Roman Catholicism

The Pope Quits? Popes Don't Quit!

The world was rocked and shocked with the news that George Ratzinger, 85, was quitting his day job. Sure, 85 seems a reasonable age to retire, but the thing is that Ratzinger also goes by the name Pope Benedict XVI, and popes, to put it simply, don't quit. Borgias have tried to get them to quit an ... More >>

Religious Rapprochement Will Make History (Sorta), But Don't Tell Houston

It's been nearly 500 years since Martin Luther tacked his Ninety-Five Theses on a Wittenberg door. Nearly five centuries of Christian schism -- of discussions on indulgence and fallibility, of the Thirty Years War and the Irish Troubles, of the demise of the Holy Roman Empire and the rise of the Ku ... More >>

Rants of a Know Nothing

And a dramatic piece of Mexican history.

Madonna's Top 5 MDNA World Tour Transgressions

Madonna's Sex book turned 20 years old this week. The literary capstone on pop music's most frankly sexual career (sorry, Prince), the glossy collection of softcore smut managed to shock even the Material Girl's most ardent fans, crossing a few lines that many weren't entirely aware existed. Gay se ... More >>

Santa Muerte: Patron Saint of the Drug War

Need help killing someone? Or cementing a drug deal? This may be the saint for you.

James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell: The Blood Gospel

Beaumont Diocese Sued Over Priest Who Allegedly Abused Teen in 1976

A Dallas County man is suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, and Bishop Curtis Guillory, over sexual abuse the man allegedly suffered by a now-deceased priest in 1976-1977. Filed last week in Jefferson County District Court, the man -- identified as John Doe 104 -- claims that Father Ronald ... More >>

Top Six Rap Videos Set In Places Of Worship

Rocks Off was only 13 years old in October 1992 when singer Sinéad O'Connor sang an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War" on Saturday Night Live and, on cue, tore an image of Pope John Paul II into pieces while singing the word "evil." "Fight the real enemy," she exclaimed at the end of one of ... More >>

SPECIAL BEST-OF EDITION

Dan Shea, The Man Who Sued the Pope, Sounds Off on Joe Paterno

Penn State and the Catholic Church​Bella figura can mean many things, but at its core is presentation...how one looks, how one comports oneself, how one makes the best possible impression in all things. That such a concept is hardwired into the Italian psyche is no surprise: what else could be ... More >>

Top 5 Musicians Whose Art Trumps Their Politics

Once again we have yet another example that if a musician opens his or her mouth without the benefit of a guitar or piano close by, trouble is usually not far behind. In this case it's Rockin' Randall Hank Williams Jr., who compared this year's Obama/John Boehner "golf summit" to Adolf Hitler hittin ... More >>

Fr. Alberto Maullon: Priest Gets Nabbed At Adult Bookstore, Doing What Comes Naturally

Photo via KPRCFr. Alberto Maullon: Bashing the bishop​The Houston Police Department, having dealt efficiently with drugs and violent crimes, has once again made time to tackle the huge, outrageous problem of guys doing it behind locked doors at adult bookstores. We hope you all feel safer. T ... More >>

More Priest-Abuse Suits, This Time With Chloroform

Man claims he was chloroformed and raped as an altar boy​The Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is facing more allegations of abuse and fraud related to a Houston priest who died in 2000.In a lawsuit set to be filed today, Guadalupe Gonzales accuses the late Father Lawrence Peguer ... More >>

Money and Mercy

Readers comment on Bolivar's loss of Our Mother of Mercy Church

Our Mother of Mercy

How far did cardinal go in tearing down Ike-ravaged church?

Rick Santorum Coming To Houston To Rebut JFK, Constitution

Rick Sanotrum -- defined as "a deep thinker" by UST, as something else by Dan Savage​Fifty years ago, then-presidential candidate JFK delivered a historic speech on the separation of church and state to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. As the first Catholic candidate for president,&nbs ... More >>

Dan Shea: The Man Who Sued The Pope Not Mollified By Vatican's Latest Sex Abuse Plan

The hits keep coming​"The Pope and the Vatican just can't stop showing their ass, can they?"So asks Daniel Shea, the former Roman Catholic deacon turned plaintiff's lawyer who once hoped to put the Pope in a Houston court docket.Shea is referring to the Church's latest official directives on the o ... More >>

The Pope Problem

Readers respond to "The Man Who Sued the Pope."

The Man Who Sued the Pope

Houston's Daniel Shea thinks Joseph Ratzinger has a lot to answer for if he'd talk.

This Week's Cover Story: The Man Who Sued The Pope

​Most times when you ask Houston lawyer/theologian Daniel Shea a question, you get a treatise in response, one that can take in everything from the Edict of Constantine and to the deeds of Admiral Rickover to the sins of many a modern-day bishop in the ongoing sex abuse scandal roiling the Rom ... More >>

Pop Rocks: Five Fictional Pedophiles Who Could Teach The Vatican A Thing Or Two

It's hard out here for a priest. The sex-abuse scandals rocking the Roman Catholic Church refuse to go away, with more cases coming to light and casting doubt on the actions of those in the highest offices of the Vatican, including Big Pope-a himself: Critics have charged that Pope Benedict XVI, ... More >>

The Archbishop Outlines Which Galveston Churches Are Not Long For This World

​The list of Galveston Catholic churches that the Archdiocese wants to tear down is out, and it's somewhat grim reading.The Galveston County Daily News reports that Archbishop Daniel DiNardo wrote island parishioners of the plans, not making everyone all that happy in the process.Among those that ... More >>

"A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People"

A pontiff bridges a centuries-old divide

Identity and Religion

Angels & Demons with Tom Hanks

Another treat for whacked-out male conspiracy theorists

Swine Flu Can't Beat (A Carefully Wrapped) God

The Compak CompaniesWith what is surely the Black Plague of the 21st Century bearing down on all our souls, the last place anyone wants to worry about swine flu is church. So some institutions, like the Austin Diocese, are suspending or altering communion.The story in the Waco Tribune includes a let ... More >>

Thanks, Ike: From Five Parishes To One On Galveston & Bolivar

Five Catholic parishes serving the Galveston area will be consolidated into one, the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston announced today.Gone are the parishes of St. Patrick, Holy Rosary, Sacred Heart, St. Peter the Apostle and Our Mother of Mercy. In their place will be a single parish, yet unnamed. ( ... More >>

Play That Funky Music, Christ Boy

Howard Lehrman, even after all these years, still considers himself an "anti-noise pollution activist," battling "Audio Terrorism" and the "Boomheads."Boomheads are the guys who crank the bass in their cars, rattling windows and victimizing and booming to death - as Lehrman says - decent law-abiding ... More >>

Pinche Child Molesters

Bring Out Your Dead (Popes)

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart? Beautiful. Molesting Altar Boys? Not So Much.

Parish Predators: Father Antonio Gonzalez and the Missionary Position

Sister Act: The Other Boleyn Girl

Sibling rivalry in all its royal glory

Parish Predators: Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Agrees to Settlement in Abuse Case

Parish Predators: SNAP’s David Clohessy Wants to Know What Took Cardinal Daniel DiNardo So Long in the Case of Rev. Stephen Horn

Catholic Priests, Child Protective Services, Crooked Contractors and Crowded Kasra

Mail Call

Parish Predators: Are Daniel DiNardo and Juan Carlos Patino-Arango Cut from the Same Cloth?

Parish Predators: Trial Set in Molestation Case Against the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Naked Men: The ManKind Project and Michael Scinto

The organization was supposed to make him a better man. Instead, his parents say, it made him a dead one.

Holy Rollers

Tut, Tut, Tu!

Parish Predators

Despite the bishop’s remarks to the contrary, the Galveston-Houston Roman Catholic Archdiocese had child molesters and let them go. But don’t blame just the Church.

GWAR Heroes Electro Grrl

Flying filth will never go out of style with these guys around

Bring the Noise

Local act Priest in Shit keeps it avant

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Holy Father

When it comes to the Catholic hierarchy, Mel Gibson’s dad is one Mad Max

Are You There, Ethel?

The creators of The Last Session bring The Big Voice to Stages

Letters

Dance Fervor

Postmodern theologian Matthew Fox wants to get religion back on its feet again with the Techno Cosmic Mass

Transformation of Robert Campbell

From Panhandle flatlands to Guatemalan mountains, Houston doctor and artist Robert Campbell searched for a life with meaning.When he died, many said that life was his.