Friday's News & Ideas - 11/12/2021

When can kids take off their masks in school? Here's what some experts say
NPR: About three-fourths of the nation's largest districts required masks at the start of the school year. Recently the calls by some parents to unmask children have grown louder, especially now that there is a COVID-19 vaccine available with emergency authorization for children as young as 5 years old.

How God’s pronouns and the CBMW might save Beth Allison Barr’s church
Religion News Service: A slew of donations to the church was inspired by an unlikely source — a fundraising appeal from the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which criticized both Barr’s book and her church.

French bishops agree to compensate sex abuse victims
Associated Press: France’s Catholic Church announced on Monday that it would financially compensate sex abuse victims by selling property assets or taking out a loan if needed.

The attack on abortion has me reflecting on my Christian past*
Vanity Fair: As the Supreme Court once again juggles the question of abortion, R.O. Kwon reflects on her Christian past — and her present-day conviction that it is Christlike to give people the right to end a pregnancy.

New survey raises concerns about increasingly conservative clergy
National Catholic Reporter: The 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests (SACP) was released this week by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University. It features 1,036 priests who answered 54 questions, some drawn from the 2002 L.A. Times survey of Catholic priests, to permit comparisons over time.

The Spark

The 1619 Project and the long battle over U.S. history
Fights over how we tell our national story go back more than a century — and have a great deal to teach us about our current divisions,* The New York Times says.

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