Dallavalle

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30800644907022979702012-01-11T08:13:13.252-05:00DallavalleCatholicism, culture, politics, family, civilization and the wayward progress of other necessary institutions...Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comBlogger1111100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-15092284350418573622012-01-11T08:13:00.000-05:002012-01-11T08:13:13.266-05:00"...a worthy and humane solution..."

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Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-84472160859753742172012-01-05T20:03:00.002-05:002012-01-06T07:50:47.657-05:00Santorum on the three-way, bigots on the left

Here we go again. This afternoon Rick Santorum was booed loudly and roundly at a collegiate event (hello? fellow professors?) in New Hampshire when, challenged on his rejection of civil marriage for gays and lesbians, he suggested that such a right might also include marriages consisting of three or more partners. (In the past, he has, idiotically, also suggested that the argument for gay

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-84059739524490451172011-12-09T09:25:00.000-05:002011-12-09T09:25:04.132-05:00Advent reflection

A reflection on today's Gospel, written for the Fairfield University community: Jesus said to the crowds: "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, "We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn." For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, "He is possessed by a demon."

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-26537818322950892662011-10-10T15:04:00.000-04:002011-10-10T15:04:00.283-04:00Romney, religion-talk, take #2

Some people just don't pay attention when they read my blog. Let me repeat. It is not bigotry to say that, in a yes-or-no situation, Mormons are not Christian -- unless you consider "not Christian" to be a slur. The issue is that Mormonism is a variant form of Christianity that many would place outside of the mainstream, because Mormons claim a definitive revelation after Christ. It is

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-55796015161950044852011-10-09T13:27:00.002-04:002011-10-09T14:23:45.986-04:00Romney's Mormon Underwear

One good thing happened in the Republican primary recently, and it's not that Sarah Palin was put permanently out to pasture. I'm calling this weekend the end of the Mormon wars. Mitt's been accused of belonging to a non-Christian cult. I don't think it will stick anymore. In terms of the religious landscape in the US, the charge that Mormonism is a cult says much more about the accusers than

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-83383184588962106202011-09-26T06:31:00.000-04:002011-09-26T06:31:37.006-04:00"A Catholic Call to Abolish the Death Penalty"

Thanks to Gerald J. Beyer, Alexander Mikulich, Emily Reimer-Barry and Tobias Winright, for their work in writing the text of "A Catholic Call to Abolish the Death Penalty," which I have signed. "... Therefore, in concert with our recent popes and bishops, we oppose the death penalty, whether a person on death row is guilty or innocent, on both theological and practical grounds. While we

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-16674674714197033902011-08-10T11:50:00.000-04:002011-08-10T11:50:12.666-04:00Phyllis Zagano, "Women & Catholicism"

My review of Phyllis Zagano's new book, Women & Catholicism: Gender, Communion and Authority is available on the NCR website.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-80473408757177686052011-06-14T12:36:00.007-04:002011-06-14T12:41:36.242-04:00Elizabeth Scalia on Homosexuality

Over at First Things, Elizabeth Scalia has a thoughtful post on homosexuality. I confess that I often find her too snarky and almost didn't click on the link. In fact, snark is where she begins, rolling her eyes at an awards-show winner, as he claims exuberantly that gays are "exceptional people." But then she pauses, and wonders... Perhaps homosexuals are in fact “special and exceptional

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-42073627990440529242011-03-07T10:17:00.001-05:002011-03-07T10:17:41.204-05:00Advise me, friends...

If you follow this off-and-on blog, you know I've been distracted for a while. All is well, I'm back. Today's question: I'm wondering if I should shift this all to Facebook. I am not on it, was on for a few weeks at one point but it seemed to be an odd thing. But now, for the kind of commentary I'd like to do, and the interactive portion I'd like to sustain, I'm thinking that Facebook would

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-82081244762010453852011-02-14T15:55:00.002-05:002011-02-14T17:13:40.201-05:00"American Catholic Exceptionalism"

Mark Silk, in a post titled "American Catholic Exceptionalism," hits the nail on the head. He surveys the latest from Philadelphia and Los Angeles, and then turns to Boston's Cardinal O'Malley who, charged with examining the Irish Church, argues for significant change -- for the Church in Ireland. Silk's closing observation: "In Ireland, they understand that clericalism is the problem. Here,

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-82320664466255461342010-12-30T09:12:00.004-05:002010-12-31T03:58:12.867-05:00Kidney donation can't be part of the deal

The New York Times reports this morning that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour will suspend the sentences of two sisters, who have already served significant time and whose sentences of life in prison are excessive. This is good. But check out the conditions: one sister, Jamie, is on dialysis (read: expensive to keep in prison) and so, as a condition of the other sister, Gladys,' suspended

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-46898988669787756472010-12-22T10:22:00.004-05:002010-12-22T11:16:00.391-05:00Census results, parish closings

Mark Gray has an interesting blog post (charts! graphs!) on yesterday's census report, which documents the U.S. population shift from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West. Continuing his attempt to nuance headlines about Catholics leaving the church (he seems to think numbers matter, go figure), he notes that the pattern of parish closings and openings correlate with this population

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-72347108869540252622010-12-06T10:37:00.004-05:002010-12-28T13:25:38.018-05:00Marriage, an ongoing series

My attention span is even shorter than you think. Early mornings usually find me express-caffeinating while clicking between the news and email -- resulting, this morning, in a mental mash-up of Ross Douthat's column in the NYTimes and an invitation to a wedding of two former Fairfield University students. Douthat presses the point of the culture/class/marriage news that I've been circling for

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-63971581157117615812010-10-25T11:01:00.001-04:002010-10-25T11:10:53.282-04:00Working mothers

At the Economix blog (NYTimes website), Nancy Folbre posts "Rich Mom, Poor Mom." Summarizing the research of two sociologists, she reports what we all know -- that those comments about good moms never missing a dance recital or school conference are written by wealthy moms. One cruel aspect of policies in this country is that, as Professor Budig and Ms. Hodges put it, “high-earning childless

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-49132583213769929472010-10-12T09:15:00.005-04:002010-12-28T13:24:50.094-05:00It's the "sacramental data," stupid!

Tom Roberts (National Catholic Reporter), in a new installment of his "Emerging Church series, "The 'Had It' Catholics," chronicles the rise of 'fallen-away' Catholics, noting that ex-Catholics, if considered a religious denomination in the U.S., would be the second largest, between the larger group of Catholics and the next smaller group, Southern Baptists. But for the key point, he highlights

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-59117156411344689832010-09-21T06:46:00.002-04:002010-09-21T06:47:38.903-04:00Undocumented in Higher Ed

Following up on yesterday's post, I now find a piece by Katherine Mangan, "Illegal Voices: Undocumented Students Describe Uncertain Futures," in the most recent Chronicle of Higher Education. Here's Edilsa Lopez: The first year we were in the States, I didn't go to school. I was 13, and my siblings and I worked a lot. We painted numbers on curbs because that was my mother's boyfriend's job.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-83157040615470815062010-09-20T09:16:00.000-04:002010-09-20T09:16:35.777-04:00Undocumented immigrants: signs of hope

Three interesting developments: 1. I was struck by this Sunday's public observation by Colin Powell on NBC's "Meet the Press" that undocumented workers have worked on his house (transcript). This recognition, following on George W. Bush's efforts on immigration (out of step with Republicans then, and off the charts now), might go far to set this conversation on a bi-partisan, pragmatic footing.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-26339562282252861432010-09-05T17:14:00.001-04:002010-09-05T17:15:51.990-04:00When "respectability" is not a choice for you

A recent essay in Wall Street Journal by Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins, and W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project, connects the dots between job insecurity, marriage rates, and religious practice for working-class Americans. In "The Generation that Can't Move On Up," they report that without a path into the wages and job security once possible for

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-60702708023032497712010-08-08T09:32:00.005-04:002010-09-19T16:51:06.608-04:00"Mama Grizzlies?" Not a good idea

From today's Connecticut Post (posted Friday, print edition Sunday), my op-ed on Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzly" movement -- her suggestion that all we need to do to fix this country is rear up on our hind legs and roar. Bottom line: Mama Grizzlies don't produce jobs for other grizzlies. They don't organize to care for weak or vulnerable or disabled grizzlies. They don't drive innovation, they

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-4332511715356584962010-08-07T14:28:00.001-04:002010-08-08T09:54:46.986-04:00Prop 8: quote of the day

At the Atlantic wire, a round-up on the question of whether allowing gay marriage will lead to polygamy. Daniel McCarthy has made an observation that I find to be central to the whole issue -- echoing, to some extent, the work of Paul Griffiths I cite in the previous post. "The question of polygamy is completely separate from that of gay marriage," dissents Daniel McCarthy at The American

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-61658591835354529582010-07-16T09:54:00.005-04:002010-08-08T09:57:14.749-04:00Stuart Koehl, in FT: Same Stuff, Different Day

In the last two posts, to my thinking, we've been having a conversation about the nature of Catholic faith. Some have argued that the Church is so damaged that we need to withdraw from the institution to practice our faith in the integrity of our individual selves (see my previous two entries, on Charles Pierce's recent essay in the Boston Globe magazine). I have disagreed, saying that no

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-24187570518307362852010-07-12T09:47:00.002-04:002010-07-12T11:11:25.515-04:00Pierce: response

[This is an update to the previous post] Tom Roberts at NCR mentioned the Pierce essay on his blog. In the comments section of that blog, I mentioned my response to Pierce (see previous post here). Roberts then did a follow-up post, highlighting my response to Pierce (thank you). So now, via Roberts' blog on the National Catholic Reporter website, here's a heartfelt, and thoughtful response to

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-10316344730127361522010-07-10T10:28:00.005-04:002010-07-25T11:10:40.840-04:00Charles Pierce, Boston Globe: MTP

In this weekend's Boston Globe magazine, author Charles P. Pierce outlines a vision of a late-modern (hyper-masculine?) settlement with Catholic Christianity in his "What I Believe." Outraged by the failures of the institution, failures that he correctly observes are systemic, not merely regrettable episodes, Pierce limns the lament of one who sees the faith in the somber hues of purple. He

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-8565238257009539272010-07-09T16:07:00.003-04:002010-07-09T16:09:29.979-04:00Sucker. Punched.

David Gibson, Politics Daily: New rules the Vatican is expected to issue soon on penalties for priests who sexually abuse children will also put the ordaining of women in the same category of the most serious crimes under church law. Church sources told Catholic News Service that the new "norms," as the policies are called, will include the "attempted ordination of women" among the list of most

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-8838958495496444732010-05-17T13:51:00.003-04:002010-05-25T07:15:14.518-04:00Science and Religion, the debate goes on…

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Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-17026874224267180602010-05-14T11:29:00.011-04:002010-05-15T09:21:47.046-04:00Jamie Manson: Grace in the Church's Margins

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Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-27210176778826155092010-05-11T09:28:00.005-04:002010-05-15T09:21:00.340-04:00Talking myself down

[Jamie Manson will be the speaker at a VOTF meeting in the First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk, CT. 7:30 pm, Thursday, May 13th. Info: mbhickey@optonline.net] In theory, I think institutions are very important things. Human communities that do real good are more than simply spontaneous gatherings of (currently) like-minded folks, human communities that do real good are

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-75289377843681172032010-05-08T08:53:00.004-04:002010-05-15T09:20:37.546-04:00"Where were her brothers?"

Early reports about the unfolding events around the Yeardley Love murder indicated that both the men's and the women's lacrosse teams would continue their seasons, "in her honor," even as a male lacrosse player was charged in her death. I just shook my head -- did no one at UVA see that such symmetry was no longer appropriate? Why didn't the men's team forfeit a game or two, stay home, sit out

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-24651843346229882272010-04-03T21:34:00.000-04:002010-04-03T21:34:43.003-04:00Colleen Gibson on the empty tomb

Fairfield graduate Colleen Gibson ('09) reflects on the gospel for Easter Sunday, John 20:1-9 The tomb is empty. Of course the tomb is empty. To be honest, I would be more shocked if it wasn't. If somehow I awoke this Easter morning and the stone was not rolled away. The last three days, the Triduum, have run like clockwork: A meal and some washing Thursday, an execution and much mourning

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-89417753457341303182010-03-12T09:09:00.000-05:002010-03-12T09:09:31.032-05:00Fourth Sunday of Lent: The Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

Written for the Fairfield University Alumni Relations Lenten Reflections series... This familiar parable has grown with me, willing to be unwrapped, layer by layer, patiently biding its time through the liturgical year for my fitful attention. It caught me as it catches us all, with a powerful first impression of the all-forgiving God. I recall well how the story of the merciful and loving

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-70134054705417229662010-01-30T10:31:00.003-05:002010-05-10T14:35:07.667-04:00Today's Reading Archive

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Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-21989980311129362052010-01-13T07:52:00.003-05:002010-01-13T07:56:15.484-05:00On Kristof, "Religion and Women," NYTimes

I'm officially not blogging, so we'll just call this an "observation:" I have a letter to the editor in today's NYTimes, commenting on Nicholas Kristof's recent column, "Religion and Women." Check it out. Kristof closed his piece by playing off "human rights" against backward religions that focus on "earthy ... genitals" (in the first draft, I'm sure he wrote "naughty bits"). This elicited a

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-19496090528344255052010-01-01T21:07:00.006-05:002010-01-05T08:17:24.863-05:00Greetings for the New Year

Friends: I'm going on an extended blog break, perhaps till Easter. I may keep posting a daily reading, and the blogroll will remain alive. I'll send out a general blast to my email list when I return, if you'd like to be on that, feel free to send me an email at nancydallavalle@gmail[dot]com. Thanks for your patience, Nancy

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-45962208438400974082009-12-15T08:26:00.003-05:002009-12-15T16:16:42.995-05:00We're all religion scholars now

Call it religion-envy. I understand. Martha Nussbaum concedes that the big questions, in the popular mind, are now owned by religion, not so much by philosophy. Indeed, every political junkie can now spell Niebuhr, and David Brooks, arguing that the Oslo talk might be Obama's best, freely refers to "Obama's Christian Realism." On the other hand, in the "is this fair?" department, many

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-65522300519508691262009-12-11T05:35:00.006-05:002009-12-12T19:11:46.304-05:00Mix-and-match religion: the "playlist effect"

Buried in yet another news report about the mix-and-don't-worry-about-matching approach contemporary Americans take to religion is a nifty metaphor. The report itself, "Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths," repeats what we've seen before. When polled, Americans tend to report an eclectic approach to religious belief and practice, for example, a sizeable minority of Christians also believe in

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-26934915328057912352009-12-09T21:09:00.002-05:002009-12-12T19:12:31.518-05:00Reality check, and a sign of hope

One more vote for Melinda Henneberger: in her latest, titled (I just report here, boys and girls) "Of Babies and Boners," she justifiably rips Senator Boxer, for comparing access to abortion to access to Viagra. Henneberger does not mince words: "I'm not sure anybody who views "reproductive rights" – a euphemism if ever there was one -- as a basic human right could fathom why that's an

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-88259020528074945532009-12-09T07:13:00.008-05:002009-12-12T19:10:50.759-05:00Mary: Feminist Sister or Mediatrix of Grace?

How a given era understands the Blessed Virgin often reflects how that era understands itself. This is not an original idea, theologians have long noticed, for example, that Mariology and ecclesiology mirror one another. In an age of feminism, then, Melinda Henneberger, editor of Politics Daily, claims Mary as her own, in "The (Feminist!) Feast of the Immaculate Conception." At the America

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-47464743913323636532009-12-08T12:27:00.001-05:002009-12-08T12:28:04.770-05:00Mahony of LA on immigration and health care

Once again, Archbishop Mahony speaks out for immigrants, in today's NYTimes... In many conversations with people around the country, I have found that the dreadful anti-immigrant rhetoric that dominates talk shows does not represent the views of a majority of Americans, who do not reject immigrants out of hand as a burden. Instead, they want to find a way for these people to emerge from the

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-23747991606772678432009-12-08T09:43:00.008-05:002009-12-12T07:37:05.197-05:00Senate vote on abortion and health care

The issue, all along, with funding for abortion in the various proposed health care plans, has been whether these plans expand federal funding for abortion, or not. The spoken/unspoken "deal" with the U.S. bishops has been that they will support health care only as long as federal support for abortion is not expanded from the current situation, which is defined by the limits of the Hyde

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-63126764152442386992009-12-07T14:42:00.005-05:002009-12-07T19:26:58.523-05:00Uganda 's proposed anti-homosexuality legislation

I'm not a big signer of statements. But the proposed anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda, that would criminalize same-sex relations -- "criminalize" as in life in prison or the death penalty -- is simply wrong. David Waters, at the Washington Post's On Faith blog, gives an overview (see also NCR here and here) and quotes the following summary of the proposed legislation, as reported in

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-13008089392173627212009-11-22T06:48:00.002-05:002009-11-22T06:53:31.428-05:00Church, moving forward

David Gibson has a good wrap of the bishops' meeting, note his title: Catholic Bishops Look to Get Their House in Order. The election of moderate bishops to specific committee chairs had struck me as well, the key point for me is that this is not a choice for bishops with "mushy" convictions over those with different, hard-right convictions. Instead, it's a style thing -- what these elections

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-76773744375403306322009-11-17T07:29:00.010-05:002009-11-17T15:02:21.960-05:00U.S. Bishops Meet, and other news

Friends, sorry to be away for a bit, back now. Blogging for Politics Daily, David Gibson reports on the U.S. bishops meeting in Baltimore: The leader of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States on Monday launched a new effort to rein in Catholic debates and dissidents and to remind the flock that the bishops will be the arbiters of what it means to be a Catholic. In remarks at the opening

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-48554613781992222612009-11-04T09:23:00.005-05:002009-11-04T14:14:16.584-05:00Election results

No global statement on the not-yet-midterm elections here, we make only modest observations. John Dickerson, posting in Slate just after midnight, offers nuance, rejecting the notion of Obama coat-tails one way or another. "But," he adds... ... all this talk about Obama also obscures a better message: For the GOP, the stronger argument coming out of the 2009 elections is that voters are

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-49899058091331985572009-11-02T01:21:00.004-05:002009-11-02T01:27:53.271-05:00Ritual Discomfort

Yesterday, we went to Hardy's funeral.What did I think of? Of Max Beerbohm’s letter, or a lecture about women’s writing. At intervals some emotion broke through. But I doubt the capacity of the human animal for being dignified in ceremony. Virginia Woolf, "Hardy's Funeral," (January 1928) Our discomfort with ritual is leading us away from our bodies, and making us not more "real," but in fact

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-92108691751007181272009-10-31T15:37:00.001-04:002009-10-31T15:39:08.253-04:00A Very Significant "Clarification"

The well-connected Fr. James Martin brings us the scoop, his blog posting is titled "Vatican Clarification: Ordaining Married Men A Possibility". It opens thus: In response to various reports over the upcoming apostolic constitution on admitting Anglicans into the church, Cardinal William Levada, through the Vatican's press officer, Frederico Lombardi, S.J., took the unusual step of issuing this

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-9800641814157555672009-10-30T12:21:00.013-04:002009-11-02T09:08:24.882-05:00Benedict, Anglicans, and the Rule

In an earlier post on the recent opening to traditionalist Anglicans, I noted that Pope Benedict seemed to be vigorously ticking off items on the papal "to-do" list. But some other commentators, noting the same movement, get off on the wrong foot because they are missing the point about his namesake. For example, in the Washington Post's "On Faith" section today, Patrick J. Deneen, an academic

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-79214816795649804182009-10-28T10:31:00.000-04:002009-10-28T10:31:38.970-04:00Justice and the Common Good

The Washington Post's Michael Gerson is often good, today he does a real public service, offering a quick overview of the very accessible and public-spirited work of the moral philosopher Michael Sandel. In closing, Gerson observes that Sandel sets out to confront the most difficult moral issues in politics. He ends up clarifying a basic political divide -- not between left and right, but

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-7189050407531523392009-10-27T07:48:00.000-04:002009-10-27T07:48:59.404-04:00The Pointy End

On Morning Joe, a veteran pilot has just made clear his exasperation with the two Northwest pilots who flew right by Minneapolis, engrossed, they now claim, with a scheduling exercise on their laptops. (It seems likely that this is less than the whole story.) The veteran has just fulminated that, if your seats are "in the pointy end" of the aircraft, you'd better have your act together better

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-44157769350414741942009-10-24T12:26:00.006-04:002009-10-25T20:44:29.674-04:00Ecumenism, right and left

I like Anglicans. (Well, there was this one who consistently made snide comments about "that dogma our Roman friends so appropriately refer to as 'the Assumption,'" but there's no reason to write the whole gang off because of a single bad apple, right?) Given my generally hospitable nature, you'd think I'd be happy about our newest outreach effort: the notice earlier this week that a special

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-78867178603815230732009-10-15T10:55:00.009-04:002009-10-24T12:29:03.659-04:00Smart women get real

Tina Brown had a great essay on Hillary Clinton, "Hillary and the 'Woman Thing,'" few days ago. Having gone after the presidency -- the presidency -- with all her strength, and lost, she simply turned around and, Brown observes, pressed "the reset button." To a remarkable level, Hillary, writes Brown, ... communicates a deep lack of insecurity. Locked in the Situation Room with alpha dogs all

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-74790938919019105922009-10-09T09:42:00.011-04:002009-10-15T10:58:29.684-04:00Obama's Nobel -- Share the Wealth

(No, I don't mean the money, though he certainly will start a foundation or institute or something. Something modest, of course, $1.4 million doesn't go all that far.) The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama is certainly a surprise, rightly catching even the inner circle of his tightly managed ruling bloc off-guard. The element of surprise is good for two reasons: 1.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-68407763926194911842009-10-08T18:38:00.001-04:002009-10-24T12:30:08.494-04:00Bishops Raise Good Questions on Health Care

H/T Stephanopoulos' blog at abcnews: In a letter just released, the three Catholic bishops leading the Church’s efforts on health care warned Congress that “we will have no choice but to oppose the bill” unless current bills are amended. The letter signed by Bishop William Murphy, Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop John Wester outlines three main areas of concern: “that no one should be forced

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-66504685722670304592009-10-03T08:01:00.011-04:002009-10-15T11:01:02.633-04:00In which FLOTUS doesn't lose the Olympics

In the "no one's asking me, but" category: Barack changed plans and joined the Olympic effort at the last minute because Michelle thought that it could be a bust and didn't want it to become THE story on FLOTUS (not that anyone's remembering Hillary and health care). Think about it. He didn't go there to take the win away from her -- if Michelle had been close to claiming victory, Barack's

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-59542640194191856762009-09-25T21:58:00.010-04:002009-09-26T09:13:59.276-04:00Blog evolution

Careful readers will note a few changes to the ever-evolving blog. I figured out how to use the jump mode -- ok, I figured out which icon to click -- for quicker home page scanning, and so I won't be worried about having lenghthy essays on the home page. I also have discontinued the "Today's Reading" sidebar, and will simply list these in a daily post, as I often want to comment a bit on why a

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-14766275134730485602009-09-23T09:02:00.006-04:002009-09-25T20:24:27.003-04:00James Alison at Fairfield University

James Alison spoke at Fairfield last evening, giving a talk titled "Something for Everyone: Gay Catholics as Good News for a Changing Church.'' A systematic theologian, Alison claims that Catholic theology is facing a fundamental shift as it assimilates a new anthropological insight, that is, that homosexuality (he eschews the language of 'orientation') is a real "minority variant." Only in

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-72810578210231035092009-09-21T05:27:00.016-04:002009-09-26T09:15:03.363-04:00Rural Rap

Check out Today's Reading on "The Rural Brain Drain." My second choice for the "Today's Reading" nod was a piece from the NYTimes Week in Review, on the similarities between rap music and talk radio, "Call it Ludacris..." by David Segal. Placing these two pieces side-by-side is instructive. Segal observes that both rap and talk radio are, finally, conservative: celebrating a myth of individual '

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-35133693894980934482009-09-19T13:18:00.007-04:002009-09-25T20:29:34.958-04:00Recent News

Recent news: The Connecticut Post ran this story on September 17th: "In one life, Douglas Perlitz was an honored Fairfield University graduate and commencement speaker whose missionary work with Haitian street children raised millions of dollars and was commended as an "inspiration to people of all ages." In his other life, a grand jury says Perlitz sexually abused at least nine of the Haitian

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-39088053586225681302009-08-29T10:58:00.009-04:002009-09-25T20:23:52.894-04:00Kennedy Funeral [and 7/31 update]

Am watching the Kennedy funeral. Just watched the arrival of the hearse, and the careful and deliberate choreography of the military guard as they took the coffin from the hearse and carried it, step by lockstep, to the curb, to the church, and up the steps to the great doors. Each step was called out, the flag-covered coffin held with respect, parallel to the ground even as they climbed the

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-62169268637633798992009-08-28T20:17:00.000-04:002009-08-28T20:18:30.637-04:00Gone Fishing

Blog break till Monday, September 7th. See you then.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-80927595294549530052009-08-26T05:11:00.005-04:002009-08-26T05:57:08.033-04:00Senator Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009

Boston Globe obituary, this morning:He was the youngest child of a famous family, but his legacy derived from quiet subcommittee meetings, conference reports, and markup sessions. The result of his efforts meant hospital care for a grandmother, a federal loan for a working college student, or a better wage for a dishwasher.May he rest in peace.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-21531872976566260992009-08-25T08:24:00.011-04:002009-09-25T20:27:43.624-04:00Hillary Clinton's Global Agenda

As many observed, Hillary Clinton's Africa trip flew mostly under the radar, emerging only with a gotcha moment when she snapped at someone asking about Bill (or they weren't asking about Bill, or they were asking about Bill after all, depending on which report you believe -- I've now typed his name three times as much as hers thus far, gosh, why does that happen?). Clinton is doing something

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-16424995333888672602009-08-24T07:15:00.005-04:002009-09-25T20:28:09.569-04:00NYT Magazine: Women's Rights and Human Rights

The Times Magazine had a complete issue on the question of women's rights this past weekend, anchored by the work of Nicholas Kristof, and reflecting themes he has followed in his column for some time: sex trafficking, micro-finance for the developing world, and maternal mortality. Today's Reading links to the audio slideshow overview. I'll be mining this issue for blog entries this week.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-52782851575917799222009-08-20T11:02:00.006-04:002009-08-21T07:15:35.587-04:00Insecurity for most? -- UPDATED

Check this out -- Simon Johnson on the NYT Economix blog: "The Two-Track Economy: Inequality emerging from today's recession."Here's what I've most feared, watching the economy slid rapidly and now "recover:" a permanent shift to a divided U.S., in which the very elite are cut loose from the common good.Johnson's global perspective should give us pause.UPDATE: I first put in Johnson's title,

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-49998481414959342662009-08-14T10:39:00.005-04:002009-08-15T10:52:50.140-04:00Vocations "R" Us

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Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-69797477494534263882009-08-13T09:40:00.003-04:002009-08-13T09:57:34.383-04:00Amy Sullivan gets the point

In "About That Pro-Life Majority," Amy Sullivan notes that a May 2009 Gallup poll, in which a surprising majority of those polled called themselves "pro-life," has been followed by a recent poll, in which the pro-life/pro-choice division has gone back to its usual even-steven split (47%-46%). Sullivan concludes:"I'm with Mark Silk, who thinks that the most interesting finding is that

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-47919433312288987142009-08-11T08:57:00.008-04:002009-08-11T10:27:11.088-04:00A 'blooming, buzzing' world

In today's Science Times, Carol Kaesuk Yoon has an eloquent reflection, "Reviving the Lost Art of Naming the World."In example after vivid example, Yoon describes numerous "studies that show that sorting and naming the natural world is a universal, deep-seated and fundamental human activity, one we cannot afford to lose because it is essential to understanding the living world, and our place in

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-82822211787440773822009-08-10T17:09:00.003-04:002009-08-12T09:06:21.892-04:00Two updates

1. Over at the Commonweal blog, Mollie Wilson O'Reilly has started a discussion on the Alice McDermott short story I mentioned in mid-July, "I Am Awake." The story is beautiful -- why not read it and join me in posting your impressions?2. On Friday, I posted "Sister, and all her sisters," and referred to a blog posting by Sr. Mary Ann Walsh, at the USCCB media blog. I've just discovered that

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-21854750786440561082009-08-10T10:10:00.007-04:002009-08-10T15:50:25.712-04:00Gays and Lesbians and Churchiness

David Gibson has an essay up at Politics Daily, "Why Gay Guys are Churchier Than Their Straight Bretheran." Of interest was Gibson's mention of an argument by Christian de la Huerta (in the book "Coming Out Spiritually"), that "gay people are, among other things, forced to mediate across the gap between their sexuality and spirituality, a divide straight Christians do not have to negotiate."This

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-29488928487702070792009-08-07T11:13:00.011-04:002009-08-09T14:05:01.564-04:00Sister, and all her sisters

I was in Stop n' Shop yesterday afternoon, buying bananas, and ran into Sister Julianna, a patient and wise woman who taught at Fairfield for years, and is now retired. We chatted about various developments at school. She asked about my children and I gave her the official update.As we parted, I wanted to turn back, and ask for her prayers for one of my kids (the official update was not quite

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-28462780326763850862009-08-06T07:44:00.004-04:002009-08-07T09:49:04.641-04:00August 6th: Feast of the Transfiguration

... the feast-day of this blog.Thou shalt know him when he comesnot by any din of drumsnor the manner of his airs,nor by anything he wears,neither by his crown nor his gown.But his coming known shall beby the holy harmonywhich his coming makes in thee. [anon, 15-16th century?]UPDATE: Composer Craig Carnahan has set this text to music, a clip is on his site.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-38344983149816785452009-08-05T15:31:00.003-04:002009-08-05T15:46:28.892-04:00Congratulations, Ambassador Díaz!

Rocco Palmo (Whispersintheloggia) has the news -- Miguel Díaz was confirmed by the Senate last night as Ambassador to the Vatican. Here is my blog entry from the announcement of his nomination in May, "Miguel Díaz, the next ambassador to the Vatican?" Knowing the drill, Rocco also notes that when Díaz arrives, Pope Benedict XVI will "offer a public address on the Holy See's assessment of

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-59183826200344236972009-08-04T09:25:00.009-04:002009-08-05T09:42:13.560-04:00The 50-year itch?

A piece by Politico's Eamon Javers caught my eye: "Consumers, voters, change their minds fast and often."Javers' key anecdote cites a "veteran divorce attorney" who is finding more couples divorcing at a later age, even after fifty years of marriage. Midwestern gal that I am, I noticed the vantage point for that divorce attorney, Linda Lea Viken: Manhattan? Boston? LA? Not likely, you'd

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-54463354615212565542009-08-03T08:55:00.004-04:002009-08-03T16:38:05.114-04:00Monday Mash

David Gibson, whose quick-out-of-the-gate book-length treatment on the new pope won the best title award (The Rule of Benedict), has moved from Beliefnet to Politics Daily. I'm a fan of Melinda Henneberger (check out the blogroll) and have followed her efforts on Politics Daily with cheers. So, some nifty synergy going on.And, in the "synergy" category, compare these two analyses of the role

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-54289010902266273002009-07-25T17:45:00.016-04:002009-07-27T08:50:48.667-04:00That Wedding Video

Ok, so let me join in the general shout-out to the "JK Wedding Entrance Dance"-- YouTube video. I'll just wait here while you watch it, take your time...Why is this so terrific? Because it says that a wedding is a joyous celebration. And because it's the most wholesome thing I've seen about weddings in a long time.It's a curious thing, you have to admit: as the social mores about sexuality

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-24970849447133944682009-07-23T11:16:00.004-04:002009-07-23T13:51:57.529-04:00The boss is blogging!

Fr. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., President of Fairfield University, has begun a blog, "The President's View," at the Connecticut Post. His focus, not surprisingly, is higher education, particularly education that serves the good of the whole community. He lays out his agenda in his opening post, asking how best we can "give our young people the quality education they deserve. Their education should

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-17168915771588692232009-07-17T07:03:00.003-04:002009-07-17T12:03:10.932-04:00Lo, how a rose...

Michael Paulson at the Boston Globe (Articles of Faith) doesn't know it, but we're having a gardening competition.When we moved into our current house, in 2001, there were roses in the front yard. My home-and-garden skills are few, and the roses did not survive. I planted others, neglected them, and got the same result. (Not to worry, we do feed the children.)I felt bad about this. No, I do

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-16028226625660110502009-07-14T09:58:00.004-04:002009-07-15T10:37:24.662-04:00Alice McDermott in Commonweal

Got teens, God bless 'em all? Then check out Alice McDermott's new short story, "I Am Awake," featured in the July 17, 2009 issue of Commonweal magazine, free on the website (yes, you should subscribe, they run on a frayed shoestring). Click HERE.She tells the aching and ordinary truth, with a deeply sacramental and communal lens. In other words, she's a Catholic writer.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-64651616153809446192009-07-12T13:38:00.002-04:002009-07-15T10:38:53.327-04:00Pope Benedict: Let's get rid of the veil...

[re-posted from late Saturday...][pix: H/T Paulson at the Globe, see below]This is just embarrassing... and no, I have no desire to feature the picture of Michelle Obama with a veil.Let's think about this. First of all, we note that, in the past, it was customary for Roman Catholic women to wear some kind of veil, often lace, to mass. I did this as a child.In some traditionalist parishes, this

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-24806188049854922922009-07-11T17:21:00.003-04:002009-07-15T10:39:17.367-04:00Benedict - Barack

When Benedict Meets Barack [my op-ed from the print edition of the Connecticut Post, Friday, July 10th]Friday's meeting between President Barack Obama and Pope Benedict XVI promises to be a study in contrasts: tall, brown and athletic versus slight, pale and reticent. We know Obama will wear a dark suit, a light shirt, a nice tie and a flag pin. For Benedict it will be a skirted ensemble,

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-8012844928555937072009-06-10T07:44:00.007-04:002009-06-10T14:04:09.798-04:00Catholics on the Supreme Court: Conflict?

David Gibson has flagged an interesting editorial by Joyce Appleby (emerita, UCLA). Appleby seems to be concerned about the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court, and suggests that they recuse themselves in certain cases, cases in which, she holds, their "ingrained conviction" is as problematic as the social or financial entanglements that often are the reason for a given judge's recusal,

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-85522268764838286162009-06-09T09:46:00.003-04:002009-06-09T10:00:07.369-04:00"Called to Holiness"

Check out a terrific new site, based on a new series of books edited by my Fairfield University colleague, Elizabeth Dreyer, www.called to holiness.org.Anchored by her own offering in the series, "Making Sense of God," these books present a thoughtful and practical look at spiritual life for Catholic women. Three of the books won awards at the recent annual meeting of the Catholic Press

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-2351061269811326642009-06-08T08:50:00.004-04:002009-07-15T10:40:05.127-04:00"No one is stopping you from stopping yourself."

From "Today's Reading," by Benjamin Kunkel, a reminder (to self) about putting pixels in their place."....So it is not culture that never ends on the internet; it is the internet itself that never ends. And yet the same might be said about any object of compulsion. Consider Siegel's examples of pre-internet pastimes. There were always people who when they went to a corner bar for a drink ended up

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-79550677452205718302009-06-02T10:27:00.004-04:002009-06-02T14:19:19.019-04:00Women in the Church: Impasse? Or "fully alive?"

I'm getting a paper ready for presentation at the CTSA, the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America, this year in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Updated the passport, but where the heck did I put it? (And, note to self: save passport photo for my future mortician, so the make-up is done the right way, instead of mistakenly trying to make me look too ... you know... life-like.)The

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-35741363337707415112009-05-31T14:24:00.003-04:002009-05-31T14:54:43.740-04:00The culture of death in action

Anyone who has identified with the label "pro-life" needs to clearly condemn the murder, this morning, of Dr. George Tiller, shot at church. An early report is HERE.We have free speech, we have the democratic process, we have courts.This act is an example of the culture of death in action, without remainder.Rest in peace, Dr. Tiller.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-65512526787085492902009-05-28T21:23:00.007-04:002009-05-29T08:38:27.237-04:00"Sharp-tongued" Sotomayor?

The NYTimes has an analysis piece on Sotomayor today...describing Sotomayor as "sharp-tongued:" "Sotomayor's Sharp Tongue Raises Questions of Temperment."Have you ever heard a man described as "sharp-tongued?"(Have you ever heard of a "handbasket" that wasn't on the way to hell?)The comparison is to Justice Scalia, but the language, to describe him, changes to "ascerbic, " without the Homeric

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-13164944562253901412009-05-28T10:51:00.011-04:002009-05-28T12:02:57.084-04:00Miguel Díaz, the next ambassador to the Vatican?

Congratulations are due to Miguel Díaz, nominated by the Obama administration to be ambassador to the Vatican. Catch the early word from Rocco Palmo.[More home team rooting, here -- our paths crossed at Notre Dame, where we both did our doctoral work in trinitarian theology, and he is now at the School of Theology at St. John's University in Collegeville, where I did my master's work, long ago (

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-64735821094116844702009-05-27T09:58:00.002-04:002009-05-27T10:01:47.229-04:00in which I sort of agree with Bill Donohue

...in a CNN story, Donohue gives a cheer, of sorts, for Sotomayor -- since she's on "the home team."

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-69329634045357512652009-05-26T16:28:00.007-04:002009-05-27T08:28:29.228-04:00Sotomayor: a Catholic intellect, not an ideologue

A sixth Catholic for the Court? Works for me.For the once-over on Sotomayor as Catholic, Michael Paulson at the Globe has a good round-up of first impressions HERE. (I'm adding his "Articles of Faith" to the re-invigorated blogroll box...)Permit me to wave the flag for a minute here. Note Paulson's own observation, at the end of his post, about Obama's nod to Catholic schools as a traditional

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-30137338763921136382009-05-24T17:06:00.009-04:002009-05-27T08:29:44.729-04:00Odds n' Ends

I observed two entries ago the rising number of young adults who are comfortable with gays and lesbians AND call themselves pro-life. This is surprising only to us old people who are obsessed with red state/blue state categories.Young viewers of contemporary TV have been fed a steady high-sugar diet of friendly lesbians and celebrity teen bumps, all shot with gorgeous production values. And

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-89826371198481103702009-05-17T20:58:00.001-04:002009-05-27T08:30:10.338-04:00Obama at Notre Dame III

Bottom line on today:Barack Obama did exactly the right thing today, by saying nothing new. Instead, he demonstrated, by his patient, self-critical, and inclusive style, how fit he is to lead our nation forward. Obama does not intend to lead Catholic America, he intends to lead an America in which being Catholic can matter. He job today was not to lose, and to let someone else win.That winner

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-46744768088328822722009-05-17T07:09:00.005-04:002009-05-27T08:30:52.678-04:00Obama at Notre Dame II

A few reflections:1. One writer has pointed out that, of all the bishops who have spoken out against the honorary degree for Obama at Notre Dame (remember, this is the issue for them, not the fact that he's invited to be the commencement speaker), not one has shown up at the protests, preferring to hurl invective from the comfort of their chancery offices. In some ways I find this to be the most

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-85951028053952623922009-05-15T18:26:00.005-04:002009-05-27T08:31:22.245-04:00Obama at Notre Dame

With me, you're probably following the dust-up over Obama receiving an honorary degree from the University of Notre Dame this coming Sunday (May 17th).The group Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good has taken out a full-page ad that will appear in tomorrow's South Bend Tribune. The text is HERE.I've also given this statement for general release to the media folks at Fairfield University:I

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-91839364303860652612009-01-27T09:13:00.006-05:002009-01-27T10:24:41.239-05:00Tuesday highlights

1. In our Today's Reading feature (eyes right), check out the latest from David Brooks.2. From the blogroll, Amy Welborn (Charlotte was Both) has a very helpful perspective on the lifting of the excommunication of the four SSPX bishops. For those of us watching this, more than a bit agast, she suggests the long view. But for the Vatican, she pleads for a much stronger rapid response on the PR

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-76868328094377895022009-01-20T09:18:00.003-05:002009-01-20T09:50:20.823-05:00Inauguration Day

Watching the inauguration this morning, with Margie Faith, who is taking a day off from third grade for a history lesson.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-40288565459954022952009-01-11T19:39:00.006-05:002009-10-23T11:28:10.017-04:00On Being a "Pillar" of the Church

This title can only be used in a blog...that's how ephemeral "pillarhood" is, for any of us... Thinking about the Roger Haight issue, I am reminded of a posting by Valerie Schultz, blogger and essayist for America magazine (HERE). Writing last October, before the general election, she described the pain of sitting through a homily that compared same-sex marriage to the marriage of two monkeys.

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-63920487206296589972009-01-07T11:46:00.009-05:002009-01-08T10:01:23.439-05:00On Roger Haight, and catholicity

Book Review Editor <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-85445452219668636092008-11-26T20:31:00.014-05:002009-10-23T11:29:08.518-04:00It's the functioning institutions, stupid!

I know we think it's all about the money. "It's the economy, stupid" -- this was James Carville's touchstone as campaign strategist for Bill Clinton's victory in 1992. It was a New Democrat, Third Way, triangulating, 'move toward the center' kind of strategy. Democrats would move from the squabbling scrum of interest groups and start talking about business, entrepreneurship, and growing the

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-32802623790117817002008-11-26T20:28:00.002-05:002008-11-26T20:29:48.298-05:00Slow-blogging?

No, friends, I have not joined the slow-blogging movement, I'm just behind...many thanks for the emails...so let me warm up, how's the family, yep, sure is a cold one today, harrumph [gargle noise, muffled cough, handkerchief action, etc.]. Ok, here goes...

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-81084949442772002102008-11-06T20:17:00.005-05:002008-11-25T13:01:06.375-05:00On the Rahm Emanuel pick

Obama couldn't be the first black president, Clinton already has that title, yes? So I guess he'll have to be the first fascist.Which I say in the most loving way. I just want to note that, with Rahm as chief of staff, the testosterone level in that White House will be high. The trains will be very inclusive, but dammit, they'll sure run on time.Which is fine with me. I had to leave Women's

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3080064490702297970.post-53127399164863046622008-11-04T06:52:00.005-05:002008-11-04T08:02:34.715-05:00"Signed, sealed, delivered..." (I voted)

At 5:15 am, Rob and I were the first ones at the local high school. We wandered around, getting in the way of the folks setting up, and finally settled on the floor near the gym doors.#3 walked in around 5:30, a woman in perhaps her mid-fifties, who joined us on the floor. She was in for a double hit of citizenship today, showing up to vote early so that she could get to superior court for jury

Nancy Dallavallehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17521924122968464073noreply@blogger.com