American Catholic Convention, June 10-12
 
        Allan Ranusch reports:  “The Convention drew 1,800 progressive Catholics from across the country, sufficiently left leaning that the local bishop made dire warnings for local Catholics not to attend.  I only had one negative reaction all weekend, a person who couldn't believe something ‘anti-choice’ would be represented at such a gathering.  Overwhelmingly, people I spoke with had a positive attitude toward Consistent Life’s goals and were supportive.  Almost no one had heard of us before. Many seemed happy to hear of a group that blended social justice activism with opposition to abortion, rather than seeing respect for life as only a one-issue topic.” 

∞     ∞     ∞

Peace Psychology
 
        In the American Psychological Association, Division 48 covers Peace Psychology. On June 13 Rachel MacNair - CL vice-president, director of our research arm, and this e-newsletter’s editor – was elected president-elect of the division; this involves a three-year office from 2012-2014.
        Rachel also has in process the second edition of her textbook called The Psychology of Peace: an Introduction, due out November 30, 2011. The second edition is even more consistent-life friendly than the original 2003 edition.  

Left: cover of 2011 second edition

Right: Stephen Zunes and Rachel MacNair present on Consistently Opposing Killling.  
 

 

∞     ∞     ∞

Blog Essays

• Subscriber Peter Queenan has a blog of a set of essays on the case against abortion, capital   punishment, poverty, and war, with feedback welcomed.   
   
   
• CL Board member Carol Crossed has an essay on the “Constituting America” website where she discusses the 19^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That gave women the right to vote, and she weaves that in with opposition to abortion, poverty, and war.

 ∞     ∞     ∞

 

New Biography of Dorothy Day 
     
        Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, had all-around compassion on all of consistent-life issues, and the movement is one of Consistent Life’s biggest and long-lasting supporters. Jim Forest worked with her during her last 20 years, and now has a more detailed biography out called All Is Grace.
  

∞     ∞     ∞

 Quotation of the Week

David Gushee
“Common Ground on Abortion?” Prism, Jan/Feb 2011, page 4
Commenting on his experience at the Princeton life/choice dialog conference

 
        “I was struck by the weakness of the positions taken by those on the pro-choice side . . .  I was asked to concur with the view that even when poor women choose abortion (70 percent of abortions are ‘chosen’ by women who live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty line) it is a positive expression of their moral agency. I instead am more deeply convinced than ever that the disproportionate resort to abortion among the poor reflects and deepens their entrapment in situations of powerlessness.”