Do Catholic Laity Need Our Own Conference?
By CHRISTOPHER MANION Back in the 1980s, writes Catholic author Robert Royal, “Michael Novak organized a group of us who presented alternatives to the bishops’ statements on nukes and the economy. But for me, the most memorable moment in all of those controversies was an exchange between a prominent Dutch philosopher and Fr. Brian Hehir [top adviser at the USCCB] at one of our meetings: “ ‘Fr. Hehir, the work you have produced is quite serious. But I don’t see why the bishops should put their moral authority behind this particular set of proposals when there are a dozen others equally ethical. It would have been better to stick to moral and social principles.’ “ ‘Well, if we did that,…Continue Reading