On the other hand, there is a very good letter by Fr Dermot Power concerning the debate between the African Archbishop and Anne Widdecombe on the one hand and Stephen Fry and Christopher Hitchens on the other. Fr Power (whose father came from the same town in Ireland as mine) draws pertinent attention to the Catholic Media Office. Why were Miss Widdecombe and his Excellency left as the only champions of the Church in such a high-profile debate? Apparently, no English bishop was willing to take up the gauntlet. Actually, I don't blame them; I'm no good in such a forum either, but surely the Media Office should have been on the ball, and could have found some able apologist, of ability and stature, to meet Hitchens and Fry on their own ground and match their own undoubted eloquence. Is that not their job?
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Mr Angry of Purley
Yup, as I predicted, the air is blue on the letters page of The Tablet this week. There isn't a single letter in support of Pope Benedict's hand of friendship to Anglo-Catholics. The editorial is pretty unpleasant, too.
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2 comments:
Father, your question is surely rhetorical?
What was so sickening about the debate was that such shabby, third rate people as Fry and Hichens should have won it in front of an ignorant, prejudiced and largely post-Christian audience with few Catholics present.
I don't want to introduce a controversial note, but it reminded me of the setting up of Nick Griffen on Qestion Time recently. I dislike the man and his politics but he, too, was as much structured for slaughter as the African Archbishop and Miss Widdicombe. That is where free speech has arrived in this country.
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