A Smaller, Clammier Church

Paul Gorrell on the Williamson controversy and the Pope's message to the world:

...what has been revealed in this story is Benedict’s vision of the Church as a “perfect society” that places orthodoxy as the primary requirement of membership. If the faithful are willing to give this unquestioning assent to papal rule, then filtering history through the lens of bigotry is not a problem for the Church.

But Benedict’s vision for the Church is a big problem for gay folks, women who seek equal rights, people who believe the expression of sexuality should not be restricted to marriage and procreation, those who embrace ecumenical dialogue, and people who believe in the primacy of conscience (a hallmark of post-Vatican II Catholic moral theology). For Benedict, a Holocaust denier is welcome and these ecclesiastical outliers are not. Ironically, by recognizing Williamson as a member of the Church in good standing, Benedict has made his flock much smaller.

And that, of course, is the point.