Generations & American Catholicism

There have been some refreshingly candid (if not entirely harmonious) conversations over at Mirror of Justice recently about the blog’s mission as it approaches its fifth anniversary. Mirror of Justice is a great resource for Catholic legal scholarship, and it has a diverse set of contributors with different perspectives on Catholic legal theory.

I have thoughts about many of the issues that have come up, but one topic that I found especially interesting was the discussion of generational differences.

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Obama’s New Politics and Abortion

Yesterday was the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court, and also the day of the annual March For Life. It was also the anniversary of the day on which President Clinton had reversed Reagan’s Mexico City Policy, which denies US funds slated for international family planning services to any organization which provides or refers people to abortions. And the anniversary of the day on which President Bush reinstated the policy.

Given that President Obama had promised to move quickly to rescind the policy again as Clinton had, news organizations ranging from Lifesite News to NPR reported that he would probably follow his predescessor’s lead by issuing an executive order on abortion on January 22nd as well. It was thus mildly surprising when the Christian Broadcasting Network broke the story that Obama would not rescind the policy on the day of the March for Life. A few Catholic progressives got carried away and scolded their anti-Obama bretheren for jumping the gun, and it was more widely suggested this was a sign of the sort of approach Obama would take to moral issues more widely: treading slowly and granting respect to his opponents views.

Life Imitates a Simpsons’ Episode – A Continuing Series

Jacques Chirac, former president of France, was mauled by his clinically depressed poodle Sumo.  I trust that I speak for all of our contributors and readers when I wish Sumo a rapid recovery.  Hattip to Instapunidit.

Flubbing the Oath

• On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office in his attempt to recite it from memory while swearing in Barack Obama.
• The following day, for good measure, Obama took the oath again:
  

  Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called “an abundance of caution.”

  This time, the scene was the White House Map Room in front of a small group of reporters, not the Capitol platform before the whole watching world.

  “We decided that because it was so much fun …,” Obama joked to reporters

  Later on, Vice President Biden attempted to get in a cheap shot at Roberts while swearing in the senior members of White House Staff:

  Obama: Joe, you want to administer the oath?

  Biden: Am I doing this again? Oh! For the senior staff. My memory’s not as good as Justice Roberts‘ … Chief Justice Roberts.

  Obama, not looking amused, gave Biden a tap on his back with his right hand in an attempt to get his VP back on track.

  The oath then took place without any more incidents, but Biden did get some laughs from staffers and the press corps.

• Biden then proceeded to flub the oath while administering it to Colorado Sen. Michael Bennett.