The Practical Parson

For those of you who may be unaware, in recent months; the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas has been embroiled in legal wrangling with the Carmelite Sisters of Arlington, Texas,  over purported accusations of broken vows.   The aforementioned Bishop has leveled allegations that the mother superior of the Carmel violated her vows of Chastity and the sixth commandment (thou shalt not commit adultery) with a priest.  A very serious accusation it would be, and one that should be handled seriously; if not for one simple fact in the case: the entirety of the case leveled against this poor, sick nun, is based on the one-sided accusations of the Bishop's own diocesan vicar.  He claims that the Reverend Mother told him (outside of confession, else he would NEVER spread it, yeah right) on multiple occasions that she had violated the vow and even on one occasion thought she might be pregnant; despite the recording of their examination of her revealing that the pr...

  As most people in the States are aware, the District Attorney of Manhattan, NY has been pursuing an investigation into former President Donald Trump's relationship and subsequent clashes with a woman who claims to have had an intimate relationship with him years ago.  The facts of the matter seem fairly clear and clean-cut: Trump had an affair with a porn star, got her to agree to a non-disclosure agreement, then when he ran for president his attorney arranged a payment to the woman to help maintain her agreement to silence.  Now at face value this may seem like a damning situation, and one that the attorney general of Manhattan is banking on people thinking so; but what is the legal basis of seeking prosecution against the man?  The entire search for prosecution hinges on a vague (and as the NY Times itself refers to it as) legal "theory", that one of Trump's former attorneys arranging such a payment was an violation of campaign finance laws.  Not that paying...