Biden, Boehner stress common good at Notre Dame

7c3e0dd7d15541e787122d7288dfbd2fAs they had when Pope Francis addressed Congress last fall, Vice President Joe Biden and former House Speaker John Boehner stood together again on May 15, this time at Notre Dame’s Commencement to receive the Laetare Medal, the university’s highest honor.

The decision to honor the two political leaders had drawn criticism, especially because of the Vice President’s support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage, but the citation read before they received the honor noted they were being recognized for their public service and work for the common good.  Source

Welcome to a Bernie Sanders Wiccan ritual

la-1463249897-snap-photoAttending a rally for Bernie Sanders usually involves long lines and security screenings, but that wasn’t the case at an intimate, informal event Friday evening supporting the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign in a park here.

Instead of metal detectors, entrance required burning ceremonial sweetgrass.

Participants were “smudged,” meaning the smoke from the sweetgrass was wafted over them before they could enter the sacred circle and begin a Wiccan ritual to support Sanders ahead of Oregon’s primary on Tuesday.  Source

Philippines bishops: Catholic Church will not stop ‘interfering’ in politics

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Bishops offer olive branch to Duterte

WHILE some of them had earlier questioned the fitness of Rodrigo Duterte to be President, Catholic bishops were now offering his incoming administration “vigilant collaboration.”

“The greatest promise the Church can offer any government is vigilant collaboration, and that offer we make now,” Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said in a statement…

He said several critical, even spiteful, voices had asked the prelates to desist from “interfering” in politics.

“We cannot,” he said, explaining that “it would be a denial of Christ’s universal Lordship were we to desist from reminding his disciples of what fidelity to him—in all things, including political life—demands.”  Source

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Philippines election: Rodrigo Duterte in quotes

89644711_89644710The frontrunner in the Philippines election, Rodrigo Duterte, is known for saying things that many would consider unsayable.

But his outspoken style – and his record as mayor of the country’s third biggest city – have made him popular with voters. A vow to kill 100,000 criminals…  Source