gone but not forgotten

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 22, 2010

Back in July, novelist Anne Rice announced that she was finished with Christianity.

Not quite, apparently.

Yesterday the National Catholic Register posted a story by Jimmy Akin, on Bishop Olmsted's announcement that a hospital in Phoenix could no longer be considered Catholic. 

What does that story have to do with Anne Rice? you might wonder. Why would a non-Christian novelist take any interest in the question of whether or not a particular institution carries the "Catholic" label that she has forsaken? Good questions, for which I have no answer.

But Anne Rice sure had answers to the Register report. Soon after the Akin story appeared on the Register site, Rice weighed in with a comment. And another and another and another and another. Within 12 hours she had submitted more than 60 comments. (That's an average of 5 comments an hour, or one every 12 minutes. Don't try this at home; remember, she is a professional writer.)

Since Anne Rice explained her departure by complaining that the Church is anti-woman and anti-contraception, you can probably guess at the general thrust of her remarks. Still you might be left wondering:

Why is it that, 5 months after she announced she was leaving the Church, Anne Rice is still hanging around the web site of the National Catholic Register?