Welcome to Wisdom Wednesday, featuring faith-based views of current events. Your search for wisdom should acknowledge that the curated views are for your evaluation, not because of AUSCP support. Among them, a partisan churchman calls Catholic bishops “woke and wayward” for their stance on immigration. At a Boston parish, a sign “ICE was here” explains why Joseph, Mary and Jesus are missing from a Nativity scene. We lead off, though, with a Vatican conclusion that women can’t be deacons.
Vatican commission says ‘No’
A Vatican commission studying the possibility of female deacons reported that the current state of historical and theological research “excludes the possibility of proceeding” toward admitting women to the diaconate, a conclusion that slows momentum on one of the church’s most debated questions while stopping short of a definitive no. From National Catholic Reporter.
Women are pained by the papal commission’s ‘no’ according to a report from the Union of Catholic Asian News. “The commission’s conclusion signifies a tragic lack of courage, synodality, and pastoral leadership, Catholic women say.”
Editorial: One more Vatican study, one more ‘not yet’ to women. From National Catholic Reporter.
Immigration decisions and divisions
Amid immigration detention sweeps in Louisiana — part of an ongoing nationwide campaign by the Trump administration — Bishop Michael Duca of Baton Rouge has issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Mass for those concerned for their safety. From National Catholic Reporter.
A Boston area pastor refuses to remove an anti-ICE Nativity scene. The archdiocese directed the Dedham parish to remove the display, but the pastor says it will stay in place as he seeks a meeting with Archbishop Richard Henning. From National Catholic Register.
“Woke and wayward.” Dobson group blasts Catholic bishops’ ‘radical’ message of love for immigrants. Baptist News Global says James Dobson is dead but his ministry’s culture warring lives on in a falsehood-laden attack on America’s Catholic bishops for a “special message” they issued reaffirming “the fundamental dignity of all persons, including immigrants.”
In case you missed it, the so-called “Border Czar” — who professes that he is Catholic – says the Catholic Church is wrong on immigration. Tom Homan spoke to EWTN News on Nov. 14. From National Catholic Register.
ANALYSIS The publication, Baptist News Global, offers the thoughts of Tyler Hummel on the Catholic bishops’ statement. Hummel is a Wisconsin-based freelance critic and journalist, a member of the Music City Film Critics Association, a regular film and literature contributor at Geeks Under Grace, and was the 2021 College Fix Fellow at Main Street Nashville. Unpacking the Catholic bishops’ statements on immigration.
ANALYSIS The publication, Black Catholic Messenger offers the comments of Efran Menny who says U.S. Catholic leaders are succumbing to White Christian nationalism. He sees “the increasingly fraught experience of American Catholicism as it leans into White supremacy in an era of unchecked racial rage.” Menny is a husband, father, and regular contributor to the publication, with “a passion for elevating topics on justice and theology for Black Catholics.”
Pope Leo XIV
Michael Sean Winters, for National Catholic Reporter, writes, “Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip evidenced profound echoes of his predecessor, Pope Francis. Still, we are also starting to see points of difference emerge as well.”
Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, has been designated an historic landmark. The brick home near Chicago’s South Side has been a site of intrigue since the conclave and will soon be a publicly accessible historic site.
Church and State
President Donald Trump honored the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8, which appears to be the first time an American president has formally recognized the Catholic holy day. The National Catholic Register notes that the statement contains a theological error. After discussing the Annunciation, the message states, “nine months later, God became man when Mary gave birth to a son, Jesus.” Christ became man at the moment of the Incarnation, when he was conceived in the womb of Mary.
The U.S. bishops unanimously named Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the nation in 1846 during the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore. Blessed Pius IX approved the declaration in 1847. From Catholic News Agency.
‘No’ to Ten Commandments. A group of 18 multi-faith and nonreligious Texas families filed a class action lawsuit Dec. 2 to stop displays of the Ten Commandments in all Texas public school districts not already subject to an injunction. From Baptist News Global.
Abortion and taxes. Half a century after Christian abortion opponents founded the first crisis pregnancy centers, the centers receive hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Baptist News Global reports a powerful legal group is working to shield them from taxpayer oversight.
Justice Bulletin Board
Many Christians have reduced “salvation” to assurance of a blessed afterlife with God. However, Barbara Molinari Quinby writes, “if we look at biblical words translated as ‘salvation,’ we find that they convey meanings of healing, wholeness, and right relationships. The human person can act on these three meanings of salvation. As Isaiah points out, salvation begins on this earth.”
Headlines and links
Former business manager charged with stealing $1.1 million from suburban Philadelphia parish. National Catholic Reporter.
Court settlement approved for New Orleans Archdiocese to pay hundreds of clergy abuse victims. National Catholic Reporter.
Trial delayed for former Texas youth pastor accused of sexual assault. Baptist News Global.
A man who says members of a secretive North Carolina religious group held him down and beat him wants the prosecutor kicked off his case. The Associated Press.
82-year-old woman’s faith led her to fight against gun violence. Baptist News Global.
Tennessee Catholic faith leaders call on Gov. Lee to stop executions. Catholic News Agency.
Benedict XVI’s former secretary hopes the pope’s beatification process will open soon. Catholic News Agency.
Bethlehem lights Christmas tree again while conflict still echoes nearby. Catholic News Agency.
The Holy See and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
The Catholic Church is the biggest non-governmental provider of educational and welfare services to children in the world. It operates 200,000 schools across five continents, catering to some 60 million children, a majority of whom, according to the Holy See, do not profess the Catholic faith. But the Union of Catholic Asian News reports the Holy See made a surprising assertion recently. It stated that its only obligation under the convention was to the 30 children living in the Vatican City (the children of the Swiss Guards and other staff).
Analysis and commentary
The spotlight on New York’s Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, illuminated a pervasive fear of “the other” in our political discourse. From the editors of the Christian Century.
“This political moment demands theology,” writes Douglas F. Ottati in the Christian Century. As Christians, we need to protest authoritarianism and support the people it targets. We also need to underscore the deep foundations of this work.
‘New Threats to Human Dignity.’ Notre Dame’s Paolo Carozza argues that Big Tech’s influence is reshaping how we understand the human person — and says the Church must help recover a deeper vision of human dignity. From National Catholic Register.
A scathing critique of Vatican note on Mary’s titles
The doctrinal note reaffirms approved Marian titles such as Mother of God and Mother of the Church but judges the titles “Co‑Redemptrix” and certain uses of “Mediatrix of All Graces” pastorally and theologically ambiguous, discouraging their use in official teaching or liturgy, while not denying the truths they seek to express. Mariologists publish scathing critique. From Catholic News Agency.
Reflection: ‘Advent in all its terror’
The famous 1863 “scourged back” photograph comes to the writer’s mind. “When the Department of the Interior ordered this photo removed from a national monument in September, it grieved my spirit. It is as if by removing and erasing these tangible reminders of injustice, we can pretend that the continuing legacy of these wounds no longer exists.” From the Christian Century.
Faith friction in India
The Union of Catholic Asian News reports that the Indian bishops have challenge latest ‘anti-conversion’ law in top court. Baptist News Global posted a story about “The corpse that was asked to change its religion.” What should have been a simple burial became a strange negotiation over the faith of a dead man. The majority non-Christian villagers refused to allow his body into the common graveyard unless it was first “converted” back to Hinduism.
A mother meets her trans-gender daughter
“Are you hungry?” Writing in Baptist News Global, H. Stephen Shoemaker relates a published story from the 1980s about a mother’s question on the day the family threw a party for Jose, a Marine coming home after three years in the Marine Corps, a story like one Jesus would have told. A family member recalls, “It wasn’t until she screamed our names and swept us up off the ground in a bone-crushing hug that we realized that the perfumed woman was Jose!”
‘Zootopia 2’ review
“A frolicking good time and a message for the moment,” says Samantha Smith about the new animated sequel to an Academy Award-winning feature centering on issues of prejudice and unconscious bias. From Black Catholic Messenger.
The Papal Lawnmower
The Vatican’s gardeners have a new tool for maintaining the papal grounds: a custom-designed electric lawn mower bearing the Holy See’s coat of arms. Pope Leo XIV received the white Electra 2.0 mower during a general audience in mid-November, a gift from Czech manufacturer Swardman. From National Catholic Register.
What are our sources?
Wisdom Wednesday curates items from a range of publishers. Occasionally we will profile some of our favorites, Catholic, secular and “other.”
Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society. The Christian Century describes itself as “a progressive, independent religious magazine devoted to helping people think critically and live the Christian faith thoughtfully.”
The choice of the Christian Century name reflected the prevailing mood of early 20th century US Protestantism—namely, one of triumphal optimism regarding Christianity’s influence on society. Today, the Century situates itself in a pluralistic context in which its voice of generous orthodoxy and its openness to church and world alike are prized.
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