With Halloween just passing, many boys and girls dressed up, playing make believe. If some dressed as a priest or nun, they were looked upon with great amusement. But when grown women dress up like priests, 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 paper recently ran a silly article about a woman suffering from priest envy suggesting that she is not the only one in need of help. The reader was 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 tried to get serious. It said that the Catholic Church recently equated the ordination of women to pedophilia, ascribing the same penalty. In actual fact, what the Church decreed was 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 Church. It’s a game because the Times never takes aim at Orthodox Jews or Muslims for not having women clergy. Just Catholics.
