Bill Keller's article in early May in The New York Times, Is The Pope Catholic, caused quite a stir among Christian, particularly Roman Catholic, bloggers. He published another last weekend, on his wife's abortion, that added to the considerable pain and dismay. The redoubtable and erudite Rev. George William Rutler writes about both articles now with passion and concern, and ponders some implications. Fr. Rutler's article begins with this paragraph:



On May 4 the former managing editor of The New York Times, Bill Keller, wrote an op-ed essay on the scandals in the Catholic Church entitled Is the Pope Catholic? Mr. Keller scratched out a diatribe so bitter that many were embarrassed for him. Calling himself a "collapsed Catholic" and not just a "lapsed Catholic," he incoherently attacked doctrine and even stooped to mock the Pope's illness.



Father Rutler is a priest of the Archdiocese of New York and pastor of the Church of Our Saviour in Manhattan.