Washington Post Contributor Says Anti-Catholicism "a Phony Issue"
(Hat tip: Life as a Catholic, via Cosmos ~ Liturgy ~ Sex)
Not sure how we missed this Holy Week gem from the Washington comPost:
The idea that anti-Catholicism is a significant force in American life today is a complete canard, perpetrated by theologically and politically right-wing Roman Catholics--a minority among the Catholic laity--and aimed at anyone who stands up to the Church's continuing attempts to impose its values on all Americans.(emphasis added)
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Right-wing Catholic leaders would like to turn the clock back to the days when most American Catholics let their priests and bishops do their thinking for them. When I was attending parochial schools in the 1950s, priests were treated like gods by the laity. Those were the good old days (for priests who enjoyed being treated as deities). Those were the bad old days for Catholics who, in spite of the relentless propaganda to which they had been subjected, insisted on thinking for themselves.
Today, a majority of lay American Catholics have turned a deaf ear to a number of particularly benighted bishops who have attacked prominent Catholic politicians solely because they support freedom of reproductive choice and embryonic stem cell research.
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My Comments:
The author, in one breath, says anti-Catholicism is a myth, and in the next breath, goes off on an anti-Catholic screed (trying to disguise her bigotry under the pretext of criticizing only the "Catholic right"). Wonder if she understands irony?
There do appear to be a number of Catholics that Ms. Jacoby seems to like, and she claims they're the ones in the "majority": to the author, the only good Catholic is the one who doesn't actually take one's Catholicism seriously.
Labels: Anti-Catholicism, Media
posted by Pro Ecclesia 12:03 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
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EVEN if this author was correct and the majority of Catholics were like her, within a generation or two they'd be in the minority, though I suspect they already are.
Peter dennied Jesus out of fear for his own life and later repented, these "Catholics" deny Jesus like their lives depend on it, when in reality they just have petty grudges and want to make a good showing for their secular friends. May they repent before their time on this earth ends.
One of the comments to the article was rather good...
"Liberals hate the Catholic Church because of its truth. It is the only organization with the strength to repel the secular agenda and promote Christianity."
Actually, the idea of people like Cardinal O'Malley, Mahoney and Egan speaking for me gives me the willies. Those three can stuff it.
O'Malley, Mahony, and Egan: three men who together have precious little in common except being cardinals and running major metropolitan archdioceses.
All the tired, shopworn cliches in Jacoby's piece could be turned into a pretty decent drinking game.
"All the tired, shopworn cliches in Jacoby's piece could be turned into a pretty decent drinking game."
Spoken like a true Catholic! :-)
Jay,
Just found your post from the Curt Jester.
I remind you of the famous (although perhaps not genuine) Pauline Kael quote from 1972 (although sources claim this may be an urban myth).
"I don't understand how Nixon got elected. No one I know voted for him.
Of course, the point of the quote is lost on Wikipedia, which claims it is an anti-leftist screed.
The point is, people generally live in their own world and surround themselves with like thinking people. (After all, I don't spend much time at atheist blogs). This woman is probably not an Arlington Virginia Catholic, as she would find that "most" Catholics are not members of VoTF or CFFC.
If the date on that article weren't March 14th, I would have no choice but to believe it was some sort of April Fool's joke.
It's not just that Ms. Jacoby pronounced anti-Catholicism dead and then went on to demonstrate anti-Catholicism, it's that the arguments and phrases she used were almost the exact same ones used by nativists, Know-Nothings, and anti-Catholic bigots in the 19th century. Her vitriol is a perfect copy of theirs. Incidentally, 19th century anti-Catholic parties generally provided a venue for the forerunners of modern American mainstream leftism... the public education system, for example, was a progressive innovation that was largely created because of anti-Catholicism, both because of fear of the power of Catholic parochial schools, and because progressive protestants wanted to make Catholic children into "good citizens"- as in non-Catholic. The motivations are exactly the same today, as Ms. Jacoby clearly demonstrates in her absurd anti-Catholic screed.
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