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As Hispanics in the United States increase in number, they will likely exert more influence on the nation as a whole, and especially on the U.S. Catholic Church. For while Hispanics make up 14.2 percent of the populace, they make up more than a third of its Catholics, a percentage expected to increa
Raids by federal agents on five Swift meatpacking plants last December around the country, as well as raids in New Bedford, Mass., in March, called public attention to the fear haunting the lives of undocumented immigrants. As the raids demonstrated, fear of family breakup runs high among the undocumented, with the specter of breadwinners deported and U.S. citizen children left behind in the United States.
With a new president in Mexico and a more immigration-friendly majority in place in both houses of the U.S. Congress, our nation is positioned to take a fresh approach to relations with Mexico in particular and Latin America in general. Catholics on both sides of the border are particularly well sit
Freedom Commission Notes Violations in Turkey The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom strongly urged the U.S. government to include concerns regarding Turkey’s religious freedom violations on the U.S.-Turkey bilateral agenda. The United States should urge Turkey to continue its
Papal Visit to Conference in Brazil Begins May 9Pope Benedict XVI is making his first trip to the Western Hemisphere in mid-May, traveling to Brazil to open a strategizing session with Latin American bishops. The May 9-13 visit begins with a string of pastoral events in São Paulo, where the pope wi
Sin of the WorldSlavery, it is said, was America’s original sin. In recent theological writing, it can also be described as a prime example of the sin of the world, a sin that runs through time and space infecting both persons and institutions. As a new exhibit at the New-York Historical Socie
Jerusalem Hospice Open to Patients of All FaithsWhen Sister Monika Dullmann first came as a volunteer to Saint-Louis Hospital in Jerusalem as a young theologian, the most difficult task she faced was watching terminally ill patients suffer. Sister Monika, now the hospital director, said 20 years of
U.S. Peace Activists Visit Vatican On the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq, three U.S. Catholic peace activists paid a discreet but significant visit to the Vatican. The officers of the Indiana-based Catholic Peace Fellowship were in Rome in mid-March to promote the issue of conscientious objec

The Divide

After reading Terry Golway’s column Renew-ing Theology on Tap (3/12), I hope my experience with our local program is not typical. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati sponsors a Theology on Tap program, which last summer was meeting in my neighborhood in Covington, Ky., a city across the river. Mine is a diverse inner-city neighborhood, and our parish is the most inclusive in the area. When we sing All Are Welcome, we mean it. The Theology on Tap schedule included a talk on homosexuality. Since the bar where they meet is near my house and across the street from my church, I decided to find out what they had to say on this topic. What I encountered was appalling. The talk, given by a priest from the Diocese of Covington, was reactionary, psychologically nave and deeply homophobic. At one point, in response to a question, this priest compared gays and lesbians to Nazis. Amazingly, not one member of the large, relatively young audience challenged these comments. In fact, many expressed complete agreement. If Theology on Tap is using this kind of reactionary theology to appeal to young adults, it will only deepen the divide between younger and older Catholics.

Daniel A. Burr

As the 110th U.S. Congress convened, with great expectations of bipartisan cooperation, one of the top items on its ambitious legislative agenda was immigration. For several years the nation has debated the controversial issue, with all sides in agreement that the immigration system should be reform