Here is an article by Andrew Greeley in the National Catholic Reporter: Cover story: Mary makes a comeback Like Charlene Spretnak, I would like to think of myself as a pro-Mary progressive. I would like to believe that it is the genius of Catholicism to say “both … and.” I would like to be able to persuade myself that one can say “both ecumenism and Mary,” “both liturgy and the rosary,” “both Mary and dialogue with Islam” (which devotes a whole chapter of the Quran to her), and “both the Council and the ‘Salve Regina.’ ” It would seem that such deviation is not permitted. In these critical days of the fight for gender equality, such messy paradigms are intolerable. At the end of Father Greeley's review of the book is an interview with Charlene Spretnak about her book. Click here for an article from Life Magazine about The Mystery of Mary

Of late I have been drawn to all things Marian. For me this isn't really a new thing, but more of a resurgence of a continuing theme for me. Mary seems to follow me even when I am not associated with the Catholic church. So, I sense a theme coming on... Yesterday I found the book Missing Mary at the library. It was written by Charlene Spretnak, a liberal Catholic who has also written about Green politics and ecofeminism. Read more about the book here: She offers fresh reflections on the meaning of Mary, situating the Marian renewal in the larger context of contemporary efforts to correct the barrenness and sterility of modernity. Spretnak also notes that much of the cosmological symbolism traditionally associated with Mary as the Queen of Heaven and the maternal matrix is simpatico with recent discoveries in scientific cosmology about the profoundly relational nature of the Creation. And, on a tangentially related note, this looks interesting: The Feminist's Rosary - A New Way of Seeing Jesus

Just saw this on Sojourners. Actually, I had seen the "God is not a Republican. Or a Democrat" headline a number of times, but I was not yet aware that it was connected to a petition. There is a really good Flash animation, "The Heavenly Convention" with actual quotes from Falwell and Robertson here. Don't see a credit on it, but it's got to be Mark Fiore's work. Printable petition (PDF) here It says, in part: We believe that sincere Christians and other people of faith can choose to vote for President Bush or Senator Kerry—for reasons deeply rooted in their faith. We believe all candidates should be examined by measuring their policies against the complete range of Christian ethics and values. Read more here

I have been asked to help spread the word about a new web resource: ProgressiveStart.com: Start-Page for the Progressive Movement Since the site creator is asking for feedback, maybe we can help him fill in the religious progressive shaped gap in the directory... Right now is version 1 -- out the gate fast. And some have criticized "it's too much! simplify it". Give it time. DeanPort, I can assure you, has almost twice the number of links -- but when a web user interface designer connects with this information design scheme, the whole thing will look -- and be -- much more manageable. Help it grow by sending in suggestions for links to top-level resources that are missing from the current list. Check out what's already there, and offer suggestions of links to add.

8-year-old Celiac sufferer's First Communion Declared Not Valid What purpose could this possibly serve? This story just breaks my heart... An 8-year-old girl who suffers from a rare digestive disorder and cannot eat wheat has had her first Holy Communion declared invalid because the wafer contained no wheat, violating Roman Catholic doctrine. Now, Haley Waldman's mother is pushing the Diocese of Trenton and the Vatican to make an exception, saying the girl's condition should not exclude her from the sacrament, which commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion. The mother believes a rice Communion wafer would suffice. "It's just not a viable option. How does it corrupt the tradition of the Last Supper? It's just rice versus wheat," said Elizabeth Pelly-Waldman. Church doctrine holds that Communion wafers, like the bread served at the Last Supper, must have at least some unleavened wheat. Church leaders are reluctant to change anything about the sacrament. ... After the church's pastor refused to allow a substitute, a priest at a nearby parish volunteered to offer one, and in May, Haley wore a white Communion dress, and received the sacrament alongside her mother, who had not taken Communion since she herself was diagnosed with the disease. Last month, the diocese told the priest that the church would not validate Haley's sacrament because of the substitute wafer. "I struggled with telling her that the sacrament did not happen," said Pelly-Waldman. "She lives in a world of rules. She says `Mommy, do we want to break a rule? Are we breaking a rule?'" Pelly-Waldman is seeking help from the Pope and has written to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome, challenging the church's policy.

At Blog for America, I have seen some comments recently from people who have had aggravating discussions with friends/family/acquaintances who are voting based on "wedge issues". For example, a person said she would be voting for Bush because of all he has done to end abortion. The posts reminded me that I have seen some web sites and resources addressing these particular issues. I am going to post the ones I know about here, and encourage you to add any others that you know of. PublicChristian.com Check out this site for a paper about why many Christians support Kerry/Edwards. Another article on the site addresses why pro-life Christians should consider voting for pro-choice candidates. Or just click the home page go see the other important topics that are addressed. Also, Sojourners has a special section for articles related to the election. Among the articles is one by Jim Wallis about pro-life Democrats. Other issues addressed include the environment, school vouchers, trade and globalization, immigration, national security, GLBT issues, health care, and taxes.

Some things I learned in church today... Today we had a lay preacher, Jeanne, who I was looking forward to hearing. I had enjoyed her insights when she and I were in a class together in July. It was taught by our rector, George, right after the service. We would discuss the readings for the following week's service, knowing that some of our own thoughts might show up in that week's sermon. Or at least thoughts inspired by our thoughts. Jeanne's sermon today was on faith--our faith in God, and God's faith in us. She shared a story of a time in her life when she felt she had failed in her work, and that this period of time could not have been part of God's plan for her--only to find out years later that the seeds she had sown back then had borne abundant fruit. I like this kind of story, probably because it connects so well with what I am coming to realize. We are always right where we need to be, but we need faith and patience to see the eventual results. But here's what I learned that I didn't know. Apparently Sting sings about God a fair bit. Okay, maybe I'm the last person to find this out, but I really didn't know that before. She quoted some of his lyrics: Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world You could say I lost my faith in the people on T.V. You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians They all seemed like game show hosts to me If I ever lose my faith in you There'd be nothing left for me to do I could be lost inside their lies without a trace But every time I close my eyes, I see your face One of these days I will have to come up with the intestinal fortitude to volunteer to be a lay preacher. One of these days. After church, I saw that some of my fellow parishioners had copies of a new book that I had not heard of: Why Bush Must Go: A Bishop's Faith-Based Challenge by Bennett J. Sims When I came home, I got online to learn more about the book, and the first thing I found was a review of the book in Whosoever, written by our own Candace. Here is an excerpt from her review: Sims sees our current leaders as practicing unilateral leadership, "the top-down, tight-box command style." Instead, Sims believes our country, as well as our world, would be a better, non-violent place if leaders of all stripes practiced a relational style of leadership that he has dubbed "Servant Leadership." Instead of "top-down," Servant Leadership "takes roughly the shape of a circular network, with the leader as the focus of shared authority and responsive to the automatic feedback loops that are part of the structure of the arrangement. William L. Ury contrasts the two models in a vivid sentence: 'Pyramids are held together by coercion; networks are held together by mutual consent.'" Sims admits that Servant Leadership, while greatly admired, is the least practiced form of management, but he insists that "Servant Leaders are the people who can pull the world back to sanity - back from the teetering brink of weaponized self-destruction under bellicose unilateral American leadership." I will definitely have to get my hands on a copy of that book.

According to an article in the Chicago Sun Times, "Superstars from several diverse genres in rock and country -- among them Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and the Dixie Chicks -- are among the more than 20 bands taking part in the Vote for Change tour." Springsteen has written an editorial for the New York Times: Through my work, I've always tried to ask hard questions. Why is it that the wealthiest nation in the world finds it so hard to keep its promise and faith with its weakest citizens? Why do we continue to find it so difficult to see beyond the veil of race? How do we conduct ourselves during difficult times without killing the things we hold dear? Why does the fulfillment of our promise as a people always seem to be just within grasp yet forever out of reach? Asking questions. I like that he sees the value in trying to ask the right questions. I am sure some people will read this and have the knee-jerk "What do celebrities know about these things, anyway?" reaction. But hopefully some people will be reached by this--by hearing admired non-politicians asking questions about things that matter. I don't want people to vote a certain way just because "The Boss" tells them to, but we know that people imitate role models. It would be good to see people imitating role models by thinking and asking questions, and talking about the kind of country we want America to be. The editorial continues: Like many others, in the aftermath of 9/11, I felt the country's unity. I don't remember anything quite like it. I supported the decision to enter Afghanistan and I hoped that the seriousness of the times would bring forth strength, humility and wisdom in our leaders. Instead, we dived headlong into an unnecessary war in Iraq, offering up the lives of our young men and women under circumstances that are now discredited. We ran record deficits, while simultaneously cutting and squeezing services like afterschool programs. We granted tax cuts to the richest 1 percent (corporate bigwigs, well-to-do guitar players), increasing the division of wealth that threatens to destroy our social contract with one another and render mute the promise of "one nation indivisible." It is through the truthful exercising of the best of human qualities - respect for others, honesty about ourselves, faith in our ideals - that we come to life in God's eyes. It is how our soul, as a nation and as individuals, is revealed. Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.

I don't really have any content or thoughts of my own to add, but felt this needed as wide an audience as possible. What can we do? Holocaust Museum Calls Crisis in Sudan 'Genocide Emergency' The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has elevated its assessment of the crisis in the Darfur region in western Sudan to a 'genocide emergency' in response to the increasing level of violence and death. This is the first time in the museum's 11-year history that it has made such a declaration, which is intended to draw world attention to the situation and to apply pressure for a response from Sudan's government. Museum officials say they will open a display about Darfur on Monday to allow to the public to view the devastation in the Darfur region, where government-backed Arab militia members have been attacking black residents, most of them also Muslims. After a unanimous decision by both houses of Congress last week to call the deteriorating situation in Darfur genocide, the designation by the nation's official Holocaust memorial further underscores the urgency of the situation.