Remarks on the Catholic League’s Condemnation of John Edward’s Bloggers

Anyone who has had the opportunity to watch the leader of the Catholic League, William Donohue, knows that we are not contending with an intellectual heavy weight when attempting to parse through his ramblings in order to understand the actual logic supporting the his constant accusations of anti-Catholicism. Although I should mention that I was absolutely shocked to find that this individual obtained a PHD in Sociology from the NYU; this is a fact that I am going to look into further in order to resolve my persistent skepticism over its accuracy. Nevertheless, I am going to - for the moment - treat this character as though he is capable of producing polemics that possess some degree of logical reasoning concealed somewhere inside their inflaming rhetoric.

In order to select from a gluttony of ill conceived accusations of anti-Catholicism expressed by William Donohue, I shall concentrate on the latest development in a career of erecting straw men in order to champion the interests of the most uninformed and certainly the least intellectually inclined dominator among the Religious Right in American society.

The bloggers made remarks concerning specific policies enacted by individuals who assume positions in the Church. Therefore, as far as I can detect, the two bloggers in question were casting disparaging remarks toward the policies enacted by men - and, of course, only men - assuming positions within the Church - not the actual belief system and associated practices of Catholicism.

I would suspect that Catholicism acknowledges some distinction between those who assume positions in its hierarchy of offices and the Church, itself, which I thought would be considered a transcendental structure, according to its significance within the Worldview of Catholicism. In short, and I suspect I am correct in my conclusion, the Church holds an ontological status; thus It exists apart from the particular individuals who find themselves holding office in its organization Schema. In support of this assertion, I need only make reference to the - extremely dubiously translated - account in Ancient Greek of Jesus proclaiming, as he held a rock, something to the effect that this was his Church, which - parenthetically - can also be translated into something approximating, I am this rock, which would entail a different understanding of Christianity, entirely, because Jesus would be indicating that the Divine is not transcendental, but something that in worldly and can be communed with in a state absent of any intermediating devices, such as the Catholic Church and its hierarchy in which men - and only men - hold office.

Therefore, if, indeed, remarks directed against Church Officials are to be considered an expression of intolerance toward Catholicism, itself, then such a conclusion would, in fact, express that there is no distinction to be drawn between Catholicism and the men who occupy positions in its institutional structure.

John Paul introduced a lexicon into the Church’s vocabulary that had been lacking throughout the extent - up till then - of the Church’s history: the word, apologize. By actually articulating an apology for the Church in reaction to periods in the Church’s history when it acted in modalities that appeared less than divine, John Paul was essentially conceding that the actions of the those who hold power in the Church are subject to the fallibility resulting from the finite knowledge of man as well as the dark natures that lurk within the motivations that compel men to action.

Consequently, from the preceding analysis, I would have to conclude that William Donohue is suspect to accusations of worshiping false idols, which happen to be men themselves; certainly not the transcendental God to which he incredulously swears devotion.

As a final note to this letter, I should provide the following advice: Beware of false idols; especially those who are men, who, nevertheless, possess the arrogance to collapse any distinction between themselves and the God they purport to represent.

Russell Cole

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