Charles Pierce, who knows more about Catholicism -- and Beantown -- than I do, takes on Saint Kit's papal bullshite in the New York Times:
I, however, was bit baffled to find the Paulists described by Seelye first on April 11 as "a kind of New Age church that describes itself as a 'worship community of Christians in the Roman Catholic tradition." On April 12, Seelye wrote pretty much the same story, except that now the Paulists were "a nontraditional church." To which I responded, as Augustine once did to the people of Hippo, "What the f**k is this?"
The Paulists date back to 1858 -- which makes them roughly as old as a number of other orders. They were founded by Isaac Hecker, who started out as a Tammany reformer, of all things. They have been consistently involved in Catholic education and in issues of social justice. True, they've been more liberal occasionally than the local Archdiocese would have preferred, and the Jim-Caviezel Died-For-Our-Sins crew doesn't like them very much.
However, they hardly deserve to be described as though they were founded an hour-and-a-half ago in somebody's basement amid crystals and candles and the "Europe '72" album. They preach the Gospels. They officiate the sacraments. They are in good standing with their bishop. The Paulists are as traditional as any other order is -- unless, of course, you equate "traditional" with "theologically reactionary."
I'm sure we'll see corrections on this one by Sunday at the latest. Confession is good for the soul -- right, Mr. Keller?
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