Well, I can't. How does Joel Green become Julie Green without a nip here and a tuck there?
This is really that important, sitetest, and we've spent far too much time on it already.
I'm not as big a fan of Burke as everybody else is around here, but that's probably obvious. I'm not wild about $25 million shrines, or Cathedral refurbishments, or $200 million Cathedrals. They are extravagances that are usually monuments to the bishops who build them.
Dear sinkspur,
Well, your imagination isn't as active as mine. ;-)
I would merely state that there are several chromosomal disorders that leave their sufferers in a state of less-than-fully-determined sex. Correcting those disorders, as best one can, is radically different from "transgendering" a man who is clearly a man into a "woman" or vice versa.
I don't really have a problem with $25 million shrines, or $200 million cathedrals. I have a problem with $200 million wasted on architectural monstrosities that make one naturally recoil in horror rather than wish to give praise and glory to God.
I know that the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington cost a great deal of money, in 2004 dollars. Not for a moment do I considered that money to have been poorly-spent.
I'm sure that in its day, the Temple in Jerusalem cost a pretty penney, but I don't recall our Lord remonstrating against the cost of the project; rather, He called it His Father's House.
I think that generally, the distaste for expensive ecclesial building projects betrays a somewhat limited view of the right use of material wealth.
But heck, I drive a Benz, so you know on which side of the argument I'll be found. ;-)
sitetest