A Catholic Doctor Congratulates Brenda Walker On Her…Forthrightness

By VDARE.com Reader

01/12/2006

A Reader Knows Why We're Losing the War on Drugs

Fred Fries writes from Vermont:

Gulp! Brenda Walker’s excellent article on the Catholic pro-immigration outrage is going to be met with howls of protest — but stick to your guns and don’t back down (though you'll have to be very diplomatic in replying to critics … . very diplomatic). (I’m Catholic, by the way — and Brenda’s article was not only right on the mark, but long overdue as far as I’m concerned.)

A few of the passages that are going to get you guys in trouble are the following:

• "Many rank-and-file Catholics have become displeased with the world-class hypocrisy of an institution that has protected pervert priests for decades, but condemns to hell anyone who uses birth control. Apparently, as good authoritarians, the Catholic hierarchy prefers passively obedient parishioners, rather than educated Americans who are capable of critical analysis. Credulous Mexicans fresh from the pueblo are seen as ideal fillers of pews."

• "The progress-prone values of Americans are being displaced by members of progress-resistant [Catholic] cultures — in the compelling analysis of Prof. Lawrence Harrison — and the results are seen in shocking rates of school dropouts among Hispanic high schoolers, elevated crime and gender violence."

• The passage with the Jay Leno and David Letterman jokes.

And this one:

• "As its actions have shown, the American Catholic Church is just another special interest group with an immigration agenda damaging to the common good."

That last one was formulated perhaps a bit hastily — it might sound better like this:

"In regard to U.S. immigration policy, the American Catholic Church’s actions have shown it is just another special interest group with an agenda damaging to the common good."

In other words, what makes the American Catholic Church seem like just another special interest group is its position on immigration specifically. In Brenda’s original sentence it might sound as if she considers it that on general grounds, not just where immigration is concerned.

That’s not what was meant, of course, but people may perceive it that way and find it grossly unfair as a result of mistakenly perceiving that to have been her meaning.

Anyway … I'd hate to be in your shoes when the e-mails start coming in from irate Catholics, but YOU DID THE RIGHT THING! (uhhhh … I hope … .Gulp … ).

Brenda, that was a first-rate article!

Good luck ( … gulp … )!

Dr. Fries practices in Vermont and is an old friend of VDARE.COM

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