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The Boston Globe

Opinion

Boston.com

JAMES CARROLL

A counterculture of Catholic monks

By James Carroll

 |  Globe Columnist  

  April 30, 2012

The Catholic hierarchy is walling itself off ideologically, intensifying its campaign to slam shut church windows opened by the liberalizing Second Vatican Council. This month alone, the pope has rebuked the disobedience of European priests and, acting through a Vatican congregation, set in motion a severe disciplining of American nuns. This approach celebrates a monastic version of church life, but the parallel is false: Monastic life was created as a model for forward progress.

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