Hi Kathy,
I started following you when you were Relapsed Catholic. From a rhetorical point of view, I understand the need to be edgie [sic], that you want to show that you are not a prude, etc., but personally I long ago discovered that the answer to our many societal problems is not well placed arguments, but sanctity. Not sanctimoniousness, of course, but sanctity.
If our struggle is not with flesh and blood (the Muslims, the CHRC, Warman, etc.), but with principalities and powers, pictures of Gina Lollabrigida, Shania Twain etc. are a real temptation — even to a 65 yr old father of a Carmelite nun– and an invitation from the enemy camp, our eternal enemy.
So, this Saturday when I sacramentally confess sinful curiousity and the priest asks me what I mean by that, I will say something to the effect that I visited your webpage even though I knew I was running the risk of serious temptation. A firm purpose of ammendment means not coming back- which means losing out intellectually, of course. You are very sharp, well spoken and insightful. Thanks for all you do- or most of it 🙂
But, it will be a spiritual victory that may bring grace down on some lame brain legislator in a vote crucial to the survival of western civilization. That is how the world really works.
Signed, XXX
Dear XXX:
I appreciate your thoughtful message. I apologize for causing you distress.
I’m not quite sure how you divorce Gina Lollabrigida from ‘flesh and blood’; she certainly resembles no principalities and powers of which I am familiar.
Would it not be more candid to simply say that you find such photos a personal temptation and leave it at that, rather than somehow laying your “sins” on my doorstep and getting all theological/scriptural on my butt? In fact, wouldn’t it have been more humble of you to keep your “sins” to yourself, rather than pompously and ostentatiously “confessing” them to me?
With all due respect, radical Muslims and government censors pose a greater danger to our world than 40-year-old photos of Italian actresses.
And if, according to you, that is not the Catholic view (which I seriously doubt) than I guess I am no longer a Catholic, and am well rid of such a silly Church.
Signed,
Kathy Shaidle
