Originally published at crisis magazine
Clarity is the courtesy we owe to those who, while they may reject our views as mistaken, nevertheless evince enough curiosity to ask why it is we believe the things we do. And now and again—not always, of course—it may happen that having plainly told them, they may actually come round to believing those same things as well.
But only if there is an equal respect for the truth on either side. For others, however, such clarity serves only to confirm the fact that the chasm looming between us is both real and unbridgeable. Which, in the absence of any openness to change, not even the grace of God can overcome.
Take, for instance, the issue of ordaining women to the priesthood, which has long been one of those hot-button issues dividing Catholics from practically everyone else. In fact, the divisions are happening more and more inside our own household of faith, which has become a source of considerable grief and confusion to the faithful.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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Including, one would imagine, the current pope, who was rudely assailed recently by a group of so-called Catholic students at the
