Michael J. O’Loughlin

Over at Busted Halo I explore how some Lenten practices might impact the presidential race From the post For the past several months I rsquo ve followed with increasing dismay the degradation of the political process here notably in the GOP presidential contest though the systemic rot will su

Florida s Senator Marco Rubio a Tea Party favorite is on everyone s short list for the GOP vice-president nomination and BuzzFeed reports nbsp that the now Catholic politico was baptized and raised Mormon during his childhood If Romney wins the nomination and chooses Rubio there would be a Mor

What rsquo s up with Rick Santorum The uber-Catholic former Pennsylvania senator is not one to shy away from injecting his faith into the public realm but some comments over the past few days reveal an odd sort of religious Manichaeism On one side are those who subscribe to his very particular u

nbsp Earlier this week the state of Washington became the seventh in the US to legalize gay marriage after the legislature approved a bill that was introduced and ultimately signed by Gov Chris Gregoire Gregoire a Catholic had been an opponent of same-sex marriage for years perhaps for polit

Atop anyone s list of leading anti-gay marriage warriors is Maggie Gallagher the founder of the National Organization for Marriage Gallagher is profiled in a lengthy piece by Mark Oppenheimer for Salon though you may recognize the author from the Beliefs column in the New York Times Oppenheimer

A Catholic diocese in New England is getting some publicity for appointing a priest to lead a program called ldquo Courage rdquo nbsp throughout Maine Courage is a support group for Catholics to ldquo Live chaste lives in accordance with the Roman Catholic Church s teaching on homosexuality rdq

The nation rsquo s attention over the past couple of weeks has been focused on Florida where Mitt Romney trounced Newt Gingrich nbsp in the latest GOP primary contest Romney rsquo s victory is credited to a combination of the support he received from the many super PACs supporting his campaign an

My recent post on Mitt Romney rsquo s staggering wealth and his own perception that President Obama is trying to stir resentment among voters because of it generated a good bit of discussion on my claim that For all its ills capitalism seems to be the best way for individuals to thrive socially

The Washington Post published an editorial on the recent HHS decision that would require Catholic affiliated non-church institutions to offer contraception coverage in employee health plans The best approach would have been for HHS to stick to its original conclusion that contraception coverage sh

Earlier this week after a couple startling missteps leading up to his trouncing in the South Carolina GOP primary Gov Mitt Romney released his personal income tax information covering the previous two years In a tradition curiously enough started by his father during his run for the White House