I think it is safe to say that everyone was surprised that Pope Benedict XVI talked about the pedophile priest crisis everyday he was in the US on his recent trip. In fact, he began the conversation with reporters on his plane enroute.

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in the U.S. for his first visit as Pope.  And there is some good news here. Ironically, “good news” and the Church don’t often appear in the same sentence these days.  So I am always on the lookout for this occurrence. 

 

 

 Whatever Became of Sin? This was the provocative title of a book by psychiatrist Karl Menninger in 1974 written out of his concern that in the beginning of the culture wars, we were losing our sense of moral focus and jettisoning the notion of “sin.”

International media recently carried the newstory about a Saudi Arabian woman who was gang raped and then sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes after she spoke out to protest the lenient sentences given her attackers.

Among the numerous school shootings in the past several weeks, one stands out for me: the killing of Lawrence King, 15, allegedly by Brandon McInerney, 14, in Oxnard, California. However, it got the least media coverage.

So let’s assume for a minute that institutions like the church, when confronted with the disclosure of unethical behavior like sexual harassment or abuse, tend to act in their own best interests. On the surface, this is what I call the “institutional protection agenda.”

Why is professional misconduct wrong? Because someone gets hurt. When any of us in a ministerial or teaching role betrays trust, exploits or abuses, we cause harm to another person.

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007, while campaigning to once again become Prime Minister. She had returned from exile in the fall to lead the efforts of the Pakistani Peoples Party and had been under threat of death ever since.

 As presidential politics play out, Republican candidate Mike Huckabee has been challenged to answer questions about his involvement in the release of convicted rapist Wayne DuMond after DuMond’s religious “conversion.”

A recent article in TIME Magazine highlighted an article in Christianity Today describing a shift among some evangelicals to more openness about divorce. This would be welcome news to many evangelical Christian battered women who often feel that they are forced to choose between their church and their safety when it comes to divorce.