The latest issue of Commonweal went live yesterday--including our editorial, "Bridge Closed," on Bishop Edward K. Braxton's decision to refuse permission for Luke Timothy Johnson to speak in the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois.

Commonweal sponsors a speakers bureau that sends a handful of contributors and editors to Catholic and secular colleges across the country. Among our most popular speakers is Luke Timothy Johnson of the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. One of the most highly regarded Scripture scholars in the nation, if not the world, Johnson is much in demand as a lecturer and a preacher. But not, we were saddened to learn, in the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois. Johnson recently accepted an invitation to speak at the Newman Center at Southern Illinois University. When Edward K. Braxton, bishop of Belleville, was told that Johnson was to speak, he informed the center staff that he could not grant permission for the talk and the center withdrew the invitation. As Bishop Braxton subsequently explained in a letter to Commonweal, The reason is quite simple. I do not wish Catholic institutions or organizations to invite speakers into the diocese who have written articles or given lectures that oppose, deny, reject, undermine, or call into question the authentic teachings of the magisterium of the Catholic Church."

Read the rest right here.