I was watching 'World News Tonight with Peter Jennings' tonight (it's still titled that) out of morbid curiosity to see who had the anchor's chair and saw the piece on Monsignor Clark.
They had the obligatory interviews with the so-called experts. Father O'Brien blamed Clark's affair and declining numbers of priests on celibacy. The president of the Catholic League's words were simply those of sorrow. The 'average Catholic on the street outside St. Patrick's' made some shallow comments about getting with the 21st century, blah blah blah.
I just don't like O'Brien. Yes, he was asked to deliver a sound bite and he provided one, but is the guy really that shallow? (You're all saying, 'yes, he is'.) I just find it entertaining that guys like Father O'Brien can look no farther than the US border when they make their pronouncements on how celibacy is dumb and needs to be done away with for good. Even in the US, if you buy all the stories out there of traditional movements that have a net number of vocations, celibacy doesn't seem to be that much of a hurdle for those entering the religious life.
A sound bite on ABC News may score points with the viewers, but if all the evidence is true, O'Brien and his colleagues have time against them...
(This post is more my reaction than any serious analysis. Don't read too deeply.)
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