I am not a Catholic. But I have long valued the church of Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton as a key voice in our global conversations on war and peace, labor and capital, life and death. So recent headlines do not just make me sad for the thousands of victims. They also make me lament the plummeting moral authority of one of the world’s oldest surviving international organizations.
At least for now, Pope Benedict is the wrong man for this job, not least because he doesn’t seem to understand that the job at hand is nothing less than rescuing his church from moral bankruptcy. Whether he can do so is an open question. But as Catholics have long affirmed, the first step, for him and for his hierarchy, is confession.
Thanks Steve for your submission. We regret to inform you that at this time Holy Mother Church can not find a suitable place for your proposals amongst the missions of the Church. We will keep your application on file for 6 months Should a position open up which requires such input within that time we will contact you.
Honestly the article is so ridden with error and condescending superiority it merits no more than a form rejection letter. It is a marvel of out and out ignorance meeting deliberate malice. A gift which seems to grace the chattering classes all too much.
I honestly feel the author extends much grace to the Catholic Church. Surely, private confession and public contrition by the Catholic Church would be a much more humble and Christian response to its sins than what has been offered up thus far.
Btw – the comments in #1 seem much more apropos to the commenter than to the original article and author.