Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company

While I am sure that some Catholics are sympathetic to the "American Life League's Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church," I can't say that I believe this will sway the Catholic Church and may, in fact, hurt the cause of the American Life League.

The Catholic Church basically doesn't like to be publicly attacked, and the ad is a public attack, make no doubt about it. The Church is not inherently conservative; it does possess some progressive instincts. But it bites down on these instincts when its authority is challenged. The Catholic bishops have spoken; the Eucharist will not be categorically denied to politicians who fall under the label "pro-choice." This ad is a challenge to the bishops and will harden the hearts of some bishops towards those behind the ad campaign.

What is the lesson here? Trying to knock down the front door of the church isn't the proper vehicle for change, it is the vehicle of the schismatically inclined. Students protesting actually retarded popular opinion's eventual turn against the Vietnam War and the same is the case here: trying to publicly force the Catholic Church to change is the worst possible way to effect change in the Church, and this goes for both those who want to ban pro-abortion politicians from receiving Holy Communion and those who want women to be ordained in the priesthood.