I was reading a review of a pastoral letter about sexuality recently issued by Catholic Archbishop John Myers. It was the same old mumbo jumbo about the horrors of abortion, homosexuality and extramarital sex. OK, there are some grains of truth in it; our society is turning sex into another service industry, just another economic transaction. But as to whether the Roman Catholic approach is any healthier … that is surely a problematic issue, given the unhealthy sexual practices engaged in by many of the bishops’ own men (i.e., priests). Archbishop Myers said at one point in his letter that it might seem like a bad time for another pronouncement upholding standard Catholic teachings on sex. He was right about that.

I was once a devoted Catholic, right in Archbishop Myer’s own diocese (Newark, NJ), and I’m glad that I was. But I’m also glad that I’ve moved on. I wish the Roman Church well, even though I think that it is tied too strongly to pre-Enlightenment social presumptions (although it does have a point that despite science and social progress, everyone has a fundamental dark side that still needs to be dealth with). It’s sad to see what the Big Church has come to. I hope that Archbishop Myers’ letter is just another example of how things are always darkest before the dawn.

PS, it seems that Rome has finally yielded a bit to the voice of the people by accepting the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston. I had once crossed paths with the good bishop. About 25 years ago I attended a diocese convocation in Arlington, VA, where Law, then the bishop of some backwoods diocese out in Missouri, gave a presentation regarding Catholic spirituality. I recall that Bishop Law spoke slowly and very deliberately, but remained quite abstract and academic. I think that he lost the audience; after he finished, he asked for comments and questions, and the most significant question raised was about where his diocese was located in Missouri.