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Obama Tricked the Right Over Contraception

Andrew Sullivan: Catholic health care compromise 'a trap'

(Newser) - Lefties and righties alike ripped President Obama for allowing his new health care rule to affect Catholic organizations. But his compromise is drawing ardent conservatives into a culture war they're bound to lose, argues Andrew Sullivan in The Daily Beast : "If this was a trap, the religious... More »

Fallout Ripples From Obama's Birth Control Call

It's more than just Catholic church leaders who are irked

(Newser) - President Obama's decision to require Catholic hospitals and universities to include birth control in employee health plans was bound to anger the church . But the backlash has gone beyond church leaders, Politico notes—even Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne, a liberal Catholic who typically backs Obama, accused the president... More »

Catholic Leaders Rip Obama on Contraception Coverage

Catholic organization health plans will have to pay

(Newser) - Catholic leaders are blasting the Obama administration's new decision to require religious organization's health plans to cover workers' contraceptives. Several priests railed against the move from the pulpit at Sunday Mass. "Moral" exemptions for contraceptive coverage in health plans exist for churches and other houses of worship,... More »

Catholic Paper Yanks Column Blaming Gay Attraction on Devil

US Conference of Catholic Bishops staffer sorry for 'hurt and confusion'

(Newser) - The country's oldest Roman Catholic newspaper has pulled a column suggesting that the devil may be behind gay sexual attraction. "Some Fundamental Questions on Same-Sex Attraction," written by Daniel Avila, an associate director for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated that "the scientific evidence of... More »

800-Year-Old Relic Stolen From California Church

Relic of St. Anthony, patron saint of missing objects, is missing

(Newser) - Calling Saint Anthony of Padua: A relic of the patron saint of missing objects and lost causes has gone missing from a Catholic church in California. The relic was stolen from a cabinet in the church in Long Beach, where it had been on display to mark the 780th anniversary... More »

Surfing Madonna Makes Waves in California

Is it inspirational or sacrilegious?

(Newser) - A mystery mosaic of a surfing Madonna is roiling the waters in suburban San Diego. Most love the sporty beach gal while city officials worry about those who find the vivid "vandalism" offensive. The 10-foot-square stained-glass mosaic with the message "Save the Ocean" appeared overnight on a wall... More »

Better Plan Ahead if You Want Last Rites

Shortage of Catholic priests makes last-minute requests tough

(Newser) - There's a shortage of Catholic priests these days, and that means that dying Catholics need to plan ahead if they want to get last rites. "Try to anticipate. Look at your last days instead of your last hour," one hospice minister tells USA Today , adding that sometimes it... More »

Condom on Phallic Statue Gets Rise Out of Poles

Huge phallus covered with plastic to honor founder of latex condoms

(Newser) - Safe sex supporters have topped an ancient phallic statue in Poland with a kind of giant condom—and Catholic townies are not amused. The stunt was pulled to commemorate the birth of latex condom inventor Julius Fromm, notes Der Spiegel . The condom was crafted out of a large plastic bag... More »

Vatican: You Cannot Confess by iPhone

Penance requires a 'personal dialogue between penitents, their confessor'

(Newser) - So much for instant absolution: The Vatican today emphatically stressed that Catholics cannot confess by iPhone , one day after news of the "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" emerged, reports the AFP . "It is essential to understand that the rites of penance require a personal dialogue between penitents and... More »

Pope Razzes China in Christmas Message

Tells Catholics in the country to persevere

(AP) - Pope Benedict XVI urged loyal Catholics in China and Iraq to have courage in the face of persecution and limits on their religious freedom, as the largest number of pilgrims in a decade flocked to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem. Benedict's traditional holiday speech highlighted the tensions between Beijing and the... More »

Bomb Threat Clears Lourdes

Hoax strikes on Feast of the Assumption

(Newser) - Some 30,000 Catholic pilgrims, many of them disabled or ailing, had to flee the Lourdes pilgrimage site in France yesterday because of a bomb scare on the Feast of the Assumption, one of the site's busiest days of the year. A phone call to police warning that four bombs... More »

'Bloody Sunday' Report Blames British Soldiers

PM David Cameron apologizes to Irish victims of 1972

(AP) - Relatives of 13 Irish demonstrators shot to death by British troops on Northern Ireland 's Bloody Sunday cried tears of joy today as an epic fact-finding probe ruled that their loved ones were innocent and the soldiers entirely to blame for the 1972 slaughter. The investigation took 12 years and... More »

Women Could Save the Catholic Church

Old church needs new blood in charge, writes Peggy Noonan

(Newser) - The Vatican shouldn't be allowed to let this latest round of abuse scandals fade away until some major changes are made, writes Peggy Noonan. The defensive, angry people at the highest levels of the church are too big a part of the problem to fix it, Noonan writes in the... More »

Hey, Fetus People, Leave Irish Coach Alone

It just doesn't matter that Brian Kelly is pro-choice

(Newser) - Unrest in the University of Notre Dame community over the pro-choice views of new football coach Brian Kelly tees up Amanda Marcotte for a screed against what she calls the “Fetus People.” Where sportswriters ask what abortion has to do with college football, the Fetus People “haven’... More »

Risqué Xmas Ad Sparks Anger

Catholics offended by Anglican church billboard

(Newser) - A New Zealand Anglican vicar trying to be funny by putting a sheepish Joseph naked in bed with Mary on a billboard has infuriated Catholics. "Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow," reads the ad. The idea "was to lampoon and ridicule the idea of... More »

Houses of Worship Adapt to Swine Flu

Synagogues, churches, mosques get ready for H1N1

(Newser) - Places of worship across the country are adjusting holy rituals to head off swine flu, CBS News reports. On the Jewish New Year, one Massachusetts synagogue is skipping handshakes and promoting the use of hand sanitizer—and, in a substantial break from tradition, allowing worshipers to not kiss the Torah.... More »

Widow of Victim in Soccer Mob Attack Pleads for Peace

Don't retaliate in his name, she asks

(Newser) - The wife of a Catholic man beaten to death by a mob of Protestant soccer fans in Northern Ireland wants no violence in her husband's name, the Telegraph reports. "He wouldn't want retaliation for it," said Evelyn McDaid, who has two black eyes and a bruised face from... More »

Soccer Mob Beats Catholic to Death in N. Ireland

Protestant fans were celebrating a victory

(Newser) - A mob of Protestant soccer fans beat a Catholic man to death last night in Northern Ireland, the Belfast Telegraph reports. After a victory by Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers, as many as 70 fans drove to the Catholic section of the town of Coleraine, where they “literally attacked the... More »

A Win for Obama, Moderate Catholics

President's Notre Dame speech was radical and conservative: Dionne

(Newser) - Abortion opponents protested and pro-life students skipped, but Barack Obama's Notre Dame commencement address was at once "the most radical and the most conservative speech of his presidency," writes Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne. The president refused to indulge the protesters' desire to "reignite the culture wars,... More »

Obama Calls for 'Open Minds, Fair-Minded Words'

(Newser) - Speaking amid the swirl of controversy as his pro-choice views and the pro-life values of a Catholic university collided, President Obama today called for "open minds" and "fair-minded words" in Notre Dame's debate surrounding abortion, reports the AP. Amid heckles and students booing hecklers, Obama faced the treacherous... More »

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