediscovering God in America."

She has also produced several historical documentary films.

Previously, Gingrich served as a congressional aide in the US House of Representatives and as the President of The Gingrich Foundation which supports charitable causes.

Source

• Zenit
• Crux
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Our Sunday Visitor

During an in-flight press conference following his visit to Egypt, Francis suggested Norway as a possible mediator.

"It (Norway) is always ready to help. That is just one but there are many. But the path is the path of negotiations, of a diplomatic solution."

Francis also said the United Nations must show leadership and find diplomatic means to resolve the conflict focusing on "diplomacy and peaceful negotiation".

It needs to reassert itself as its diplomatic role had become "watered down" he said.

If he were asked to say something to help, Francis said he'd use the same advice as he gives others in similar situations: to follow the path of diplomacy.

"The path is the path of negotiation, the path of diplomatic solutions," he said.

"This world war in pieces of which I've been talking about for two years, more or less, it's in pieces, but the pieces have gotten bigger, they are concentrated, they are focused on points that are already hot ...[and]... in North Korea ... too hot".

Source

• Radio NZ
• National Catholic Register
• Image: Religion Dispatches

Nevertheless, enough people of faith were willing to take a chance on the Republican candidate and the party's platform to help swing an electoral-college victory. Now, as the nation moves into what at present feels like an equally contentious transition process, Catholics who voted for Trump are hoping their trust was well-placed.

For reasons unique to this campaign and this president-elect, there is not a lot of certainty at this point what policies will be in place in the new administration. Campaign promises are campaign promises, of course, and no candidate signs a solemn oath to fulfill each and every one of them.

For President-elect Trump, the usual autumn prognostications are more difficult to make than usual, both because of his personal penchant for not signalling policy decisions too far in advance and because his campaign-trail positions have changed many times, occasionally contradicting those of his running mate, Gov. Mike Pence, the Republican party leadership, and even Trump himself.

What then, can Catholics — both those who supported the Trump-Pence team and those who did not — look for from a Trump administration when it comes to key issues of public policy?

Here Aleteia presents an overview of these issues drawn from a summary of key social doctrine by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (passages reproduced in italics) with notes on what we know so far and what we can and should watch for. Continue reading

Sources

• Aleteia article by John Burger and Joanne McPortland
• Image: New York Post

Yesterday, in New Zealand's parliament, was supposed to be one of those times.

My Green party colleagues and I were asked to support a government motion to congratulate Donald Trump on winning the US presidential election. These types of motions are fairly commonplace in our parliament. They are token gestures of support and diplomacy - convenient ways to express our best wishes to political leaders in faraway places. They usually pass with little fanfare.

Yesterday was no different in that the motion passed - but this time, there were 14 objections. From us. For me, and many others, this was not a time for business as usual.

Donald Trump will almost certainly never hear about what I said in parliament yesterday or, for that matter, give a flying toss. In that sense, our position may seem futile.

However, it is unconscionable that the Green party of Aotearoa New Zealand - which has a proud record of promoting tolerance, inclusiveness and peace - would send our best wishes to a man who has spouted misogynistic, racist, xenophobic and climate change-denying views.

As the Republican candidate in the US presidential election, Trump already had a significant platform; soon, as president, he will have the biggest megaphone in the world.

So no, I don't believe this is a time to be diplomatic or polite. If others wish to defend the actions of a sexual predator, they are welcome to. I won't, and neither will my colleagues.

To be clear, I am not questioning the legitimacy of this result, or the rights of the American people to democratically elect the president of their choice. It's also worth pointing out, as many others have, that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than Trump.

To any Americans reading this who are frustrated by a political system that does not necessarily reward the candidate with the most votes, I can empathise. New Zealand also had an issue with disproportionate political representation under a first-past-the-post electoral system, before we changed to a proportional system in 1996. Continue reading

• Metiria Turei is a New Zealand member of parliament and the co-leader of the Green party of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Each year the report collates hate crime statistics from law enforcement agencies across the country.

Its aim is to help provide an accurate accounting of the problem, by state and nationally.

President-elect Donald Trump said he was "very surprised" to hear about them during a US "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday.

"I hate to hear that. I mean, I hate to hear that," he said.

Trump has been accused of fostering racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia.

This view is fueled by his promises to restrict immigration, deport Mexicans, and register Muslims.

He has appointed Steve Bannon, boss of far-right Breitbart website as his chief White House strategist.

Breitbart openly attacks women, Muslims and African-Americans and Jews.

The FBI says the increase in hate crimes began before the 2016 election campaign started.

The report shows crimes against Muslims rose by 70% from 178 in 2014 to 301 in 2015.

The report also records 664 incidents (a 9% increase) against Jews and Jewish institutions "motivated by anti-Semitism" .

Jews and Muslims are banding together to support each other.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which fights against antisemitism and bigotry is strongly condemning all anti Muslim incidents.

A US not-for-profit hate-attack monitoring group, the Southern Poverty Law Center has also been keeping records.

Group spokesperson Mark Potok says it has documented anecdotes of 437 cases of intimidation and abuse towards minorities since last week's general election.

Potok said many anecdotes were linked to President-elect Donald Trump's supporters.

Rizwan Jaka, a Muslim representative spoke on the same 60 Minutes programme as Trump.

She said the Muslim community in has faced a "roller coaster of challenges in the past 15 years, since the horrific attacks of 9/11[...]

"In 2015, over 75 mosques were attacked ...Muslim women that are wearing the scarf are being taunted or harassed or threatened ...".

"And so we're all concerned, and obviously there's bigotry across the spectrum, across all demographics, and we're concerned about it all".

Source

• CBS News
• National Catholic Reporter
• BBC
• The Jerusalem Post
• International Business Times
• Image: hatecrimescotland.org

I didn't want that kind of bias to seep into a column I like to think strives in most part to be relatively objective analysis.

The second reason I didn't write about so important a subject as a presidential election, however, was far more complex, far more frustrating than the first: This election, it seemed to me, was a tiger that was impossible to ride.

Chaos, name-calling, dark accusations and groundless exaggerations claimed the day. What else was there to say about it that would do more than add to the rising tide of frustration and rage? Data, plans, platform and decency had all left the field.

Instead, this election was about decency. But indecency was its very essence.

Its language was indecent. The American public heard not a word about the substance that lay behind the untested promises. In fact, the few times policies became part of the conversation, pundits apologized for the distraction and made sarcastic references to substance, called it "wonky," in fact. (Cue laugh or sneer.)

So now we have a new president but little or no specific awareness of exactly how this president intends to do what she or he said they'll do. No idea whether such things are really doable or not. Very little assurance that what was promised can actually be delivered. Or, indeed, should be delivered.

Its media was indecent. Unlike elections past, no popular news programs sponsored a series of tutorials designed to explain to the American people exactly what was implied by such a series of vague promises. Continue reading

• Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister is a frequent NCR contributor.

Eighty million cluster munitions did not explode, instead settling on farmland and around villages, only to later kill or injure 20,000 people.

Obama spoke of that legacy as he visited a center in Vientiane called the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) that offers treatment for survivors.

"Here in Laos, here at COPE, we see the victims of bombs that were dropped because of decisions made half a century ago and we are reminded that wars always carry tremendous costs, many of them unintended," he said.

Obama stressed that wars impact countless people beyond the famous who appear in history books.

"Above all, acknowledging the history of war and how it's experienced concretely by ordinary people is a way that we make future wars less likely."

His comments came a day after announcing a doubling of U.S. funding over the next three years to help the survivors and bomb-clearing efforts.

Obama was also due to hold a town hall meeting later Wednesday with young people involved in a U.S.-sponsored leadership program.

Tuesday he reassured nations in the Asia Pacific region that the U.S. strategic rebalance "will endure for the long-term" because it "reflects fundamental national interests."

In a speech in Vientiane, Laos, Obama said there is widespread recognition in the U.S. that the Asia Pacific region "will become even more important in the century ahead, both to America and to the world."

The president addressed an estimated 1,000 people in Lao National Cultural Hall, one day after making history as the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.

Against a backdrop of flags representing the U.S., Laos and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Obama spoke to a group that included government officials, Lao and U.S. business leaders, students, civil society leaders and women's groups.

Source

• voanews.com
• Image: jrusa.org

There will be a private meeting with the president and public Masses in Washington, D.C.; New York; and Philadelphia. He will address the United Nations.

Two aspects of his trip, though, will be unprecedented: He will be the first pope to address Congress, and, equally significant, he will visit homeless people in D.C., underprivileged third-graders in East Harlem, and prisoners in a Philadelphia correctional facility, where he will minister to 100 inmates and their families.

Counterbalancing his meetings with world leaders is a classic Francis move and a potent embodiment of his global agenda.

In the two and a half years since his election, Francis has earned a reputation for his simplicity and directness, but the pope from Argentina is also a master of political symbolism and an immensely shrewd politician.

He knows that the eyes of all nations will be on the message "the Pope of the Poor" delivers to the world's richest nation.

The pope's religious message — that the Gospel should be joyful, merciful, and embrace everyone, especially the poor — is plain and direct.

And yet the political strategies he uses to enact that vision are sophisticated and even wily. Inside the Church, he has set out to modernize the Vatican, rooting out corruption and careerism and placing the pastoral care of ordinary people before dogma and rules. Love and inclusion now come before judgment and condemnation.

In the larger world, his mission is just as radical: to realign global policy to better aid the poor and excluded. That has included pushing nations to address the prickly issues of climate change and economic inequality. Continue reading

Sources

• New York Magazine, from an article by Paul Vallely, the author of Pope Francis: The Struggle for the Soul of Catholicism.
• Image: Prima News

Because I had some time before we were supposed to start services, I wandered around the 300 or so folks who shivered in the cold and gathered in the space around the altar (Mass was obligatory—Casa Romero was run by a generous, but iron-fisted Spanish nun).

On the outer edges of the group, I came upon a young, thin girl surrounded by five or six older men. We spoke for a bit; she told me that she was heading out that night with these men, looking to cross through the Wild Horse Desert, a desolate place just north of Brownsville, in an effort to avoid the Border Patrol.

The men, hands stuffed into their pockets, scuffed the ground. They would not meet my eyes, and ignored my handshake.

I found the nun and told her that I was worried about the girl. The nun said to me, "You should be. Please take her to the rectory with you tonight. She is not safe here."

The girl agreed to come and spend Christmas Eve with our religious community that night. She was sixteen years old, and she was from El Salvador. Her arms were covered with scars, about which she would only say, "They burned me with cigarettes."

I gave her my room, for that night, and I took to the couch in the living room. The next morning, as I passed by my bedroom, I saw her kneeling on the floor, her scarred arms held straight out from her sides, her eyes closed, and her head upturned toward the heavens. She was back-lit by the sunlight streaming through the window.

It was Christmas Day, and I felt that God had sent me an angel disguised as skinny, scarred teenaged girl.

She stayed with our community for about two weeks, until some good immigration attorneys managed to get her a special travel permission, and then, into a center that worked with the victims of torture (The Center for Victims of Torture). Continue reading

• Source: Views From Alongside a Border (author's name not noted)
• See also: Gilberto Ramos hoped for a better life, but died alone in a desert
• Image: Fronteras

Over the decades my spirituality and prayer life have deepened to be a contemplative life of "walking willing."

"Walking willing" to all sorts of unusual places including lobbying on Capitol Hill - and even places like the Colbert Report!

It has been a challenging life of joy and struggle nurtured in community and alive in the Spirit!

Over the years I have learned from my community's history the intersection of faith and politics.

We were founded in 1923 in Budapest, Hungary, in response to Pope Leo XIII's call to work for just wages and safe working conditions in the midst of the industrial revolution there.

Our foundress, Sister Margaret Slachta, was the first woman in the Hungarian Parliament when she headed our community.

She spoke passionately about how the Holy Spirit led her to the quest for justice in the light of Jesus's message in the Gospel.

My community's orientation to both charity and justice shaped my young spirit from the day I entered and does so to this day.

All of my Sisters have encouraged me to open my heart to touch real people's lives, hear their stories, and share encouragement along the way.

Recently, I was talking with a television producer about my coming interview.

We talked a bit about the struggle to create community and to be grounded in this speeding world. She surprised herself by choking up and getting tears in her eyes.

It touched me deeply that she would let herself be vulnerable with me in that setting. Something I said mattered to her and let her know that she is not alone in this life. I hugged her and feel more connected to her for her wordless eloquence. Continue reading.

Simone Campbell SSC is a religious sister, executive director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, and author of A Nun on the bus: How all of us can create hope, change, and community.

Source: Huffington Post

Image: Theological Horizons

Crimea was once an independent Tatar khanate, captured by Russia in the 18th century.

The Tatars were deported by Stalin as punishment for alleged collaboration with the Nazis — although some fought on either side in World War II.

In 1954, Nikita Khruschev (then Soviet leader), gifted the territory to Ukraine.

The decision was of no practical consequence at the time since both Russia and Ukraine were simply states within the USSR. There was, however, no public (or even parliamentary) consultation.

In the Gorbachev era, many Tatars returned. They now form about 12 per cent of the population (about 60 per cent are Russian, the remainder Ukrainians, Bulgarians etc.).

Strategically, Crimea is important for its natural resources and its ice-free, deepwater port of Sevastopol, a major base of Russia's powerful Black Sea Fleet.

The international law claims are as complex as the history. Continue reading.

Justin Glyn SJ is a student of philosophy and theology in Melbourne who holds a PhD in international and administrative law.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: ShutterStock

She is a regular attender of Mass, a longtime stalwart in her church's anti-abortion movement and a believer that all the church's doctrines are true and beautiful and should be obeyed. She loved the last two popes, and keeps a scrapbook with memorabilia from her road trip to Denver in 1993 to see Pope John Paul II at World Youth Day.

But Ms. Kurt recently took the Pope Francis prayer card down and threw it away.

"It seems he's focusing on bringing back the left that's fallen away, but what about the conservatives?" said Ms. Kurt, a hospice community educator. "Even when it was discouraging working in pro-life, you always felt like Mother Teresa was on your side and the popes were encouraging you. Now I feel kind of thrown under the bus."

In the eight months since he became pope, Francis has won affection worldwide for his humble mien and common touch. His approval numbers are skyrocketing. Even atheists are applauding.

But not everyone is so enchanted. Some Catholics in the church's conservative wing in the United States say Francis has left them feeling abandoned and deeply unsettled. Continue reading.

Source: The New York Times

Image: Alexandra P. Shattuck, right, the director of a Catholic-run pregnancy clinic in Hapeville, Ga., with Sequoia Tonge and her 2-month-old. Ms. Shattuck said the pope's recent comments on abortion had been taken out of context. Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times

The 93 presidents have appealed directly to all 163 Catholic members of Congress, many of whom are graduates of Catholic universities.

"Catholic teaching values the human dignity and worth of all immigrants, regardless of legal status," the academics' letter said. "We remind you that no human being made in the image of God is illegal.

"The Vatican's Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church warns against the exploitation of immigrant workers and says 'immigrants are to be received as persons and helped, together with their families, to become a part of societal life'. We are part of an immigrant Church in an immigrant nation."

One of the signatories, John Garvey, president of the Catholic University of America, said: "One thing immigrants do for the American Catholic Church is they enrich the Church. They're keeping the Catholic Church fresh and the churches full. More and more they're the backbone of parish life."

Support for immigration reform from the Catholic academics comes as members of the House of Representatives are considering an immigration reform bill the Senate passed last month.

That bill would expand provisions for approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants and provide a "pathway to citizenship" as long as a series of new measures for security on the US-Mexico border, including addition of some 40,000 border patrol agents, is first arranged.

President Barack Obama has said that the House is unlikely to pass the bill before its annual August recess.

Religious leaders from some evangelical churches have joined their Catholic colleagues in advocating for reform.

One grouping of evangelical leaders, the Evangelical Immigration Table, is calling for reform that "respects the God-given dignity of every person" and "establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents".

Sources:

Catholic News Service

Yahoo! News

Religion News Service

Image: Stanford University

By contrast, just 37% of Americans surveyed think the clergy make a big contribution to society, about the same as in 2009. Regular churchgoers tend to be more positive about ministers, priests and other clergy members. But even among adults who say they attend religious services at least once a week, only about half (52%) rate clergy in general as contributing "a lot" to society, while 29% say the clergy make "some" contribution, and 11% say the clergy contribute "not very much" or "nothing at all."

While there have been modest declines in public appreciation for several occupations, the order of the ratings is roughly the same as it was in 2009. Among the 10 occupations the survey asked respondents to rate, lawyers are at the bottom of the list. About one-in-five Americans (18%) say lawyers contribute a lot to society, while 43% say they make some contribution; fully a third (34%) say lawyers contribute not very much or nothing at all.

Compared with the ratings four years ago, journalists have dropped the most in public esteem. The share of the public saying that journalists contribute a lot to society is down 10 percentage points, from 38% in 2009 to 28% in 2013. The drop is particularly pronounced among women (down 17 points). About as many U.S. adults now say journalists contribute "not very much" or "nothing at all" to society (27%) as say they contribute a lot (28%). Continue reading

Sources

• The Pew Forum
• Image: Confraternity of Catholic Clergy

An analysis of reporting during a period when the issue was before the US Supreme Court found that stories predominantly supporting same-sex marriage outweighed those predominantly opposing it by 5-1.

This result did not match public opinion on the issue, with Pew research showing that same-sex marriage was supported by 51 per cent of the public and opposed by 42 per cent.

The study found that bias was present in news stories as well as opinion pieces and across all media sectors.

All three of the major cable networks, including Fox News, had more stories with significantly more supportive statements than opposing.

Huffington Post was perhaps the most biased mainstream written-news outlet, with 62 per cent of stories supporting same-sex marriage and only 7 per cent opposing it. Huffington Post's coverage showed similar support to that of the gay community's news outlets studied.

But Twitter postings on the subject were nearly evenly split between support and opposition for same-sex marriage, aligning much more closely with public opinion than with the news media.

On Twitter that margin was even thinner: 31 percent of tweets supported gay marriage, 28 percent opposed it and 42 percent of tweets were deemed neutral.

Two publications the Pew study singled out for their restraint were USA Today (67 per cent neutral) and the Wall Street Journal (70 per cent neutral).

In the coverage studied, Pew said the central argument among proponents of same-sex marriage was one of civil rights. Arguments against were more varied, but most often voiced the idea that same-sex marriage would hurt society and the institution of traditional marriage.

Pew concluded: "The findings show how same-sex marriage supporters have had a clear message and succeeded in getting that message across all sectors of mainstream media."

Sources:

Journalism.org

Deseret News

Zenit

Image: Media Research Center

Some Catholic dioceses have stated that they will continue to sponsor Scouting groups under the new policy.

Other dioceses, and the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, have reserved judgment until after the January 1 implementation of the policy, so they can better understand how Catholic-sponsored groups will be affected.

Continue reading

"Targeted killing should, by definition, be highly discriminatory," said letters from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops to National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon and members of Congress.

The letters questioning the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were signed by the chairman of the bishops' committee on international justice and peace, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines.

"The administration's policy appears to extend the use of deadly force to alleged ‘signature' attacks and reportedly classifies all males of a certain age as combatants," Bishop Pates said.

"Are these policies morally defensible? They seem to violate the law of war, international human rights law, and moral norms."

Bishop Pates noted that targeted killings by drones raise "serious moral questions", including concerns related to discrimination, imminence of threat, proportionality and probability of success.

He emphasised the importance of protecting American lives and the danger posed by a terrorist organisation like Al Qaeda, but said the relative low cost and ease of using drones might tempt US leaders to use them to excess, causing them to underutilise "economic, political and diplomatic responses".

"And doesn't the prospect of widespread deployment of UAVs by other nations and non-state actors put a spotlight on our nation as the primary developer and user of UAV armed and unarmed technology?" he asked.

Bishop Pates said the US should exercise leadership in advancing international norms, standards and restrictions for the use of drones.

"An effective counterterrorism policy should employ non-military assets to build peace through respect for human rights and addressing underlying injustices that terrorists unscrupulously exploit," he said.

Bishop Pates said the US should publicly discuss and scrutinise its policy of targeted killings by drones, in order formulate "a more comprehensive, moral and effective policy to resist terrorism".

Sources:

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Full text of letters

Image: The Nation