Attacks build up on the ‘Taliban’ and the ‘McCarthyites’ of the Catholic blogosphere

Catholic Herald UK ^ | 27 October 2010 | William Oddie

[Alex Murphy]

What he means by web-based McCarthyism is what John L Allen (of the National Catholic Reporter) calls the “Catholic Taliban”.

Allen’s explanation of this term was recently spelled out to an audience at the University of Texas. It was necessary, Allen said, to strike “a balance between two extremes”. This is how he described these extremes:

“On the one extreme lies what my friend and colleague George Weigel correctly terms ‘Catholicism Lite’, meaning a watered-down, sold-out form of secularised religiosity, Catholic in name only. On the other is what I call ‘Taliban Catholicism’, meaning a distorted, angry form of the faith that knows only how to excoriate, condemn, and smash the TV sets of the modern world....

....Singled out for special attention was RealCatholicTV.com, which, accused the paper, is “hunting for ‘traitorous’ nuns, priests or bishops throughout the American Church”. “We’re no more engaged in a witch hunt than a doctor excising a cancer is engaged in a witch hunt,” said Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com and St Michael’s Media. “We’re just shining a spotlight on people who are Catholics who do not live the faith.”

[a fool in paradise]

Exposing apostasy within the self-governed organized religion is not becoming a “taliban”.

This isn’t even kicking out “false followers”. This is appraising those serving within the church.

[RC2]

Here in the US, we could use a little “McCarthyism” today. As for the Church, I’d prefer going back to the 50’s. One problem today is converts want to run the church without understanding the church. It seems that they come to the Catholic Church and attempt to change it to what they left and weren’t happy with.

[Sergio]

Bookmark.

[conservonator]

"Catholic Lite" has probably killed far more people in the form of abortion than the real Taliban has killed in it's entire existence.

Be hot or cold in the faith, just don't be lukewarm or as it's better know as "lite".

[marshmallow]

What he means by web-based McCarthyism is what John L Allen (of the National Catholic Reporter) calls the “Catholic Taliban”. Allen’s explanation of this term was recently spelled out to an audience at the University of Texas. It was necessary, Allen said, to strike “a balance between two extremes”. This is how he described these extremes: “On the one extreme lies what my friend and colleague George Weigel correctly terms ‘Catholicism Lite’, meaning a watered-down, sold-out form of secularised religiosity, Catholic in name only. On the other is what I call ‘Taliban Catholicism’, meaning a distorted, angry form of the faith that knows only how to excoriate, condemn, and smash the TV sets of the modern world....

Uh........so let's see if I understand this correctly.

You sit Catholics in the pews and then subject them to loony liturgies, heretical homilies and lousy catechesis. You tell them that the Catholicism which their parents practiced is history and they need to "get with it". You force them to watch while priests break their vows, nuns throw away their religious habits and become ecologists and the Church is turned upside down.

Rinse and repeat as necessary for...........ohhhhhhhh........say about forty years!.

They then get to watch as their children lose their faith and entire dioceses are bankrupted by the antics of the lavender mafia.

Can you say "laity abuse"??

Now you mean to tell me that after all that, lay Catholics actually start to get angry???

Amazing!

Who would have thunk it!!

No, no, no, John..........this is not Taliban Catholicism. This is Vatican II Catholicism. You know that tired cliche which we've been hearing for the past 40-odd years about how Vatican II was all about getting the lay people "involved"??

Well it's happening. They are "getting involved". They're taking up arms against those who've been trying to destroy the Church. Dontcha love it??!! They're blogging and making their voices heard.

OK, so this isn't exactly what the liberals and radicals had in mind with their "spirit of Vatican II" shtick but hey,............it's all good, right?

[markomalley]

OK, so this isn't exactly what the liberals and radicals had in mind with their "spirit of Vatican II" shtick but hey,............it's all good, right?

I will have to keep that comment readily available the next time some aging priest berates me for being a stodgy "übertraddie" and inflexible

(Mind you, I am not an übertraddie by any means...)

[Salvation]

**Well it’s happening. They are “getting involved”. They’re taking up arms against those who’ve been trying to destroy the Church. Dontcha love it??!! They’re blogging and making their voices heard.

OK, so this isn’t exactly what the liberals and radicals had in mind with their “spirit of Vatican II” shtick but hey,............it’s all good, right?**

Chuckle, chuckle. You nailed it! God bless!

[Salvation]

SOMETIMES John Allen is good, but I think he forgot his meds here.

[Antoninus]

Are you beginning to understand the complexities within the Catholic Church and that we are being hamstrung by moles operating from within who are not actually Catholic, but are trying to remake the Church in their own image?

I call them protestants who don't have the courtesy to simply walk out of the Church.

[Alex Murphy]

Are you beginning to understand the complexities within the Catholic Church and that we are being hamstrung by moles operating from within who are not actually Catholic, but are trying to remake the Church in their own image?

I call them protestants who don't have the courtesy to simply walk out of the Church.

I call them Catholic bishops.

[EyeGuy]

The author is too historically ignorant to realize that to intelligent, informed people, “McCarthyism” is a compliment.

Not that the Left won’t fight tenaciously, to cling to one of the rotting foundational pillars supporting their edifice of propaganda.

[Legatus]

I call them protestants who don't have the courtesy to simply walk out of the Church.

I call them Catholic bishops.

Potato, potato; tomato, tomato. They may sound different but they look the same to me.

[Pope Pius XII]

John Allen is an idiot. Normally, he’s a pretty good writer. But I’m afraid he blew it this time.

[Pope Pius XII]

There’s a several private prophecies that point to stuff like this. We haven’t seen anything yet. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.

[lastchance]

If it pissed off a canting reprobate apostate of a Jesuit, I say good on them. We must be doing something right.

[Antoninus]

I call them Catholic bishops.

Indeed. The shame of it is that some of the most outspoken protestants these days are bishops in the Catholic Church.

That said, there are a lot less of these types around today than there were 20 years ago. They are a dying breed.

[mas cerveza por favor]

‘web-based McCarthyism’ is on the rise in the Catholic blogosphere.

That sounds like a complement. McCarthy was one of the good guys.

[mas cerveza por favor]

That said, there are a lot less of these types around today than there were 20 years ago. They are a dying breed.

Flaming liberals replaced by cagey faux-conservatives.

[mas cerveza por favor]

They are "getting involved". They're taking up arms against those who've been trying to destroy the Church. Dontcha love it??!! They're blogging and making their voices heard. OK, so this isn't exactly what the liberals and radicals had in mind with their "spirit of Vatican II" shtick but hey,............it's all good, right?

No, no, no, you don't understand. The people are empowered to take over priest jobs at the altar (especially women), demand their rights of contraception, and have freedom to vote pro-abortion. They are NOT to question the new spirit of Vatican II in any way.