At the Napa Institute's 12th annual summer conference, held July 27-31, speakers bemoaned the wider culture as hostile to authentic Catholicism, but celebrated the Supreme Court's recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Creating something better; Napa's early draft of RNC; what it means to be pro-life; ad targets Trump's mishandling of pandemic; congrats to St. Louis.
"Finding Hope in the New America" served as the theme of this year's Napa Institute summer conference, but in the sessions of the 2020 virtual conference, the titular hope seemed to be in short supply.
We say: The Catholic Church in the U.S. is for sale. Money provides individuals and groups entrée to the highest levels of church leadership and affords others an inordinately large say in church affairs.
At the closing address of the ninth annual Napa Institute conference, Republican Sen. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina delivered an entertaining appeal for the reelection of President Donald Trump.
We say: In placing Burke as the keynoter, the Napa Institute sent a clear signal of an attempt to reconstitute clericalism, rejecting the dynamism of Pope Francis' model of accompaniment.
NCR interview: Catholic entrepreneur discusses Burke, Viganò and Nienstedt; prospects for the church's new laws on sex abuse; and how he believes the free market complements Catholic teaching.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Napa Institute invites the who's who of Francis critics; the left's identity politics fixation; evangelicals and Trump.
We say: As the church lives through a fundamental transition, some who ignored the abuse crisis for decades now seize on it to smear Francis and plant the church of their dreams.