The Martlet

Dan O'Hara is the Knights of Columbus State Deputy

The recent opinion piece by Will Johnson in the March 26 edition of Martlet prompts a response — not so much because of the writer’s disagreement with, or even condemnation of the remarks he attributes to the His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, but more because of the manner in which he chose to air his disagreement. The caricature alone was obviously meant to inflame and offend. If that was his objective, then mission accomplished. Certainly, the Catholic students who attend UVic are delighted at the fact that their Student Union fees were used in such a manner, in order to insult them and belittle their spiritual leader.

I don’t know if Mr. Johnson is old (although I assume not), feeble, crazy-looking or stupid — all terms used in his article to disparage the Pope — but, to a first-time reader, it would appear that he is simultaneously at his best and worst when he loses his objectivity and reason and descends to the level of a playground bully with his vile, scurrilous and puerile attack on the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.

A fair, factual and duly researched article by Johnson might have earned him some kudos for effort, but not for this infantile, name-calling collection of anecdotal drivel which, apparently with little effort, he culled from other sources and presented out of context in a mélange of invective.

I don’t disagree with Mr. Johnson’s right to share his opinions. However, writing as he does (from the safe halls of academia) I would have thought he could have presented both himself and his argument/critique in a more mature, thoughtful, respectful and factual manner. In fact, a little research would have unearthed statistics which show that countries with a large Catholic percentage population show significantly lower HIV/AIDS infections than countries with mostly non-Catholic populations. Further research would have shown, as Michael Coren was able to report in the National Post on March 31, that although Africans have been plagued with AIDS for almost two generations, it wasn’t until the disease was brought into the male homosexual community in the U.S. that actors and politicians made AIDS a cause célèbre. In those times, it was the Catholic Church that was in Africa caring for people with AIDS. Even today, almost half of all Africans with AIDS are nursed by people working for the Catholic Church. World-wide, 27 per cent of HIV/AIDS prevention and care around the globe is provided by Catholic organizations and institutions. Many have no understanding of the Holy Father’s role in the Church as teacher and spiritual father in the area of faith and morals. But the Catholic Church is neither a democracy nor a cafeteria where one may pick and choose from a menu of tenets.

When the world offers the pill, abortion and condoms as a solution to all of its problems and pays homage to the culture of death, the Pope says there is another way, a better way — the Culture of Life. A culture in which each human is treated with respect (from conception to natural death). A culture in which loving relationships are monogamous and adults take responsibility for their actions. A culture in which the shepherd leads his flock along the right road — not necessarily the well-travelled one.

If Mr. Johnson thinks that condoms are the be-all and end-all, perhaps he could convince the UVic rabbits to wear them. Imagine — no possibility of an outbreak of myxomatosis and no more little bunnies.

Editors note: due to the nature of the comments generated by the March 26 article, “Pope Benedict XVI is a jackass” has been removed from martlet.ca.