GARIBALDI GARBLED
TWO SCANDALS IN THE ABUSE SCANDAL
CATHOLIC ANSWERS FORUMS UPDATE
I'M GOING BACKPACKING. WANT TO JOIN ME?
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
It's been four weeks since I last sent out an E-Letter--a longer gap than usual. I was away from the office half of that time, but still ...
MY PENITENTIAL READING
Sometimes I find that a book I have purchased is not well written. Sometimes I find that it is not well edited. Sometimes, alas, I find that it is neither well written nor well edited. Today's exhibit: "Garibaldi's Ghosts," by Thomas de Angelo. I just finished reading it. Luckily for me, the book has only 86 pages.
If what the author wrote on page 84 had appeared instead on page 4, I might not have made it all the way through. This is what one finds near the end of his book:
"One problem cited is that the South American independence struggles (of which Garibaldi was directly involved in), and the American Revolution (in which Lincoln tried to entice Garibaldi to become involved in), predate most European nationalist movements."
Huh? Lincoln in the American Revolution? It predated him, having occurred about thirty years before he was born. Of course, de Angelo meant not the Revolution but the Civil War. Oh, well. I guess I shouldn't expect much from a writer who needs to enroll in a remedial prepositions class (see his two parenthetical phrases).
The book contains many typos and much ungrammatical writing, evidence that de Angelo did not employ a copyeditor or a proofreader. The silver lining on this cloud of a book is that some of the bloopers are amusing. My favorite:
Writing about how Giuseppe Garibaldi was induced to direct his military forces to Sicily instead of to his native Nice, de Angelo said: "In the meantime, Garbled, a native of Nice and resentful of French annexation of his home city ..."
That is an exact quotation. It's priceless, particularly if you have a low opinion of Garibaldi, who was a Freemason, a non-believer, and an opponent of the Church.
BILL DONOHUE EMPHASIZES TWO POINTS
The first point is that news reporters and even our bishops still are not properly characterizing what happened. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said this in an April 12 fax:
"The [2006 USCCB] report refers to allegations involving 'children under the age of 18,' and in doing so confuses 7-year-olds with 17-year-olds; the latter are not generally regarded as children. Since most of the victims are males and all of the victimizers are males, it means that pedophiles and homosexuals commit most of the molestation. Incredibly, neither the word 'pedophile' nor 'homosexual' is mentioned once in the report."
Since the bishops have shied away from using those words, so have reporters who have reported on how the bishops have responded to the abuse scandal.
Donohue's second point is that 11 percent of the "accusations against [priests] could not be proven or were proven false. What is being done for these men? What outreach programs have they benefited from? This is the scandal that has no name."
Good point. Many innocent priests have had their reputations destroyed, and few of them have been assisted much by the Church. It's a bit of a wonder that American seminaries still can find recruits.
CATHOLIC ANSWERS FORUMS UPDATE
We have new servers, updated software, and many more participants.
Over the last week, our discussion forums have been receiving about 4,000 new posts each day. There are almost 47,000 registered members, and, at any one time, guests outnumber members by about two to one, which means that more than 100,000 people frequent our site.
Membership, which is free, gives you the ability to start your own discussion thread or to reply to what others have written. Guests are able only to read what others have posted.
If you never have visited our forums, this would be a good time to start. If you used to visit but dropped away, this would be a good time to come back.
The software is faster and more stable than ever; the environment, while lively, is "safe" because we have many capable and experienced moderators; and the place is just plain fun. The address is:
http://forums.catholic.com
WANT TO HIT THE TRAIL WITH ME?
I have some vacation saved up, and I'm going to spend it backpacking this summer. I have arranged for several hikes in California's Sierra Nevada. Some of those hikes I'm keeping as solo endeavors, but on several I'm willing to have amiable companions.
If you might want to be one of them, please go to the special page that explains the where and when of the hikes:
http://www.catholic.com/backpacking
p.s., If you have a comment about anything appearing in this E-Letter, please do not hit your Reply button. Instead, go to Catholic Answers' discussion forums at
http://forums.catholic.com
where you may post your comment in the forum dedicated to the E-Letter. You will find a thread devoted to this issue of the E-Letter. Feel free to add your comment in the form of a reply to that thread.
|
[TOP]
C A T H O L I C A N S W E R S :
of
Discuss
Index
Prior issue
Next issue
Sign up