As a non-Catholic, I could not agree with Mr. Carroll more. My little exposure to the Benedictine monks in Hingham seems to prove his point.

If you wish to attack an idea, go ahead, but your comment is an attack on an individual.

Fr. Carroll is critical not only of an individual, but an institution. He disagrees with Pope Benedict as he "walls off and slams shut windows" of the church. Implied is that the liberalizing breezes of the second Vatican Council are being blocked. His real outrage is at the "blatant intervention in presidentil politics - inevitably favoring the far right wing". My comment this morning, removed by an outraged editor for its personal direction, cited the flawed character of the writer. Mr. Carroll is a political wag who uses epithet characterization of a political orientation he deplores. Using the Catholic church and its Pope as a bludgeon to denigrate those whose political position is conservative is offensive and personal to me. Therefore, it is not out of order to suggest that the writer is in need of cleansing of his digestive tract.

Christ himself was a nonconformist regarding his Jewish religion. His example was use of God given sense over rigid doctrine. Monasticism if used to isolate an individual takes the challenges in life away resulting in no growth of the soul. How many workers would love not talking to the people they have to interact with.

I agree with what your saying. However, when are you going to write about the problems with Islam?

So why did Cardinal Ratzinger choose the name of Benedict? The first was not even a Pope. In fact, he was just a simple monk who desired nothing more than to live a quiet life of prayer and work and lead others to do the same. The second Benedict was Pope during the troubled time of the First World War. As supposedly Catholic nations attacked each other with a deadly array of weapons never seen before, this Benedict was a voice of peace, a prophet who called for reconciliation in a war-torn world. Pope Benedict XV also undertook vigorous efforts to heal the wounds of religious struggle between Christians, calling for Christian unity and launching initiatives especially to lead to greater understanding between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics. Finally, Pope Benedict XV called for Christian renewal based on a more prayerful, intense reading of the Scriptures, issuing an encyclical on the Bible called Spiritus Paraclitus. Carroll seems to fancy himself the Pope, but nobody else is buying it.