A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY Congress is heading for a collision on the Hyde amendment, and the stakes could not be higher. This amendment to bills appropriating funds for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, named after prime sponsor Rep. Henry Hyde, has prevented federal funding of almost all abortions since 1977. President Joe […]
Richard Doerflinger: Intolerant relativism
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY Once upon a time, many people assumed that dogma, especially religious dogma, was the enemy of freedom and friendship. If only we relaxed and let each person live by his or her own truth, we could love each other and the world would be a paradise. John Lennon’s “Imagine” was the […]
Richard Doerflinger: The problem of political theologians
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY Some say religious leaders get too involved in politics. But we should also worry about politicians who wander into theology. One example comes from Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, while announcing new restrictions on social gatherings due to growing COVID-19 cases. To justify placing further restrictions on church services, he urged […]
Richard Doerflinger: Two approaches to racism
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY It is clear where the Catholic Church stands on racism. The U.S. bishops’ document for Catholic voters, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” has long condemned acts of racism as “violations of human dignity” that, like abortion and euthanasia, are “intrinsically evil” and should be rejected by any just society. They have […]
Richard Doerflinger: Catholic judges under the microscope
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY Catholics wanting to serve our country in the legal system are coming under intense scrutiny. In 2017, University of Notre Dame law professor Amy Coney Barrett was grilled by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about her Catholic faith. Sen. Dianne Feinstein told Barrett that “the dogma lives loudly within you, […]
Richard Doerflinger: Losing our humanity to robots?
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY As a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life, I have attended its annual assemblies in Rome since 2012. Pope Francis has asked the academy to explore a range of issues with moral implications, in keeping with an “integral ecology” linking respect for human life with human solidarity and respect […]
Richard Doerflinger: Building a wall against life
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY In what Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls a “historic victory for New Yorkers,” New York has passed what may be the nation’s most extreme and irresponsible abortion law. Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health that favored the law, calls it a “blueprint for change” to be replicated in […]
Richard Doerflinger: Good, bad ideas on church reform
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY The ongoing discussion of clergy sex abuse has moved to proposals for church reform. The immediate need is for transparency and accountability. Charges against former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, and those who allegedly covered up his abuses and advanced him to an advisory role at the Vatican, must be investigated and […]
Richard Doerflinger: The Supreme Court as battleground
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY In its June 26 decision on freedom of speech, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a California law that forced pro-life pregnancy aid centers to tell pregnant women how to get an abortion. This “forced speech” policy, making Americans facilitate what they recognize as the unjust taking of human life, was […]
Richard Doerflinger: A public health crisis
A MORE HUMAN SOCIETY The recent tragic deaths of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain have dramatized what The New York Times calls the “public health crisis” of suicide. That crisis was underscored on June 8 when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the U.S. suicide rate increased […]
