Courtesy of Pat Bond The Rev. Henry Willenborg, a Roman Catholic priest in Quincy, Ill., in 1987 performing the baptism of his son, Nathan. Courtesy of Pat Bond via The New York Times.

The New York Times ran a fascinating story on its front page today about a woman who now lives in O’Fallon, Mo. and who had a son with a Roman Catholic priest when both were living in Quincy, Ill.

That son, Nathan - now 22 - has brain cancer. And the woman, Pat Bond, has decided to come forward, according to Times religion reporter Laurie Goodstein, because she too has cancer.

Despite a confidentiality agreement Bond signed with the Franciscans, she and her son felt they had “little to lose,” and were “eager to tell their stories.”

Their story is a sad one, and, Goodstein says, not particularly uncommon. She writes:

The relationship between Ms. Bond and the priest is hardly unique.…

Cardinal Francis George

The USCCB released a statement this afternoon saying President Barack Obama met with Cardinal Francis George of Chicago. Here’s the text of the release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Seeks Fruitful Dialogue for Common Good

CARDINAL GEORGE MEETS WITH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

WASHINGTON-Cardinal Francis George, OMI, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, met at the White House with President Barack Obama during the afternoon of March 17.

The meeting was private. Cardinal George and President Obama discussed the Catholic Church in the United States and its relation to the new Administration. The meeting lasted approximately 30 minutes.
At the conclusion, Cardinal George expressed his gratitude for the meeting and his hopes that it will foster fruitful dialogue for the sake of the common good.

George had released a statement Monday urging the Obama administration to “regulations governing conscience protections for health care workers.”

December 13, 2008

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

The Vatican issued its most authoritative and sweeping document on bioethical issues in more than 20 years on Friday, taking into account recent developments in biomedical technology and reinforcing the church’s opposition to in vitro fertilization, human cloning, genetic testing on embryos before implantation and embryonic stem cell research.

The Vatican says these techniques violate the principles that every human life — even an embryo — is sacred, and that babies should be conceived only through intercourse by a married couple.

The 32-page instruction, titled “Dignitas Personae,” or “The Dignity of the Person,” was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office, and carries the approval and the authority of Pope Benedict XVI.

Under discussion for six years, it is a moral response to bioethical questions raised in the 21 years since the congregation last issued instructions.

It bans the morning-after…