A few of the bloggers took Rod Dreher to task Friday for his latest WSJ column, in which he compares the Vatican’s full-court press against a war on Iraq with its less vigorous approach with respect to the sex-abuse scandals in the US, and grouses at the latter.
Greg Popcak called the article “idiotic” and the sentiments “bordering on irrational”. I expected him to grill Dreher: are you now or have you ever been an Ultramontanist? And Victor Lams, seldom given to harsh judgments, wonders whether no-one writing for National Review is “a sincere Catholic”. Considering the company that Rod is in as an NR writer, that sort of talk was over the top.
When orthodox Catholics express the wish that Pope John Paul would intervene more vigorously in Church life over here to correct abuses, they’re often told: sorry, dears, things just don’t work that way; the Pope is fulfilling his role, and it’s up to the bishops here to fulfill theirs. Can’t argue with that.
This notion that Pope John Paul passed up opportunities to discipline bishops must be some fringe view held by people who really don’t understand the Church’s tradition on governance — unless you want to take seriously people like James Hitchcock, Ralph McInerny, George Weigel, and Tom Bethell.