In light of the numerous child sex abuse cases around the world, an increasing number of voices have been calling for the Catholic Church to change its stance on both the ordination of women and also on the celibacy vow for priests.
Last week the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter to bishops worldwide setting forth new rules that will become a permanent part of church legislation. The letter states that the attempted ordination of women represents a “grave crime” subject to the same set of procedures and punishments which are delivered for sex abuse.
“At a briefing Thursday, Monsignor Charles Scicluna defended the inclusion of both sex abuse and ordination of women in the same document as a way of codifying two of the most serious canonical crimes against sacraments and morals that the congregation deals with.”
When we were developing the cover for What He Said, we knew that we wanted to include Jesus’ blessings from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Among these, 5:9 was always a favorite:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Peacemakers. Not peacewatchers or peaceenjoyers. Makers. Active participants who work toward peace. In the middle of a conflict, working toward peace is a difficult task fraught with peril. And Jesus bestowed a special blessing on those who at least try.
“Last month’s 6-3 Supreme Court decision in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project found that humanitarian groups can be judged guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism merely by holding peaceful dialog and engaging in political discussions with proscribed organizations. Those convicted may be sentenced to up 15 years in prison.”
As designers, we love watching as organizations change their logo and branding. This week, the YMCA announced that it was changing its logo and will now be known simply as “the Y.”
Branding experts called it a positive move and reflected the nickname that the organization’s members actually used. “Catching up with their customers” one pundit said. Others were a bit wary. Remember, the Y was started 166 years ago as the Young Men’s Christian Association. They got even more nervous when they saw quotes like this:
“I think [the new branding] is going to better reflect the vibrancy of the organization and the diversity of the communities we serve.” – Louie Warren, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Omaha
Never fear. Warren added, “Christian principles have always been a part of our strong heritage, and they will continue to be a very relevant part in the future.”
Personally, I like the new look and color scheme. It feels fresh, and the tilt to the Y gives the logo forward movement. The old logo looks like a girder in comparison.
I wish they had had the nerve to cut out the “YMCA” at the bottom of the Y. I’d be willing to bet that was the subject of many hours of meetings and like most design compromises, yielded a weaker end product.
Scanning NPR’s Religion & Ethics site today, I saw a number of newsworthy items where religion and public policy/politics overlap. If you’re not familiar with the stories, give them a quick looksee. Then scroll down to view the comments at the bottom of the page. There are many yawning chasms separating the populace.
If you want to set off fireworks at your next social gathering, bring up “unions” as a topic of conversation. Chances are you’ll get passionate views on both sides. But where do God and religion stand?
“Catholic social doctrine is ‘forthright and unambiguous’ in regard to unions. ‘It states boldly that they are essential to the universal common good.’ […] Opposing unions—that is, opposing the workers’ natural right of free assembly and right to decent wages and benefits—harms not only the workers directly involved. It also hurts society at large by lessening overall income and social solidarity and, thus, diminishing the universal common good.”
The impetus for the work was the anti-union activities of certain Catholic dioceses and Catholic organizations that were obviously not following church doctrine.
Looks like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a little AOK Thursday thing of its own going on. Click here for three nice stories. Personally, I like the last two better than the first because they actually involve people doing something out of kindness. Handing over cash or writing a check is certainly nice, but it kind of lacks the effort that makes an AOK so special. Anyway, read all three stories:
Many religious Americans feel that the country’s scientists are hostile to religion (and, to be fair, many scientist think that religious people are hostile to science). Is that really the case? Elaine Howard Ecklund, a professor at Rice University, recently researched and wrote a book called Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think.
For a quick synopsis, click here. Her findings are really interesting. For one, top scientist do, in fact, go to and belong to churches. But they often have to practice “secret spirituality” at work for fear their colleagues will doubt the validity of their work if they openly admit their faith. And at church, they turn to “secret science,” reluctant to talk about scientific matters with their fellow parishioners so as not to offend them.
I am constantly amazed at how many of the world’s problems could be solved if people put down their plastic barriers and just talked (and listened) to each other.
Our little weekly posts trying to spotlight kindness seem (more than) a little pale in comparison to what this guy is doing. His name is Armand Young and he’s walking from California to Ground Zero in NYC to promote kindness and honor the victims of 9/11 and our fallen soldiers.
“I just got sick of seeing our country falling apart and people hurting people and people robbing people. I decided to change the world and show people no matter who you are or what you’ve done, you could change the world by a simple act of kindness.”
The Pew Research Center in Washington, DC conducted an April poll of 1,546 adults. One of the questions they asked was if the respondent believed Jesus would return by 2050. 41% said “yes.” Among white evangelical Christians, the “yes” response climbed to 58%.
They also published data broken out by education level. 59% of people with no college experience believed Jesus was coming, while only 19% of college graduates believed in a return by 2050.
Branding experts called it a positive move and reflected the nickname that the organization’s members actually used. “Catching up with their customers” one pundit said. Others were a bit wary. Remember, the Y was started 166 years ago as the Young Men’s Christian Association. They got even more nervous when they saw quotes like this:
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