At the name of Jesus

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Nov 25, 2003

Why should the Boston Globe -- an aggressively secularist publication and no friend of the Catholic Church -- carry an article on the implementation of changes in the liturgy?

Because it's war.

The point isn't that the new norms are likely to convulse the Church, but that anti-Catholics have a huge interest in dismantling what remains of a culture of adoration -- i.e., worship of a supremely transcendent God whom we did not invent and who demands obedience and awe. The Globe is right to cover the story, because its readers will intuitively grasp its relevance to current struggles: fluffy, I-love-me liturgy means a fuzzy, feel-good God; and a fuzzy, feel-good God means a weak Church; and a weak Church means ... whatever the Supreme Court says it means.

For exactly the same reasons, it's no accident that the rabidly pro-abortion Catholics for a Free Choice posts a news item titled "Vatican Contemplates Climb Down Over Rules for Mass" on its website. In the logic of moral theology, there's no connection between the Vatican's norms for Mass and the right to abortion on demand. But CFFC's Frances Kissling knows who her friends are and she knows her enemies. When bishops from Western Europe and North America manage to outflank the curia and embarrass the Holy See, Kissling understands the consequences and is right to gloat about them.

Because it's war.