That Guardian article was very good, and also concerning. I went to Catholic school through eighth grade and my wife went all through high school to a Catholic girls school in Philadelphia. But we aren't practicing Catholics now. I don't remember when the last time we went to church was. But when we were going through school the only big difference between our schools and the public school kids were we had to wear uniforms and the school wasn't free. These days at a lot of Catholic schools it's hard to find nuns that are teachers. The Catholic schools in our area are primarily staffed with lay teachers.
I have never heard of Amy Barrett's church, the People of Praise. Nobody in our family heard of them before Amy Barrett was nominated. To everyone we know it sounds like a terrible cult. Our family doesn't preach Catholicism even though technically we are Catholics. Most of us have just drifted away from being overly religious. Which is our choice to do as we wish. I would imagine if the People of Praise ever had a negative word to say about their "church" they would probably be taken out back and burned at the stake.
This part of the article was exceptionally striking:
People of Praise is a hierarchical organization where members make a life-long commitment, or covenant, and donate at least five percent of their income to the group. One main tenet is that husbands are head of their wives and the authority of the family. Members are assigned a same-sex advisor, “head” for men and “woman leader” for single women (For decades “women advisors” were called “handmaids” but this was changed because of connotations from Margaret Atwood’s novel and the subsequent television series The Handmaid’s Tale). According to The New York Times, current and former members reported that these advisors “give direction on important decisions, including whom to date or marry, where to live, whether to take a job or buy a home, and how to raise children.” In reporting from The New York Times, Democracy Now and The National Catholic Reporter, former members describe the group as suffocating, authoritarian and abusive.
This woman doesn't belong on the Supreme Court and it is a travesty that it looks like trump is going to get away with jamming another unqualified judge down the throats of Americans!! |
