Guess who's coming to America...

The pope is coming! The pope is coming!

It's official, according to the Associated Press: B16 is coming to the U.S. of A. in April, visiting Our Nation's Capital and Our Nation's Other Capital (New York). On the docket are meetings with President Bush, meetings with other religious leaders, and, interestingly, meetings with Catholic university presidents. (Hmmm ... university presidents?) And an address to the United Nations.

The press is focusing heavily on the pope's visit to Ground Zero, linking it to the possible candidacy of Rudy Giuliani--a thrice-married Catholic-who-doesn't-go-to-Mass (as the press has been describing him). Not sure what the connection is there--something about abortion and gay marriage or something. No one seems to mention that about half the Democratic field is Catholic.

But I have to wonder: Why is the pope coming to the U.S. during a presidential election year? The nominations will probably be decided by April, of course, but still...

Of course, we're going to be treated to not one but two baseball stadium Masses--yuck! The homes of the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees will play host to liturgical extravaganzas, which, I have to say, I find to be the most bizarre invention of John Paul II. A mass with 30,000 people is kind of silly, liturgically speaking.

Sorry, all you JPII lovers, I know you love those things. But I think they're liturgical nightmares. My humble opinion... I wonder if it will be in Latin...

Bishops go to Plan B

Connecticut's Catholic bishops have acquiesced to a new law requiring hospitals to provide so-called "Plan B" emergency contraception to women who have been raped, reports the Associated Press. Plan B is a double-strength birth control pill that prevents ovulation and reduces the possibility of pregnancy by 89 percent. It has no effect on women who are already pregnant.

Some prolife advocates have opposed the move, since there is a very small chance that an already-fertilized ovum would fail to implant. The issue is evidently whether an ovulation test should be given before Plan B.

I think the bishops made the right move here. There is a good moral argument for Plan B in this situation, and on top of that that, failure to permit Plan B in cases of rape would appear callous to the needs of victimized women--in my humble opinion only, of course.

The blogger at American Papist disagrees with me, and you can find his/her reasons here. While I'm sensitive to the argument about life beginning at conception, the very tiny chance (practically undocumented) that a fertilized ovum won't implant--which happens naturally about 20 million times a year as it is--doesn't outweigh the a violated woman's right to prevent conception. She should at least be given the option, the sooner the better.

More "anti-Catholicism"

Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan) is complaining loudly that fellow Republican Mike Huckabee allowed a supporter to start an anti-Catholic "whisper campaign" against Brownback because he is Catholic. (Brownback crossed the Tiber from Methodism in 2002.)

"I know Senator Brownback converted to Roman Catholicism in 2002," Rev. Tim Rude, pastor of Walnut Creek Community Church, wrote in the e-mail, according to the Associated Press. "Frankly, as a recovering Catholic myself, that is all I need to know about his discernment when compared to the governor's."

Brownback demanded an apology from Huckabee, an ordained Baptist pastor, but the Rev. Huck did not offer one. Rude was a little less, well, rude, and acknowledged he chose his words poorly.

Of course, if that's what passes for anti-Catholicism these days, we're really doing great, folks. That is at least the most oblique insult I could imagine. "Recovering Catholic"--please, we say that stuff all the time!

Remember, really anti-Catholic people used to have whole political parties, so let's not get too worked up.

Dems come a courtin'

US News and World Report has an interesting piece on how the Democrats are trying to court Catholics for 2008. Since for all practical purposes Catholics were the swing voters in 2004 (toward Bush) and 2006 (toward the Democratic Congress), everyone realizes that we are the people to have in your camp. Since Catholics account for 20 percent of voting Americans, winning big with us means winning big.

So expect a lot about abortion and gay marriage in the next 18 months from the Republicans, and a lot about health care, the war, and poverty from the Dems. (And probably less from them about abortion, although if I was a Dem seeking Catholic votes, I'd ask anyone who voted for the GOP because of abortion to show me what they'd actually gotten for it!)