It’s Friday! This week, we’re getting ready for Memorial Day. So in case you were too busy looking for specialty hot dogs and getting your sauerkraut ready, this is your weekly roundup.
This week in the somewhat ridiculous, Nancy Matteo, the principal of St. Andrew School, a Catholic school in Philadelphia, has issued an apology because she sent out invitations for a school dance that featured a picture of Ellen Degeneres. The dance was Oscar-themed, and Degeneres hosted this year’s Academy Awards. But Matteo thinks that Degeneres, who is gay, is a “poor role model.” So she recalled the invitation flyers, demanding that students return them so that they can be destroyed. We wish her luck with that.
In related news, Oregon and Pennsylvania joined the rank of states allowing same-sex marriage this week. Both states had laws that banned the recognition of same-sex marriage, and federal judges in each state called the laws unconstitutional. Neither state will appeal the courts’ decisions.
The Supreme Court issued a stay of execution for a Missouri inmate this week. This the third execution that has been halted in the United States since the botched execution of Clayton Lockett that took place in Oklahoma three weeks ago. Russell Bucklew has a rare vascular disease, and his lawyers claimed that the lethal injection protocol was a moving target that would likely result in excruciating pain for Bucklew.
With lethal injection under such scrutiny these days, and with the drugs in such short supply, some states are considering going retro in killing their citizens. Wyoming and Utah are both considering cleaning out their firing squad chambers, and Tennessee is thinking about dusting off the electric chair.
The tensions continue between the LCWR and the Vatican, but it’s looking like Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, who heads the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is trying to find a way to some harmony between the sisters and the Vatican.
And now for your papal rapid fire roundup.
This week, Pope Francis…
- Is visiting the Holy Land.
- Is seeking religious reconciliation in the Holy Land.
- Is showing support for peace and justice in the Holy Land.
- Told us that we are custodians of creation.
- Heard from Italian women who are in love with priests.
And that’s about it for this Friday. Be sure to check out our reader survey about Sin. We want to hear from you! Otherwise, have a wonderful and safe weekend.
