I’d like to rerun an old favorite for those of you who’ve discovered this blog recently. This post is about as close as I’ll get to a systematic summary of what this blog is about.
The Charles Ramsey story went from viral to vile very quickly. The rescuer of three kidnapped Cleveland women is himself a former wife-beater and deadbeat. Do these details somehow tarnish his heroism? Why would they?
They make it all the better. They remind us that even assholes can do the good. For example, my grandfather (R.I.P.) was a one man life-wrecking crew who was capable of just enough astounding and gratuitous good to disarm his victims.
And so I hereby declare myself a Rabelaisian Catholic, because the taint of the Puritan untainted makes me feel dirty. Let me go even further: all those Catholics (and others) who complain about the compromised bishops, big crisis of the church, the cabal of the clergy, and so on (ad nauseaum) are anathema to me. I embrace my historical continuity with bad Catholics of all stripes, times and ages.
It would feel extremely uncomfortable
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