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1. Yes, I'm giving it another try. With a new name. More on which later.

2. Following up on my promise, I'll be voting for Konnie Lukes tomorrow. I only see two credible mayoral prospects, and one of them lost my vote several months ago. I wish Dennis Irish had stayed in the race. More on this later.

3. A lot in the blogosphere last month about Holy Cross' decision to host a conference that included Planned Parenthood. A lot of Catholics, including the Bishop, are angry about this, and they're saying a lot of angry things. Like this:

This is a shame. Holy Cross is not an option for Roman Catholic parents of Roman Catholic children. The neutral ground of Clark University seems a better option.

Two points I feel I must make: First, Holy Cross has not changed much since I graduated. I was on campus for September 11, 2001, and remember the outpouring of faith and Christian brotherhood on that day. I do not believe I would have experienced such a faith-oriented Catholic community at any other college in New England -- including Catholic colleges; including Jesuit colleges. I do not believe I would have had a college experience where my faith was welcomed and reaffirmed at any other college of Holy Cross' caliber, nationwide. Let me say that again: If you are serious about an Ivy League-quality education, and serious about going to school in a place where morality is not passe and where Catholicism can be discussed without irony or cynicism, I believe Holy Cross is the best place you can go. I still believe this.

Second: The recent brouhaha over Planned Parenthood is nothing but a repeat of the 2003 (or sometime around then) bishop-versus-college tussle over Chris Matthews being invited to speak. I continue to agree more with the college administration than with the hypocritical stance of the diocesan leadership and the breast-beating ultra-Catholics on this one.

In both cases, Holy Cross invited speakers associated with pro-choice ideas onto campus. Arguably the Matthews case was "less severe," because he isn't an actual abortionist, which Planned Parenthood is. Then again, arguably the Planned Parenthood invitation was less severe, because they were at a conference that was simply using the college as a function hall, whereas Matthews was speaking to students and families at graduation.

Either way, the criticism of the college is that folks who preach against church doctrine shouldn't be allowed to speak on Catholic college campuses. I believe this opinion is both hypocritical and wrong.

Hypocritical because, in most cases, the folks who get excited about pro-choicers speaking at college campuses conveniently forget to get excited when other heretics come to town. Where's the outrage that Holy Cross has (or had, when I was there) a College Republicans club? Didn't Republicans get us into an unjust war? My point isn't to pick on Republicans -- I am one -- but simply to note that if deviance from church teaching is grounds for exclusion, then certain conclusions follow, and one of those conclusions is that just about anyone but a tight-lipped bishop, or a "my pope, right or wrong" ultra-Catholic, has to shut up when stepping onto Mount St. James. Of course, the rule is never applied except by the ultras to persons deemed "liberal."

Wrong because it's a Tridentine concept, an "error has no rights" concept, such as has been repudiated by Vatican II. Since the 1960s -- more than 40 years have passed! -- Catholics work with communists in Italy, we join interfaith groups and dialogue with Protestants who once called our Holy Father the antichrist, we commission theologians and lay panels to assist our clergy in reforming church teaching on thorny issues such as contraception. My point here isn't to say that we need to reform our teaching on abortion, but simply to note that if "error has no rights," then certain conclusions follow, and one of these conclusions is that intellectual inquiry into church doctrine -- and the freedom of speech that such inquiry demands -- must be suppressed.

This is the 21st century, and we are a long way out of the Dark Ages. The faith I profess every Sunday holds that we are all sinners, and that our various sins -- in our thoughts or in our deeds -- do not make us less Catholic. The church I support every Sunday admits theologians who agree on the Trinity, saving grace, the divinity of Jesus, the power of the sacraments and the divine truth of the Bible; and, in many cases, little else -- and this does not make us less Catholic, only more human.