As the Christian Science Monitor reports a drastic decline in the American standard of living, the Vatican calls for a public global authority to regulate the globalized financial system–including a tax (gasp!) on financial transactions. Clearly the Vatican Peace and Justice folks are a bunch of pinko you-know-whats. Grant Gallicho at dotCommonweal has the low-down, along a link to Bill “Catholic League” Donohue’s statement about how it’s OK to ignore this document. (Not sure what the connection between it and the anti-Catholicism Donohue usually decries, unless he thinks the Pontifical Council for Peace and Justice is anti-Catholic.) Morning’s Minion at Vox Nova puts the smackdown on the claim that the poor pay no taxes–maybe we can add that as a footnote on to Vatican statement.
Over at PrayTell, news that one of my favorite church songs, Marty Haugen’s “All are welcome,” is evidently on Madison Bishop Robert Morlino’s no-sing list leads me to wonder if all are indeed welcome. Not in Madison. Well, we still sing it at my church. USA Today covers the new Mass translations, picking a story in the Louiseville, Kentucky Courier-Journal.
And a truly depressing piece from a couple of weeks ago at The Atlantic, about the fact that kids don’t play much these days. Evidently we all have to be productive in these tough economic times.
