Everyone by now has heard the old line that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice. But what is less often noted is that the phenomenon is now actually more prevalent among Catholics themselves than among non-Catholics. You don’t meet a lot of non-Catholic Americans these days who think making Al Smith or John F. Kennedy our president would risk subjecting the Land of the Free to papal autocracy. But go on Catholic blogsites and you will see an absolute Coney Island–cum-three-ring-circus of Catholic-bashing: lefty Catholics accusing right-wing Catholics of being misogynist, homophobic pedophile-protectors, and right-wing Catholics accusing the lefties of being atheistic traitors seeking to destroy Holy Mother Church. In the blogosphere, the comboxes are usually stuck on the rhetorical equivalent of Defcon One, and the Catholic blogosphere is no exception.
Father Jim Martin, S.J., over at America magazine’s blog, has posted a delightful parody of the phenomenon. Strongly recommended for anyone who loves Catholicism, and anyone looking for a chuckle. (For me, it was a twofer.)
NOTE: In my original posting, I — not surprisingly, since am the most incorrigibly civilian civilian you will ever meet — got the Defcon levels exactly backwards. Fixed now; and many thanks to reader S. Matthew Stolte for letting me know!