Catholic League president Bill Donohue reflects on an article in today’s New York Times on the subject of women priests:
With Halloween only a month away, boys and girls will soon be dressing up, playing make believe. If some dress as a priest or nun, they will be looked upon with great amusement. But when grown women dress up like a priest, and they really believe they have become one, it is cause for calling 911. They need help.
Those at the New York Times apparently never heard of 911. The silly article today about a woman suffering from priest envy suggests that she is not the only one in need of help. The reader is introduced to an Italian woman who as a child pretended she was a priest, dispensing cookies and chips for communion. Sadly, the story recounts how she never grew up: she still thinks she is a priest. It did not say whether she still favors cookies and chips for communion, though it is possible she now favors meatballs.
After sounding positively delusional, the Times tries to get serious. It says that the Catholic Church recently equated the ordination of women to pedophilia, ascribing the same penalty. In actual fact, what the Church decreed is that sexual abuse and the profanation of any sacrament will not be tolerated. Does not the New York Times have the same penalty for those who sexually harass a colleague and those who intentionally misrepresent their credentials? In all four cases, the offenses are different but the penalty is the same.
What is going on, of course, is a game. The game is to manipulate public opinion against the Catholic Church. It’s a game because the Times never takes aim at Orthodox Jews or Muslims for not having women clergy. Just Catholics.
