Catholic and Loving it!

I just can't believe how "cool" and "with it" the front cover of The Tablet is this week. They are definitely down with the kids...

Rainbow people in a circle around planet earth, it's like the 1960's never ended!

The lovely rainbow people at The Tablet are gushing with praise for Pope Benedict after his recent Encyclical. One of them writes...

This remarkable and intelligent man, now in his eighties, seems to have regained the originality of mind that once made him one of the most innovative voices at Vatican II. Half a century later he still has new things to say, well worth hearing, well worth waiting for. And no stereotype could even begin to describe him.

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Here's a stereotype for you: Ageing hippies getting all carried away with excitement because the Pope said something about global warming while studiously ignoring everything else he's had to say about, like, everything.

Have they even read the Encyclical?

Pope Benedict quotes Evangelium Vitae (When a Pope quotes a Pope it's Pope²) saying...

"a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized."

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Is that not basically the Catholic Church in England and Wales in a nutshell?

We assert "values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace", oh yes, we're very good at that. Cafod, LiveSimply, Reclaim the Future... Hooray!

But then, on the other hand, "we tolerate a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated"...

Archbishop Vincent Nichols with his approval of outrageous sex education materials. Our very own Diocesan Youth Service with it's deafening silence on anything that's not Ubuntu. Most disgustingly of all, Catholic Education Service (Archbishop Vincent Nichols again) with it's arms wide open to welcome Connexions advisors to come in to Catholic schools and help teenagers arrange abortion and contraception without parental knowledge or consent.

I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Catholic Church in England and Wales "lacks solid foundations".

Update: Mark points out in the comments (not sure how I missed it) the headline "You can blog but you cannot hide".

Which is funny because while the majority of Catholic blogs are not anonymous at all, the majority of iffy priests and lay pastoral people are very quick to insist that their very public office is a private matter when I blog about their dodgy doings...