Catholic Bloggers Gone Wild

A new breed of extremist conservatives (ok, they don't plant bombs, threaten or kill....but they are extreme in their demands) has taken to blogs and Yu Tube to say their church isn't "Catholic enough". They are hunting for the "traitorous clergy" (might we say "infidels"?) among the church nuns, priests or bishops in the American Catholic Church, and they don't mind naming names of those they think are infidel-like. Well, if crazy Muslims can take over the Muslim religion with hate and maniacal behavior, so too could crazy Catholics redefine the Catholic Church. As corrupt as the church is these days it isn't hard to point out failings by the institution or by it's clerics.

One of the leaders of this informal movement, Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com and St. Michael's Media , when accused of practicing modern day witch hunts said, "We're no more engaged in a witch hunt than a doctor excising a cancer is engaged in a witch hunt. We're just shining a spotlight on people who are Catholics who do not live the faith."

That means they want to blot out everything "infidelish", from pedophile priests in the church to contributing to and supporting political candidates. Voris has even formed the CIA — the Catholic Investigative Agency — a program from RealCatholicTV to "bring to light the dark deeds of evil Catholics in name only, who are hijacking the Church for their own ends, not the ends of Christ." Uh, anything that the fanatics regard as un Catholic is labeled as heretical. Sound like the early days of Muslim extremism, doesn't it? Maybe it is true that the most ardent purest really loves what he exclaims he hates.

But these bloggers who out non Catholic tendencies in the clergy are a kinder and gentler form of intolerance than are the Muslim nuts. They use, not beheadings, but public recognition/shame that point out the infidels among the church and use prayer as weapons against the fallen clergy they see as lacking. It's supposed to be the group sanction device in which once outed other Catholics would feel pressure to join in condemning and consequently running the infidel clergyman/woman out of their clerical positions.

If a priest, for example, were to express sympathy for or support of same-sex marriage, artificial contraception or abortion rights, he would be targeted as unacceptable and Catholics would be asked to make their displeasure known to the priest's superiors. It seems the activist bloggers just don't think the Catholic Church is conservative enough, another chilling similarity to the early Muslim extremists views about their own clergy. The problem with this strategy though is that Catholics are generally an apathetic lot. Unlike Muslims who fear their religion, Catholics more oft ignore theirs and don't really care what their clergy does unless it personally impacts them.

I think the Church is probably unconcerned about the blog strategy to make Catholicism more in the image of....uh...dare I say it..Muslim intolerance. Aside from a loss of some donation money Catholics will never imitate Muslims. These same bloggers have ranted off line about the church's failings for years and largely been ignored buy the flock. Being "heard" so easily in blogs just makes them fantasize more that they can change Catholicism back into the image ot possessed centuries ago when the Catholic Church was and gave the final word on itself.

But it is interesting to see how Muslim success at taking over their religion and molding it into a more hateful one is now the same goal which some Catholics want in their own theology.