One of my college friends entered the seminary and completed his studies in Rome where he was ordained. He is now a parish priest here in Virginia at his second assignment. Not only was he heavily influenced by John Paul the Great, but he is a solid Reaganite to boot. (He served as my College Republican Vice Chairman one year.)
Arlington had an excellent Bishop and Voc Director for a number of years.
IIRC, your current Bishop is not the same kind of guy as his predecessor and has allowed a few tweaky things; but there are so many good men out there (including at least 1 from Milwaukee) that the Diocese should remain solid for quite a while.
Can we borrow him for a few years?
I was really struck at Anna Quindlen's editorial in Newsweek this week. She makes it clear she is catholic, and then finishes up her article on Pope John Paul II like this:
"When the pope appeared to be channeling Leviticus, standing for orthodoxy simply for orthodoxy's sake, he appeared less like a spiritual leader and more like an ecclesiastical politician. seeing only the trees and not the forest."
She admires him for being a good man, but chastises him for not being in the current thought of liberal philosphies.
Quindlen continues to get wrong. (She also exclaimed a few weeks ago, during the debate over Terri Shindler Shiavo, that there is no such thing as a culture of life.) These "Catholics" don't seem to want to conform to the teachings of the Catholic faith. We need to continue with the education of our faith, with men who are going to remain faithful to the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
Keep those seminarians coming.
One of Justice Scalia's sons is a young parish priest in the Arlington diocese, as well. i am kinda betting he is conservative ; )