A Call to Arms

In a follow up to his brilliant post over the weekend, Paul Rahe takes a tour of the moral devastation wrought by Cardinal Bernardin--from his unfortunate ventures into Left wing politics to his complicity in the culture of corruption and secrecy that bred the sexual abuse scandals that broke in the early part of the last decade.  To sum up the Bernardin era in American Catholicism:

...Catholic clergymen lost their way. On questions of faith and morals, they spoke in at best a muted fashion. On political questions beyond their ken, they ran their mouths incessantly. To professed Catholics who openly rejected the teaching of the Church on the pre-eminent moral issue of the day, they lent their support.  Barack Obama has now shown them the price that they will have to pay if they do not radically reverse course. Maybe, just maybe, they will.

But maybe the massive overstep of the HHS ruling regarding religious institutions has finally awakened the Catholic Church from its long slumber.