Puh-leeeze!

Niraj Warikoo, writing in "Vigneron installed as new Detroit archbishop" (Detroit Free Press, January 28, 2009), infers from the fact that the new Archbishop, in his homily, repeatedly stressed "the importance of strictly adhering to church principles despite the prevailing culture," that this "clearly showed his traditionalist bent."

Come now. So what's this supposed to mean -- that disobeying church principles is "progressive"? Puh-leeeze. What Warikoo says about Vigneron here tell us more about Warikoo than about Vigneron. I would have thought that conscientious obedience to Mother Church was simply the mark of a good and faithful bishop, rather than something calling for polarizing labels. Then again, we live in times when everything, even the Eucharistic Sacrifice, has been politicized. Domine, miserere nobis.

Then again, maybe this was the proverbial needle in the haystack and nothing more than an honest and innocent journalistic mistake. Yu think?!