The radical middle

Couldn’t resist sharing this.

My cool nun friend passed along a copy of a letter she wrote to Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George. He’s been under fire lately since making some remarks about the Notre Dame controversy. Within a couple of days, a lot of heated media criticism targeted Cardinal George, making him the focus of attention and not so much the impassioned and intelligent debate people on both sides were having about the commencement. ‘Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep.’

They’re already scattered. As Sr. H noted.

Dear Cardinal George,
 
I would like to continue to thank you for continuing to speak out on pro-life/conscience issues, and encourage you to continue.

She made the point that some prominent Catholics have spoken out in favor of Notre Dame’s actions and against the Cardinal’s words.

We Irish Catholics are the worst pro-aborts AND the greatest pro-lifers. (Can a kingdom divided against itself stand? Thank God it’s not OUR kingdom.)…

George Weigel’s editorial [which is here] made it very clear what an honorary degree is meant to telegraph to the world: that the honoree is an exemplar of the values held by a particular institution. And ironically, he’s being given a LAW degree. Isn’t President Obama using legislation to promote the culture of death and deprivation of freedom of conscience? It’s one thing to invite the President. It’s another to honor him.

That’s actually an important point. One that a reader of another post wrote in two simple sentences. (“To have President Obama as the commencement speaker is a great honor for Notre Dame. To confer an honorary degree upon him is a betrayal of the very ideals upon which the university was founded.”)

Back to Sr. H.

When you are attacked by the right for not saying enough, and attacked by the left for saying too much, you know you are in the right place: the radical middle. When you bishops speak out…we back you.
 
When you speak out on pro-life, you are defending women and children (widows and orphans for all practical purposes, abandoned by men who are not real men). When bishops speak out, not only are they the good shepherds we have been longing for–whom the true sheep know and follow–they are being real men. And our world sorely needs real men.

Sr. H is an exuberant, ‘hip media nun’, as we call her. She does movie reviews, media literacy classes, philosophy workshops, ‘theology of the body’ workshops, blogging…

I was just at a brunch with a producer from Hollywood who converted from atheism to Catholicism in 2003. He is on fire for God, and was so turned off on Catholicism most of his life because all he ever met were “liberal,” “pro-choice” Catholics (and he was a pro-life atheist)…

What should you say? Whatever you think you should. You are a highly-educated, civil, cordial, clear, quotable speaker and a faithful son and servant of the Church. It may not come out perfectly, but as [former U.S. Congressman] Henry Hyde said, we have to try.
 
Blessed Holy Week (the week of Jesus’ greatly lessening popularity/approval-rating in the polls).