An editorial in the NY Times, April 2, 2011, entitled, “What Happened to ‘Zero Tolerance’?”, spoke of the gaping holes in the “zero tolerance” mandate for priests suspected of abusing children, since any allegations about rogue priests are first vetted by chancery officials working for the archdiocese before the cases go before independent review boards. This is the same as police departments, health, legal, and other professions vetting complaints behind closed doors before they are turned over to outside boards working on the public’s behalf. It’s a no-brainer when it comes to conflict of interest.

A committee of American Roman Catholic bishops has now announced that a popular book about God by Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson, entitled “Quest for the Living God”, should not be used in Catholic schools because it does not uphold church doctrine. . Sister Johnson in response, said that the bishops never even invited her to discuss the book and that she was unaware that they were assessing it until they had already decided to issue a condemnatory statement.

When it comes to religious control, old habits are hard to break but at least the Catholics aren’t currently killing people who don’t agree with their point of view. Something good about that.