SPIRITED THINKING SINCE 1888
Jordan Bloom

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The US Church’s new normal: Drive-through Confession is just the start
March 26, 2020
By the end of last week, every diocese in the United States had cancelled public liturgies in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Along with the disruption to the Church’s fundamental work of providing the sacraments, every other area in which Catholic institutions are involved, from healthcare to education, has been disrupted, with students returning home
What’s the best way to help America’s newly unemployed?
March 26, 2020
As we went to press, details of the coronavirus stimulus package had not yet been hammered out, though the House and Senate appeared to be approaching a deal. We were likely to get something, and it’s fair to assume that something was going to be quite large. But after two weeks of lobbying and horse-trading
The US is going to need stricter measures against coronavirus
March 19, 2020
The first message from the mainstream media about the coronavirus was to compare it to the flu. The second was to tell us to “bend the curve”, which meant asking people to take measures to quarantine themselves voluntarily, in an effort to slow the epidemic to a level that wouldn’t overwhelm the capacity of the
How the US authorities can protect the vulnerable
March 19, 2020
With the coronavirus pandemic gaining speed in the United States, especially on the West Coast, the crisis raises questions about what will happen to the poor and homeless of the country, who are disproportionately located there. California has long been at risk for epidemic disease. Poor sanitation in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco,
Supreme Court faces a moment of truth on abortion
March 12, 2020
Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in June Medical Services v Russo, which tests a Louisiana law that requires abortionists to have “admitting privileges” before being able to practise at local hospitals. In practice, if the law is allowed to stand, two of the three abortion facilities in Louisiana would be forced to
The wage hike that led to a baby boom
March 12, 2020
Dan Price, the CEO of an online payments company who vowed to pay all his workers a wage of $70,000 a year, is back in the news after a recent BBC profile. Price first made the promise in 2015, phasing in the raises over several years. Now that enough time has passed to render a
What a Bible Belt ‘miracle’ tells us about Trump-era Evangelicalism
March 05, 2020
The self-appointed religious leader really captures something close to the American spirit. Examples of the type can be seen across all regions and all races, from Wallace Fard, who organised black Detroiters into the Nation of Islam, to the founder of Christian Science, who was the kind of lunatic who could have only come from
The unlikely pro-polygamy coalition
February 27, 2020
Utah’s state Senate (pictured) voted unanimously to decriminalise polygamy last week. The bill, which passed the Republican-controlled Senate with a vote of 29-0, will now go before the Utah House of Representatives, where it is expected to meet significant resistance. Around 30,000 people live in polygamist Mormon communities in Utah, which are not affiliated with
The political battle over gender transitions for children is just getting started
February 13, 2020
With states across the country introducing bills to ban gender transitions for children, the issue of transgenderism, or as Church documents often call it, gender ideology, is heating up in the United States. As of late January, in eight states legislators had introduced bills to ban child gender transitions, with a handful of others likely
Is it truly ecumenical to host a female bishop’s ordination?
January 23, 2020
After a backlash from Catholic laity, the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia has withdrawn its plan to consecrate its next bishop, Susan Bunton Haynes, at St Bede’s Catholic Church in Williamsburg. The flap is surely the most interesting religious affairs story in years for the sleepy little town best known for its “Republican Disneyland” colonial
2019 was dominated by scandal – but there were glimmers of light
December 19, 2019
This has been a tough year for the US Church. The abuse crisis has once again dominated the headlines. The year began with the dismissal from the clerical state of the notorious former Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, and ended with the long-awaited resignation of Bishop Richard Malone over his handling of abuse cases
Is Fulton Sheen’s beatification a lost cause?
December 12, 2019
The Cause of Archbishop Fulton Sheen, one of the most prominent figures in 20th-century American religious life, has been put on hold, perhaps indefinitely.   The Diocese of Peoria, where Sheen was ordained and is now buried, announced the delay on December 3. Two days later, the Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported that the Diocese
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