Liberal Catholics, taking care of their own

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | May 15, 2012

From the one-hand-washes-the-other department:

Georgetown University is honoring Kathleen Sebelius, and Commonweal magazine is honoring Georgetown’s President John DeGioia, presenting him with the “Catholic in the Public Square” award.

With straight faces, Georgetown officials will tell you that they’re not honoring Sebelius in order to thumb their noses at the Catholic hierarchy; they’re bringing her in to speak at commencement because she’s such a fine government official. And Commonweal is not honoring DeGioia for inviting Sebelius; they’re feting him because he’s such a fine university president.

If you’d like to get in on the game, you could present the staff of Commonweal with an award for courage in editorial judgment—not because they honored DiGioia, naturally, but because they put together such nicely polished prose.