Radical Orthodoxy Required

Father Michael Pfleger has more than a touch of Tim Westwood about him. And his flock is entitled to orthodox Catholic catechesis, including, as Latin Catholics, the Roman Rite recognisable as such.

But we orthodox Catholics need to look at Saint Sabina’s, Chicago. Where are our employment resource centres? Where are our social service units? Where are our homes for the elderly? Where are protests against our own equivalents of Jerry Springer (Jeremy Kyle) and Howard Stern (Jonathan Ross)? Where are our battles against drugs? And where are our purchases of prostitutes’ time in order to send them to counselling and job-training schemes? For that matter, where are our counselling and job-training schemes?

If we fail to provide these things, then we leave the way open, at best for Catholic priests who fail to ensure orthodox Catholic catechesis (including, for Latin Catholics, the Roman Rite recognisable as such), but more probably for persons even worse than that.