Hmmm… I’m not sold

Scott Richert makes a number of good points about the teapot tempest over Benedict’s attempts to bend over backwards for the SSPX. He’s perfectly right, of course, that Andrew Sullivan and his ilk are wilfully dishonest in their reportage and commentary because of their blind hatred for Benedict. And so it’s true, as far as it goes, that no amount of PR would help to mollify enemies of the Church who are bent on reading this action in the worst possible light. But I just don’t see how he arrives at the conclusion that

If the Vatican had more concern for public relations, might this controversy have been avoided? Certainly–but it is hard to imagine how it could have been avoided without continuing the schism in the Body of Christ.

That makes no sense to me, unless (which is possible) the SSPX is made up of such hypersensitive martinets that they would be offended by a loud and clear pre-emptive announcement that attempts to achieve reconciliation with them does not in the slightest involve endorsement of the kooky conspiracy theories and anti-semitism of some. If that’s the case, does it not suggest that they are more wedded to anti-semitism than to fidelity to Christ?

Judging from the way in the which the SSPX mucky mucks immediately jumped on Williamson and shut him down, it would appear this is not so. So I don’t see why Rome could not have done some pre-emptive catechesis for the innocent onlooker (such as, say, the Israeli Rabbinate, who can hardly be expected to know much about Catholic inside baseball). Yes, strictly speaking, how the Church orders her internal affairs is not the business of outsiders, whethe rabbis or secular reporters. But the fact is, the Pope is the teacher of the world and the world is always watching. Not everybody in the world is filled with Andrew Sullivan’s zealous and hysterical hatred of Benedict. Lots of people are, quite understandably, puzzled when they see headlines like “Pope Welcomes Holocaust-Denying Bishop”. Taking some modest steps to prevent such headlines *before* they are written rather than after still seems to me prudent.

Don’t get me wrong. I think what Benedict did was valiant and I hope it bears fruit. I also hope the SSPX, once reconciled, will not constitute a canker in the Body of Christ, full of impenitent and embittered malcontents and anti-semites who, having temporarily muted themselves, begin to embarrass the Church from within. There is some reason to fear this, as John Allen demonstrates and as anybody who has had many dealings with the numerous anti-semitic ravings of Rad Trads knows. Indeed, one of the less impressive aspects of this whole affair has been the “I’m shocked–SHOCKED–to discover Williamson is an anti-semitic kook act of his fellow SSPXer’s bishops since anybody who has spent time listening to him (or for that matter to a great many in the Rad Trad community (ably represented by Angelqueen or Traditio.com) knows that Rad Tradism and Jew hatred are often like peas and carrots. It’s a good thing Fellay did, shutting Williamson down. But it was rather belated and one can only wonder how long the muzzle can stay on before he and the people like him explode in a torrent of anti-semitic invective, whack paranoid conspiracy theories, and general lunacy.

Still, the Catholic Church has had a long habit of picking up deadly serpent, drinking poison and not dying, and healing the desperately sick (Mark 16:17-18). When the animating principle of your society is the Spirit of man who died by crucifixion and then walked out of the tomb three days later, you can generally know that you are safe in expecting surprising victories of life and love.

So I remain hopeful that Benedict’s enormous sacrifice and risk on behalf of unity will bear fruit, not only in formal ecclesial reunion, but in a new spirit of charity and sanity among even the nastiest anti-semites in the SSPX. I also hope that the rift with offended Jews will be quickly patched up and that offended Catholics who don’t get what is happening will recall that St. Matthew was likewise a nasty piece of work (tax collectors were collaborationist theives who cooperated with the Romans in oppressing their own people while adding a hefty surcharge for “personal expenses” to the taxes demanded by the Romans). Jesus has always been in the business of calling Highly Unpleasant People to himself and has always exhibited something of Rome’s lack of interest in how it plays in Peoria (or LA, DC, or Jerusalem). So while the catechist in me can’t help but see this fracas from the perspective of a “lost learning opportunity”, I still recognize that sometimes God is highly impolitic.

At any rate, His will be done. Whatever I think, the Holy Father will do as he pleases.

Update: Scott clarifies what he meant in the graf I published. Now it makes sense. I get it and agree–as far as it goes. But I still think Rome missed a catechetical opportunity and that post-media ruckus catechesis will pretty much inevitably be read as damage control, even by people who are well-disposed to the Church. I realize there’s no pleasing the Andrew Sullivan’s of the world. I’m thinking more of the mushy middle: the people who know very little about the Church but don’t bear her any particular ill will.