Out of the mouths of babes

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Dec 27, 2004

A friend reports this conversation:

When: Sunday morning, Dec 26, 2004. Feast of the Holy Family, Two hours before Mass. Where: Living room. middle-class America. Who: 13 year old son, with his father. What: Watching Fox News Sunday and the interview of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

Son: (walking into room after the TV interview begins.) Dad, isn't he a bishop? He wears the gold chain.
Dad: Yes, son, that's the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington DC, Cardinal McCarrick.
Son: Why are they interviewing him?
Dad: I suppose because he's the most important churchman of the DC area, and its a Sunday after Christmas when news organizations will often discuss family policy.
Son: Wasn't he in the news a few months ago? Is he a good guy?
Dad: Well, last June, he told all the US bishops in a private meeting at Denver, that it was OK to let pro-abortion politicians like Senator Kerry receive Holy Communion.
Son: Wasn't that wrong?
Dad: Well, Cardinal Ratzinger in Rome who works for the Pope said that it was not to be allowed.
Son:Is Ratzinger a good guy?
Dad: Yes, he's quite honest and clear in his speach.
Son: So McCarrick lied about (what) Ratzinger (said)?
Dad: I suppose so.
Son: Is he lying now?
Dad: I don't know.
Son: Can't the Pope fire him?
Dad: I suppose so.
Son: Why doesn't the Pope fire him?
Dad: (long pause) I don't know. I suppose it's complicated.