Two related points about this week s readings First it is difficult for me as a woman religious to hear Ezekiel rsquo s description of nbsp ldquo bad shepherds rdquo behavior without thinking of recent acts of power by authorities in the Catholic Church Whether pondering the abuse of childre

In the criticism of George Weigel s intemperate and churlish source criticism of Pope Benedict XVI s new encyclical criticism which is warranted it has not been much noted that biblical scholars engage in source criticism on a regular basis The same criticisms raised of Weigel s gold pen and r

Many scholars evaluate Ephesians as a pseudonymous letter of Paul s attributing it to a period some twenty years approximately after Paul s martyrdom and composed by disciples of Paul sometimes styled as a Pauline school Others note that the earliest manuscript traditions lack to the Ephesi

Building on last week rsquo s readings about prophets in a way unusual and interesting we now get additional insight from Amos and Mark nbsp The Amos narrative looms oddly in a book where otherwise the prophet is a speaker rather than spoken about and it comes too abruptly since the lectionary s

Many centuries ago the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave Rome Naturally there was an uproar from the Jewish community nbsp So the Pope made a deal nbsp He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community nbsp If the Jews won they could stay nbsp If the Pope won

The year of St Paul ends with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th 2009 I think this year has been a tremendous gift for the Church if only to draw considered attention to the man Paul and the many facets of his ministry Certainly in my diocese that of St Paul and Minneapolis