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Sheer Effrontery

We always enjoy a good smart aleck. But a good one needs to be smart.

Gregory Kane isn’t. A columnist for The Baltimore Sun, he has written an open letter to Pope John Paul II, which we saw in The Oakland Tribune (May 28) under the title “Time for Catholic Women Priests.” It begins this way: “This missive comes to you from a guy who is an admitted bad Catholic. I haven’t been to Mass in a good while…. I haven’t seen a confessional in decades…. I am…a guy who used to read The Catholic Review’s movie section to check which films were condemned and then go out and watch them.” Why would the Holy Father take this dude seriously?

The dude continues: “You recently met with a group of cardinals to discuss the issue of abuse. You all decided to condemn pedophiles who masquerade as priests, and, golly, was that ever a relief. But there you were, all guys…. Anything wrong with that picture?” We await the dude’s open letter to Jesus Christ: There you were at the Last Supper. But there you were, all guys. Anything wrong with that picture?

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