I saw this by Matthew Archbold on the site of the Cardinal Newman Society about America Magazine‘s role in defending the Church against Pres. Obama’s attack on the 1st Amendment:
ARCHBOLD: America Mag Bails on the Fight for Religious Liberty
Run away! Run away! The brave editors of America Magazine stood for a while with the bishops in their struggle for religious liberty.
But no more.
The editors of the Jesuit magazine have sounded the trumpets of retreat and are bravely galloping away to watch from the sidelines.
In an editorial piece called “Policy, Not Liberty,” the editors of America Magazine did not only announce that they were abandoning the bishops in their continued quest to end the HHS mandate, but they also chided the bishops, saying they “press the religious liberty campaign too far.” As you might know, America‘s editors are the world-renowned arbiters of “gone too far.”
The editors advise the bishops to go back to talking about nuclear war and the economy. People prefer that, the editors say.
The bishops have been most effective in influencing public policy when they have acted as pastors, trying to build consensus in [C]hurch and society, as they did in their pastorals on nuclear war and the economy. The American public is uncomfortable with an overt exercise of political muscle by the hierarchy. Catholics, too, have proved more responsive to pastoral approaches. They expect [C]hurch leaders to appeal to Gospel values, conscience and right reason. They hope bishops will accept honorable accommodations and, even when provoked, not stir up hostility. In the continuing dialogue with government, a conciliatory style that keeps Catholics united and cools the national distemper would benefit the whole [C]hurch.
Cooling the national distemper? Seriously. Is that what Jesus died on the cross for? You know, things got a little heated in Jerusalem around 33 A.D., so Jesus got right up on that cross in an effort to “cool the national distemper.”
[…]
Cooling. That’s what we need.
Let’s be tepid.
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From a priest reader:
From a reader:
