Welcome to Wisdom Wednesday, June 11, just a week and a-half until the start of the 2025 AUSCP Assembly in San Antonio. ICE arrests and use of the National Guard continue to focus on immigration issues. Attention, too, centers on Pope Leo and where he will lead. Among essays featured this week, a conclusion that the Bible does not regard gender as binary. We note in passing the death of theologian Walter Brueggemann, and his ongoing impact. Many views this week, identified and properly sourced. Good reading, too!
Immigration, enforcement and protest
Archbishop José H. Gomez Urges Calm and Restraint As ICE Protests Erupt in Los Angeles. Videos showed crowds surrounding vans, chanting, and growing in number. From the National Catholic Register.
The very people who tipped the scales toward Trump — especially Latino men, who supported him by a historic 54% margin — are now on the receiving end of his administration’s most aggressive domestic military maneuver in years. From Bptist News Global.
The Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops decried the overturning of the Texas Dream Act, saying it “propels our society further away from just and reasonable immigration reform that would foster human flourishing based in the tranquility of order and human dignity.” From the Catholic News Agency,
In evangelical churches, a rift over Trump’s immigration policies. Historically one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal demographics, evangelicals are divided over just how far to go with immigration crackdowns. From Religion News Service and National Public Radio.
Pope Leo XIV
On Pentecost Sunday, the pope said the Holy Spirit inspires us to “Break Down Walls.” The Pope prayed to God for unity and fraternity in the world. From National Catholic Register.
Michael Sean Winters, at National Catholic Reporter, finds “early signs about where Pope Leo will lead the church.”
Pope Leo XIV faces major test over Opus Dei reforms. So reports the National Catholic Reporter. The future of Opus Dei— and proposed statutes to be imposed on the group — have hung in the balance for three years since July 2022, when Francis announced his shock decision to impose sweeping changes to the operation of Opus Dei, the conservative, secretive and controversial Catholic group.
Religion and politics
Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress will speak at Faith and Freedom Coalition event, joining a slate of Republican politicians as a keynote speaker at an upcoming “Road to Majority” conference, billed as “the nation’s largest public policy gathering of conservative Christian activists and leaders.” From Baptist News GlobL.
World News
Islam is the fastest growing religion. A report reveals how religious disaffiliation and natural demographic dynamics in certain regions influence the global religious landscape. From Religion News Service.
Christians in Jerusalem face restrictions, violence amid holy celebrations, according to a report fromNational Catholic Reporter.
In Africa, can the Church do more? Raising school fees torments many Africans, according to an Associated Press report from Kampala, Uganda. Some expect the Catholic Church to do more to help in education for poor families.
Vatican Removes Rupnik Art From Website
Father Rupnik, who was expelled by the Society of Jesus in June 2023 for his “stubborn refusal to observe the vow of obedience,” is accused by about two dozen women, mostly former nuns, of spiritual, psychological, and sexual abuse they allege has occurred over the past three decades. From National Catholic Register.
Abuse allegations decline in US
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops reports a decline in abuse allegations against Catholic clergy. From Catholic News Agency.
ESSAYS
In the Bible, gender is not binary. The Bible employs many merisms, in which two contrasting words stand in for a whole spectrum. “Male and female” is one of them. Julie Faith Parker, writing for the Christian Century, says, “On day six, God makes these distinct humans as ends of the gender spectrum. In between are the people with other identities: transgender, intersex, nonbinary, and all gender-expansive people.”
Reflecting on the legacy of Walter Brueggemann. The theologian, who died June 5 at age 92, read the Bible not as a scientific account or a rigid moral code but as sacred myth that could still speak with truth and urgency. By Michael DeLashmutt, in Religion News Service.
Walter Brueggemann’s gift of disruption. Jason G. Edwards, in the Christian Century, says “In his hands, the Bible was a living, aching, burning thing.”
The Trump administration’s moves against women leaders are not new. We’ve been here before, writes Liz Charlotte Grant in the Christian Century. “Women are losing power daily under the second Trump administration.”
“What a sunny van Gogh painting of ‘The Sower’ tells us about Pope Leo’s message of hope.” Virgia Raguin reflects, for Religion News Service.
When you hear people talk about sexual abuse claims and the Southern Baptist Convention, it’s not the same as talking about the Roman Catholic Church and sexual abuse. Mark Wingfiled explains his thinking, published by Baptist News Global.
CONVERSATION
Called to let go: Catholic sisters describe moments of Pentecost, published by National Catholic Reporter.
OPINION
“We are in dangerous, uncharted waters.” Basil Dannebohm reflects on the ICE activities in Los Angeles, and on the Saturday night broadcast of “Goodnight, and Good Luck” which was airing live internationally across all CNN’s media platforms. The play was a poignant and timely reminder of what happens when corrupt politicians weaponize fear and gaslight the vulnerable populace. From Baptist News Global.
“Latin Belongs in the Liturgy.” Liturgical revival, as with any kind of revival, comes from recovering what has been forgotten, opines Anthony Esolen for the National Catholic Register.
Why the Bible Sometimes Uses ‘Bread and Wine’ to Describe the Eucharist. From St. Paul to St. Augustine, the language of ‘bread’ doesn’t deny the Real Presence — it points to the deeper reality of transubstantiation. From the National Cathoic Register.
Obituary
Craig Dykstra, Lilly Endowment executive who supported congregational vitality, dies at 78. Dykstra served as vice president of religion at the Lilly Endowment in Indianapolis, where he was responsible for overseeing the nation’s largest grant-making program in religion.
Justice Bulletin Board
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