Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] An Open Letter to US DiocesesThe Annual Appeal was launched in our diocese this weekend, as it has been or will be in many other dioceses, with a sound-tracked video at every Mass and a step-by-step walk-through of the completion of pledge cards. While I sympathize with the committee that came up with that tedious line-by-line approach, it doesn’t wear well on adults.Instead, maybe give us an honest accounting of where our money has gone, the steps taken to protect and report it, and a picture of the accounting best practices that assure us the money is spent...

Cardinal McElroy fans the flamesBy now all responsible public leaders have recognized the need to dial down the rhetoric and de-escalate the confrontations in Minnesota. Yet Cardinal Robert McElroy has joined with several other religious leaders in Washington to rouse passions still further, beyond their already dangerous heights.“The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” the religious leaders’ joint statement begins. Right away that opening statement signals their choice to use inflammatory language. They could have spoken in neutral terms about the “deaths” of those two people. Or “killings” would have been perfectly accurate, and conveyed a better sense of...