Safe Haven

 I will not bore you with arcane discussions of infallibility, or somehow insist that no pastoral decision can ever be questioned. But I must be honest with you: I'm uncomfortable with a great many people who believe that they can dance right up to the line of open rebellion, and as long as they don't cross it, they think they can say whatever they want. I wish I had the grace to "weep with those who weep" over recent decisions, but I don't. People's defensiveness just proves that somebody had a point. I would rather be accused of being a fervent yes-man, than be shown to be the opposite. If what we believe about the Church is true, we cannot openly defy the sacred shepherds, while at the same time insist to the world that we are their only hope of salvation. Something has to give. My favorite Psalm is the 73rd, and one line from it is often translated, "If I would have spoken thus, I would have betrayed the generation of your children." In short, in...