In Defensio Remissio Edwards' Bloggers

The brouhaha ignited by the post-comments written by two aides of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards with regard to the Catholic Church may have been phrased differently. However, while the phraseology was too strong their sentiments are correct and believed by many Catholics.

This month in my e-zine I published an essay entitled “Deserted Catholic� in it I attempt to explain why I am not a “lapse� or “recovering" Catholic. I am a "Deserted Catholic" because the Church has not been true to the tenets of Vatican II or the papacy of John XXIII. Under John Paul II and Paul VI the Church has careened backward to the 1950’s.

The Catholic Defense League and Opus Dei are two forces within the Church which are primarily responsible for this reversion. Both groups want to see an Index, a list of books and movies which would be a mortal sin if read or seen by Catholics, such a doctrine is not only anti-intellectual but fascist.

Opus Dei, for example, has a member who thinks the Holocaust is a lie. These groups believe Masses should be celebrated in the arcane Latin Vulgate. They believe the celebrant should face the altar rather than the celebrants. Their doctrine of sin is in keeping with the views that instigated the Reformation.

There was a time in the Church where abortion, homosexuality, living out of wedlock was akin to gays in the military—don’t ask don’t tell. After Vatican II many priests granted absolution during Mass and confession was, in a sense spiritual psychology, rather than a laundry list of “sins�. Progressive theology took the position that there was one “sin�. It was the Fall of Adam and “forgive us our sins� became singular.

If one discovers the depth of Christ, the message he spread with regard to social justice whether he was conceived as the rest of humanity or immaculately is akin to debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

In the Third World, liberation theology is now very close to the line of heresy; however the Pentecostal movement is encouraged. Why? People who speak in tongues will not challenge dictators or oligarchs.

When I was a seminarian we would go on vacation for the month of August. One weekend I was on a speedboat with several of my classmates and our novice master, after a time he removed his pipe from his mouth and quipped: “I wonder what the poor are during this afternoon? A month later my days as a seminarian ended.

A different phraseology yes, the sentiment correct, the reaction of the Catholic Defense League is part of a strategy to align Catholics to the Christian Right. Since they have deserted people like me this tactic is the reality. Both these groups put theological and psychological repression ahead of Christ’s message of social justice, compassion and forgiveness, part of the latter is to absolve the rashness and exuberance of youth.