Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune: Anti-torture but pro-choice? Can’t have that in church, please, by Nick Coleman:
Dr. Steven Miles, a world-renowned scholar, author and anti-tortureactivist, has won many awards in his career on the faculty of theUniversity of Minnesota’s Center for Bioethics. But the CatholicArchdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has bestowed an especially raredistinction on Miles, one that puts him in excellent company:
He just got Tutu’d.
As you recall, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Bishop DesmondTutu recently was barred from speaking at the University of St. Thomas.Now Miles, who has written extensively about torture practicesauthorized by the Bush administration and who has warned that Americais becoming "a torturing society," has received the Tutu treatment.
Miles was invited months ago to talk about torture and its effects onsociety before masses at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Minneapolison Sunday. The invitation was issued by the peace and justice ministryat St. Joan’s, which has a tradition of social justice work in the TwinCities. In addition, Miles was scheduled to speak Tuesday to an adulteducation class at the church.
But last Wednesday, four days before Miles was scheduled to speak,the archdiocese intervened: St. Joan’s was ordered not to let Milestalk before mass. Or Tuesday, either….
According to a spokesman for the archdiocese, Miles was barred from St.Joan’s because he supports abortion rights, a position "contrary to theteachings" of the church. Miles acknowledges that, but says he had nointention of speaking about abortion and that he sent the text of histalk on torture to the archdiocese.