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Reuters shares the first major article written about the Catholic bishops putting pressure on the Susan G Komen Foundation. Komen founder Nancy Brinker shared her love of Pope Benedict XVI writing about his papal blessing of a box of silver ribbon-shaped pins for her breast cancer charity.

“He took my hands and blessed me for my work. I couldn’t help myself. I burst into tears,” she recalls in her memoir, “Promise Me: How a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer.”

Komen’s relationship with the Catholic Church has been complicated in a mutual exchange of funds between the two groups. Reuters writes that Komen has allocated at least $17.6 million of its donations to US Catholic universities, hospitals and charities — none of which provide reproductive health care services to women.

Catholic bishops of Ohio flexed major muscle with Komen in 2011, with 11 bishops announcing a statewide policy banning church and parochial school donations to Komen. As Catholic bishops today investigate Girl Scouts, a similar position could happen in the coming years.

After Ohio, North Dakota bishops forbade Catholic support of Komen.

Observers say the local bishops’ focus on Komen and other social issues reflects a larger conservative shift within the American church since New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan became chairman of the Conference in November 2010.

Arizona Lawmakers Target Planned Parenthood FundingAzCapitol Times

Arizona is poised to follow Texas in banning any federal government funding of Planned Parenthood under a bill that received preliminary approval from the state House on Friday.

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Is Silence Going extinct?NYTimes Magazine

‘50 Shades of Grey,’ a Self-Published E-Book, Is the Future of PublishingThe Daily Beast

Moms Judge Other Moms, But One Says She’s Sorry TIME

Extra Girly Genes Boost Male Sex DriveLive Science

Texas Sues Federal Agency Over Women’s Health Program Austin American Statesman

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With all the aggressive noise against women in America these days — including talk of banning contraception in many states and making it legal for doctors to lie to pregnant patients about ultrasound results — almost 40% of working wives out-earn their husbands, notes Liza Mundy, author of “The Richer Sex” this week’s TIME cover story and a new book.

Mundy shared her research at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women breakfast, an audience of women with seven-figure salaries and househusbands. Mundy’s research shows women are out-earning men in most U.S. metro areas. In Dallas and Atlanta, the average young woman earns $1.18 and $1.14, respectively, for every dollar earned by a male.

Unless Republicans, Catholic bishops and evangelical leaders succeed in returning women to homemaker status with no access to birth control, the trend will escalate. Today, women make up 60% of US college classes, earning more advanced degrees then men. In professions like veterinary medicine, law and medicine, women will dominate these fields.

Can men, bred to be providers, live happily in a world where women may not need them for support? An optimist, Mundy believes that many men will cede control as breadwinners.(One bit of evidence: Marriage rates for high-income women are rising, as overall marriage rates decline.) Moreover, society will adapt by “broadening the definition of masculinity,” she contends. Masculinity will include cooking as well as hunting, and child care as well as golf. via Fortune

Republicans Losing on Birth Control as 77% in Poll Spurn DebateBloomberg

Both genders overwhelming reject the argument that the Obama Administration’s policy on employer-provided contraceptive coverage violates religious freedom, with more than 75% saying the topic shouldn’t even be part of the national political debate.

While President Obama continues to lead Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney among women voters in the Bloomberg National Poll, his margins aren’t large.

The poll also indicated that most Americans aren’t comfortable mixing religion and policy. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed — including almost half of Republicans — say a president’s religious beliefs should never influence his policy decisions compared with a quarter who say they should sometimes, and 14 percent who say they should most or all of the time.