Smoke in the sacristy

It took the Catholic Church some 1,500 years to rack up the 95 excesses challenged by Martin Luther in his 95 Theses (Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences). It appears that Barack Obama will easily beat that score in his first three months in the White House. The scope and scale, the recklessness and abandon with which he is systematically dismantling our system of government - which has, after all, proven to be the most effective machine for equitable wealth distribution in the history of the planet- is breathtaking. That we have come to a pass where the likes of Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Rahm Emmanuel, and George Soros are determining the shape of this country is astonishing. The crew in charge today is akin to the corrupt and cynical prelates who so outraged Luther, wicked men who preyed on people's ignorance -counted on it! - to expand their own power and influence.

Let me digress - slightly: In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI was deeply troubled by some of the Council's unitended results. (An aside to this digression: Although unitended, the disastrous effects of the Council were not at all unexpected by some conservatives and traditionalists.) Paul VI is said to have said, in some dismay, "Through some fissure, the smoke of Satan has entered the sacristy." And indeed, the course of the Church over the past two generation suggests that something wicked has sunk its claws into the heart of the Church.

Along those lines, we just had an election in which a bare majority of Americans elected a man who promised hope and change. We had, so to speak, our own Vatican II. For somthing approaching 40 percent of his voters, the idea that they were electing a man who would in three months make significant strides toward transforming this nation into a socialist state would be unthinkable. But they opened a fissure, and the smoke emanating from inside the beltway has a distinctly sulphurous odor.


So back to my initial point: We desperately need a Martin Luther who can figuratively nail a new 95 Theses to the door of the White House and launch a counteroffensive against these detestable cynics. And do so in a way that galvanizes a real following. Otherwise, we end up much like the 21st century Church: a rambling shambling wreck, no longer universal, moving forward on sheer inertia, peopled by communicants who largely make up their own rules as they go along.