Santorum=Jackass

You know, I hesitate to post this link ("The Elephant in the Room: In Praise of Catholic Priests Who Dare to Preach and Enforce"), because it suggests that I'm insisting that people read an article written by Rick Santorum (albeit more likely one of his proxies), but fairness constrains me. Now I have not bothered to fact check the article, assuming that people usually treat any factual statement from the emphatically ex-senator from Pennsylvania as gingerly as a dog turd. But a few random observations comes to mind:

1) It takes a man of great character to question the quality of the person who so resoundingly thumped him in a recent election, knowing that lesser mortals might accuse him of sour grapes;

2) I've noted in the past that John Paul II knowingly gave the Eucharist to a pro-choice politician in Italy, so I won't go over how ridiculous this whole issue is. I will merely point out that a priest is in no position to know the heart of someone coming up to receive Communion, so really, he should just do his job and give out the sacrament. Not to mention that recent events have shown that the Church might want to review how it handles background checks;

3) Santorum brings up Justin Cardinal Rigali, at whom I am a bit miffed right now. Rigali is not as overtly confrontational as Bishop Joseph Martino, the main object of Santorum's praise. But he did allow himself to be photographed with Bush in 2004 and McCain in 2008, and yet somehow was not available for their respective opponents. After that, he had very carefully couched letters read at Mass the Sundays before the election, and then put out the FOCA post cards out the Sunday after Obama's inarguation despite the fact that the bill is not currently under consideration.

I met Cardinal Rigali last year, as part of a group introduced to him during a pilgrimage. When we learned that we would meet him I was torn as to what to do. This is hard to explain to non-Catholics, but even seeing a Cardinal, let alone meeting one, is something special, akin to seeing a rock star. But up to that point Rigali had come up short in every measure I have for high Church members. The question, then, was whether or not to make a scene. As the moment neared, however, I backed away from the idea of any confrontation, and soon I just hoped to avoid aping Mr. Bean when he met the Queen. Which I did manage, BTW, although verbally it was close.

Do I regret not speaking to power when I had the chance? Not really. It is true that some of the great saints of the Church have openly confronted high Church members whom they thought had deviated from the path. Catherine of Siena often signed letters to Cardinals "without reverence," and she's a Doctor of the Church now. Rigali should be told that he does his Archdiocese no favors by using sophists' tricks to manipulate it against politicians he does not like. But many people do tell him this, if he chooses to listen, so I am glad I showed respect to the people who allowed me to meet Rigali by not calling him to task. But if I meet him again . . .