There has been no shortage of recent media stories bound to embarrass the Roman Catholic Church. There has been no end of reports about priests abusing boys and girls under their care (more boys than girls, it seems), culminating in the criminal conviction of an ecclesiastical official for protecting abusive priests. And there have now been stories about intrigues and corruption reaching into the highest circles of the Curia. But none of these stories—though certainly damaging to the credibility of the Church—affect the core of her identity. Even the most fervent anti-Catholic will not claim that the core of Roman Catholicism consists of pedophilia, court conspiracies and financial irregularity. But there are some other media stories that cut closer to the real core (whether they are embarrassing or not depends on the theological position of the observer).
A few weeks ago the Catholic bishops of the United States staged a campaign somewhat oddly called “Fortnight for Freedom” (as a reader of this blog pointed out, the title was in British English—how many Americans use the term “fortnight”?—is there some Anglophile scribe in the offices of the Bishops Conference?—perhaps a recent convert from the Church of England?!). The campaign was triggered by the attempt of the Obama administration to force Catholic institutions to include contraception in health insurance offered to their employees. The campaign was strongly supported by many non-Catholics who did not agree with Catholic teaching on contraception, but who agreed with the bishops that the issue here was not contraception at all, but the free exercise of religion guaranteed in the first amendment to the US constitution. (I too agreed with this view.) What is more, ever since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church is indeed credible as a defender of religious freedom in society, as she has been a strong proponent of democracy in many countries. But there is another issue not touched upon by the bishops—the issue of religious freedom within the Catholic Church. The “Fortnight” campaign attracted a good deal of attention, but another story has quickly replaced its featured place: the contretemps between the Vatican and the major organization of American nuns.
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