Jordan Bloom, Author at Catholic Herald

Jordan Bloom

Banning sport on Sunday isn’t a ‘war on athletics’

May 23, 2019

Archbishop Allen Vigneron issued a new policy last week banning sports games and practices on Sundays in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Detroit. The order came in response to parents who objected to having to “split” the family between multiple games and practices on the same day, who found themselves squeezing Mass in between

Could Catholic adoption agencies be declared illegal?

May 02, 2019

Yet another city’s Catholic adoption agencies were forced to shut down last week, this time in Pennsylvania, where a federal judge ruled that the City of Philadelphia can end its relationship with Catholic Social Services due to its refusal to place foster children with same-sex couples. The Philadelphia ruling follows a settlement in Michigan last

A surprise resignation won’t resolve Steubenville’s tensions

April 18, 2019

The president of Franciscan University of Steubenville tendered his resignation on Friday April 5, prompting a search for a new leader for a university which has become a flashpoint for controversies around Catholic identity. The board accepted the resignation that weekend. Three days later the university released a statement in which Fr Sean Sheridan, a

Buttigieg questions Trump’s Christianity – but what about his own?

April 11, 2019

The 37-year-old Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg has had a meteoric rise to national stardom in recent weeks. It began with a CNN town hall on March 10 and has led some commentators in search of a narrative to hail him as a possible presidential candidate of the religious left. At that CNN event, Buttigieg (pictured) accused

It’s too soon to celebrate Maryland’s assisted suicide vote

April 04, 2019

An assisted suicide bill was narrowly defeated in the Maryland Senate (pictured) last week, ensuring that the measure – which was passed by the House – will not become law, for now. The House bill had been passed three weeks earlier, on March 3, and the Senate defeated it on March 28. Senator Pamela Beidle

The Equality Act is back – and could pose a serious threat to Catholic institutions

March 28, 2019

A new version of the Equality Act, a bill to include various sexual minorities in federal anti-discrimination law, was introduced in Congress earlier this month. It would extend to people who believe they are transgender the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But it is causing concern among the country’s Catholic bishops. The

California’s moratorium on executions is not all it seems

March 21, 2019

When California Governor Gavin Newsom (pictured) issued a moratorium on executions last week, the state’s bishops voiced their approval. “We appreciate this recognition that the state has the adequate means to defend human dignity and public safety without recourse to capital punishment,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone in a statement on behalf of the California bishops.

An archbishop’s warning to Catholic politicians

March 07, 2019

Archbishop Joseph Naumann, the chairman of the US bishop’s pro-life committee and Archbishop of Kansas City (pictured), has issued a clear statement that politicians who support abortion should not present themselves for Communion, “for the protection of many others from moral confusion”. For some time now, the faithful have urged bishops to define the expectations

Could priests in California be jailed over the Seal of Confession?

February 28, 2019

Last week a California state senator introduced a bill to remove the penitential exemption from mandatory reporting of sexual abuse, in what amounts to an attack on the seal of confession. Jerry Hill, who represents a Bay Area district from southern San Francisco to the outskirts of San Jose, is proud of his bill, touting

If Virginia Governor Northam goes, pro-lifers won’t be able to breathe a sigh of relief

February 07, 2019

In the last two weeks Democrats in New York and Virginia have advanced efforts to expand legal abortion, succeeding in the former case and failing in the latter. Both can be understood as responses by Democratic states to shore up legal abortion in the face of a shifting Supreme Court. In New York, Governor Andrew

Two weeks after Covington, the post-mortem continues

January 31, 2019

There’s something ironic about journalists criticising children with an enormous megaphone and yet maintaining that they are on the side of the powerless. Consider a recent Washington Post column by Jonathan Capehart, entitled “Time to take on the Covington ‘smirk’”. He reassured readers that their first impressions about the Covington affair were right all along

‘It never occurred to me the synod would be quite so staged’: an interview with Archbishop Anthony Fisher

January 31, 2019

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney was one of the leading protagonists at last October’s youth synod in Rome. In an outspoken address, he apologised to young people on behalf of Church leaders for the abuse crisis. Later he bluntly criticised the synod’s final document, saying that it had been “rushed” and that its focus on

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