"He instinctively can find the shining greatness of our American culture and does a good job of highlighting it (although he also does have those rare lapses when he writes about hockey, but that is something caused by impurities in the Eastern waters or something)." Erik Keilholtz
Under the patronage of St. Tammany
Mark C. N. Sullivan is an editor at a Massachusetts university. He is married and the father of three children. Email
Seismogram recorded 4/19 at Weston Jesuit School of Theology
Cardinal Ratzinger's war on liberation theology is recalled in a NY Sun profile.
As prefect of the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, he was the successor to the Inquisition - a fact that none of those he clashed with over doctrinal issues will let him forget.
His first battle was with Liberation Theology - the blend of Marxism and Catholic doctrine nurtured by intellectuals in Latin America, which held that the church should engage in a Robin Hood-like struggle to better the lives of the poor.
When Pope John Paul II visited Latin America in 1979, he found Liberation Theology flourishing. In 1984 the then Cardinal Ratzinger tore apart the doctrine with "An Instruction on Certain Aspects of the Theology of Liberation."
The Latin American bishops were forced to remove elements of revolutionary socialism. The Brazilian, Leonardo Boff, was "silenced" and later left the priesthood.
In a newspaper column a few days back Boff described Ratzinger as "odious":
A former priest who was condemned to silence by Pope John Paul II in 1985 for supporting radical liberation theology, Boff said Ratzinger "will never be pope, because it would be excessive, something the intelligence of the cardinals would not permit".
Heh.
On ABC, Cokie Roberts was beside herself after the announcement yesterday, and George Stephanopoulos didn't seem too happy either. Ditto Fr. Richard McBrien.
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