Papalblogging

Pundit Guy has all the links and facts-at-your-fingertips you could want.

I would be remiss not to note the reaction of Andrew Sullivan to the election of Benedict XVI as Pope.

Lord knows, he's not the easiest person to offend:

And what is the creed of the Church? That is for the Grand Inquisitor to decide. Everything else-- especially faithful attempts to question and understand the faith itself -- is "human trickery." It would be hard to over-state the radicalism of this decision.

But Andy will give it his level-best, no doubt.

It's not simply a continuation of John Paul II. It's a full-scale attack on the reformist wing of the church. The swiftness of the decision and the polarizing nature of this selection foretell a coming civil war within Catholicism. The space for dissidence, previously tiny, is now extinct. And the attack on individual political freedom is just beginning.

Remember: This was the guy that just a couple of years ago was considered reasonable.

Is there anything that can pass without Andrew Sullivan having an "Eeek! A mouse" burst of hysteria? Can any event occur without him swooning from a bad case of the vapors?

Ratchet. It. Down, Andrew. Screeching is not persusave. Get your shit under control posthaste or you'll wind up going from "joke" to "crank."

But Wait, Ace, Is Andrew Sullivan Still In Shock? Thanks for asking. As it turns out, he is:

STILL IN SHOCK: Thanks for your emails both sympathizing and telling me to leave the Church entirely. But I am still in shock.

Someone needs to do a color-coded Andrew Sullivan Outrage Warning System, ranging from "chagrined" to "appalled" to "disgusted" to "outraged" to "shocked" to "sickened" to "actually offended, though Lord knows he's not the easiest person to offend."

Pretty much it would quiver between "shocked" and "sickened" day in, day out.

I grew weary of using exclamation points to parody Wonkette.

Do I have it in me to attempt, for an entire day, to satirize Andrew Sullivan's hysterical overemotionalism about Every. F'n'. Issue. Under the Sun?

We'll see. I just think that feigning a freak-out over everygoddamnthing would get to be really wearying. How the hell does this ninny find the energy?

I (as you bastards keep razzing me about) suffered from chronic and nearly debilitating panic attacks, and I don't think I ever succumbed to the gibbering hyperhysteria Sullivan manages on a daily basis.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR EMAILS OF SYMPATHY ON THIS BLACK DAY: Slublog sends:

It's both sad and fun to watch, actually.

Ever notice how when he's saying something completely outrageous, he always manages to find someone who agrees with him via email?

That is intesting, Slu.

EMAIL OF THE DAY:

Hey! What a great site you have here! Agree with everything you say!

You're the only one who really gets it!

That's from some guy named "Pure Discount Viagro."

ALL IS LOST: Thanks for this wonderful email. My spirit was crushed like meal in a mill, but now this lovely missive from "AndrewS" puts a smile on my face for the first time since I can remember... must have been yesterday, before this afternoon's regularly-scheduled freak-out.

Anyway, AndrewS apparently agrees with me wholeheartedly, and thus is credited with the the SUPER-EMAIL OF THE DAY:

THE FUNDAMENTALIST TRIUMPH: And so the Catholic church accelerates its turn toward toward authoritarianism, hostility to modernity, assertion of papal supremacy and quashing of internal debate and dissent. We are back to the nineteenth century. Maybe this is a necessary moment. Maybe pressing this movement to its logical conclusion will clarify things. But those of us who are struggling against what our Church is becoming, and the repressive priorities it is embracing, can only contemplate a form of despair. The Grand Inquisitor, who has essentially run the Church for the last few years, is now the public face. John Paul II will soon be seen as a liberal. The hard right has now cemented its complete control of the Catholic church. And so ... to prayer. What else do we now have?

There's always Ecstacy, you know.

posted by Ace at 02:54 PM

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