The Catholic New World: Observations, by Tom Sheridan

While I don’t quite believe that hungry lions are getting warmed up in the stadium bullpen, there’s an uncomfortable amount of what might be termed “Catholic-bashing” going on.

Item: Nudged by lawyers seeking to wring a few more bucks out of clergy-abuse settlements, CBS-TV charges that an outdated Vatican document is really a blueprint for hiding the church’s misdeeds. When examined, the accusation is so outlandish that CBS either didn’t understand what it was reading or, worse, intentionally misled viewers.

Item: A headline in the Chicago Sun-Times so wrongly characterizes church doctrine and teaching on homosexuality that Cardinal George responds publicly. (See his column on Page 3.)

Item: Letters to the editor in publications all over the country are not just critical, but so insultingly demeaning of longstanding church positions and scriptural understandings that it seems like open season on Catholics.

Item: There’s a squabble going on in the U.S. Senate over confirmation of Catholics for federal judgeships that smacks—to many people—of placing a religious litmus test on prospective nominees. Not all agree, but the charges are leveled.

It’s enough that Supreme Knight Carl Anderson warned fellow Knights at the group’s leadership gathering in August that there is “new evidence of unrelenting anti-Catholicism” sweeping the nation.

You can read about these stories elsewhere in this issue of The Catholic New World. They should provide food for thought. But in and of themselves, they are not evidence that Nero has been returned to power. Rather, it may be that people are paying attention to what the church says.

I know that’s sort of like a backhanded compliment, but let’s explore it a bit, shall we?

First, there’s no question but that the Catholic Church brought some of this on itself because of the disastrous way some dioceses handled the clergy sexual abuse crisis.

That, doubtlessly, is part of the feelings of some letter-writers who consider the church still part of the “Dark Ages” or that the church’s efforts to take “the high moral ground” on life issues and same-sex marriage and more might be better listened to if church leaders had done so regarding pedophilia.

The anger is understandable. However, the failure—and sin—of humans, even human structures, ought not detract from the constant teaching of the church. But it does provide an excuse, I suppose.

While Catholic-bashing may seem to have reached a fever pitch lately (an Internet search for the term turned up more than 2,000 citations), criticism of the church has been around in the country since its beginning.

Item: Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver wrote a column for his archdiocesan newspaper in which he recalled the outright animosity that greeted Catholics in the South a generation or more ago.

Actually, we Catholics have become a majority (or at least a plurality) in many areas; of course, that can make attacks even more interesting. Attacks on the 800-pound gorilla usually succeed where attacks on minorities don’t. Media comments which have been leveled at the Catholic Church would have been answered by a firestorm of protest had they been made at Jewish or even Muslim groups.

That’s not to say there aren’t defenders.

The New York-based Catholic League (www.catholicleague.org) often manages to respond to every media statement, off-the-wall comment, perceived slight or blasphemous piece of artwork. Many of those “attacks,” however, don’t rise to the level of some of the recent episodes.

Should we be aware of criticisms of the church for its public stands? Certainly. Remember, if those positions weren’t so important, weren’t at the core of faith and society, there would be no attacks. (Remember, there’s a beatitude about that!) Hey, that means someone is paying attention.

But no, local churches shouldn’t worry about purchasing quantities of lion-proof vests. Not yet, at least.