Politically Correct "American" Catholicism
By R.T.Neary
On Nov. 2, 2003 the Boston Globe Magazine ran
a scathing cover story
entitled "THE CRUSADERS" in which a staff writer, Charles
P. Pierce,
unleashed an undisguised attack on what was termed "a conservative
front
wired into Washington and Rome."
Headlined "the counter reformation", the
writer spared none of today's
leading Roman Catholic traditionalists, but his scorn took particular
aim at
Opus Dei, Pope John Paul II's favorite Catholic organization.
The magazine on Dec, 7 ran a half-dozen "Letters",
feigning an attempt
at balance - but not one of them penetrated the transparent bias
which
permeated the entire article. A short one from a Portland, Maine
writer was
an attack on "the cabal of bishops trying to run the Catholic
Church in
America into the ground", and it really didn't
relate to the content of the
magazine article.
On Nov. 4, 2003 I had forwarded a Letter to the Editor
of the Globe
Magazine and received a call a few days afterwards, asking my permission
to
run it. That was my intent and, of course, I agreed. Much to my
surprise,
however, my response never made it to print. The following is my
letter:
RE:: THE CRUSADERS Nov 2, 2003 - Charles P.
Pierce
EDITOR:
Rather than an endless repetition of politically correct language,
the
author of what should have been titled "Schism", fails
to give readers an
accurate view of the real divide in Roman Catholicism for four decades.
The term "orthodox" rather than the oft-repeated
"conservative" would
better describe the religious beliefs of those who identify with
George
Weigel, JP's biographer, et al. Across the chasm are the "Progressives",
who
would cast Roman Catholicism in the mould of the Episcopal Church,
currently
providing us with a dress rehearsal of the Progressive model.
The presentation of an eclectic batch of poll results
from a sample of
those identifying themselves as "catholic" is of questionable
validity. While
admittedly a minority of these samples, those of orthodox views
do vote for
conservative politicians such as George Bush. They, however, would
best be
labeled as Reagan Democrats, and in Massachusetts are registered
more as
Unenrolled rather than Republicans. The reason is that they vote
issues and
consider themselves Pro-Life and supportive of the traditional family
-
rather than being party oriented.
Having introduced poll numbers, the author's most glaring omission
is
his failure to elaborate with the figures underlying his many references
to
the "clergy sexual abuse scandal". The victims of the
predator priests were
90% male and 85% of them were post-pubescent - a manifestation of
the
homosexual sub-culture which developed over recent decades. Did
this escape
him or would he by silence try to convince us of its irrelevancy?
The divide within Roman Catholicism is real, and while those on
both
sides have vehemently deplored the sexual scandal and its egregious
mishandling, orthodox Catholics seek to repair and strengthen the
existing
Magisterial structure of the Roman Catholic Church rather than dismantling
it.
Yours truly,
R. T. NEARY
None of the points made in the above letter were
even alluded to in
the "Letters" which the Boston Globe Magazine published
on Dec.7, 2003. Is it
just possible that the Globe editors, who have had such success
in revealing
the "pedophile" scandal within the Catholic Church, will
tolerate nothing
which might upset their spin?
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