I'm back.

Well, sort of back. I won't be posting very much at least until next week, at which time I'll get back to my KCMO closed church updates and then, eventually, go back to Kansas City, Kansas.

But for now, one comment, and one quiz.

First, the comment. Abp. Chaput, one of the most sensible and practical American bishops (and, though not without faults, my recommendation to replace Maida or McCarrick, when I get that fancy letter marked "Confidential" from the Nuncio) once again does a great job speaking plainly against the secular powers-that-be. You'll recall that last year, in a widely-reported speech in Denver, he vigorously defended the Church's tax exempt status. I think he stopped short of publicly forbidding anyone from receiving Holy Communion, as I recall, but he did jump right back at questions about government intervention in ecclesiastical matters. Now he's done it again, with a response to the movement to abolish the statute of limitations for clergy abuse cases.

Chaput's greatest strength is perhaps his ability to stand up to secular opposition and (without losing his head and launching into a fit of temper, as I might) speak plainly and persuasively to regular people. He tells it like it is: the clergy abuse plaintiff's lawyers are greedy bastards who are pillaging the church, not doing justice (my paraphrase, of course). Contrast him to someone like Brown of Orange or Skylstad of Spokane who blithely gives away that which they have no right to--the patrimony built up over generations. Furthermore, Chaput does so persuasively. Contrast that to Mahoney of LA, on one hand, who hasn't the ability to say or write anything that is not self serving and unbelievable, or Bruskewitz of Lincoln who generally says the right substantive things, but in off-putting ways. Chaput would have been the best of the available men to step into Boston and deal with both the filthy perverts in the Church there as well as the filthy carrion birds circling around her.

Ahem.

Finally the little quiz. Who can discern which Catholic Church is pictured below? Your guesses in the comment box.

Actually, blogger isn't cooperating tonight, so I'll have to post the photo and the question tomorrow.


Regards!