Please Look Behind the Bishops' Potemkin Village
Ignatius Insight Scoop has a link to a thought-provoking essay written by Russell Shaw in the February, 2008 edition of "The Catholic World Report ." The essay is in the form of a letter to those planning the visit of Pope Benedict XVI within the United States in April, 2008. The essay is directed mostly to the U.S. Bishops. Here are two snippets from this essay: You might, for example, tell the Holy Father something like this: There are two radically different versions of how things are now in the Catholic Church in America. Call them "We're doing okay" and "We're in desperate trouble." Professor James D. Davidson of Purdue University is a well-informed, urbane spokesman for we're-doing-okay. Davidson, a sociologist, has studied religion in America for many years, and much of his work has focused on the Catholic Church. According to news reports, he said in a recent talk that media coverage that emphasizes Catholics ignoran