The firing of Thomas Reese

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, formerly headed up by whom? yes, Cardinal Ratziner, has forced the firing of Thomas Reese, editor-in-chief of America magazine. Commonweal, its sister publication (run by lay Catholics, as opposed to the Jesuits, who are in charge of America), has an eloquent editorial on the firing which pretty much sums up my own feelings.

Curiouser and curiouser, I can't find any mention of the bizarre nature and outrage of this at the America site. Perhaps it's "secured to subscribers"? Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough this morning. But I can't fully express the depth of my anger and heartache at this move on the part of the Vatican. It's also hard not to see Ratzinger's hand directly in the mix.

I'm trying, but not succeeding very well, at seeing the breath of the Holy Spirit here. Perhaps she means for Catholic Christians to wake up out of our stupor and get organizing? Those of us who live in rich countries like the US, consuming 2/3 of the world's resources, need to be shocked out of our complacency. We need to see how our interests are deeply in common with the poor, not the rich. Perhaps this move on the Vatican's part will wake us up, as lay people, to the reality that increasingly it looks like only lay people will be around to critique the church -- and since we fund the church, our funds ought to be placed where they can do the most good. I like Mary's Pence, myself. Consider a contribution. Perhaps the National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal ought to be on your list, too.