I’m so used to sputtering in exasperation whenever I hear an American bishop speak that I hardly know how to respond when instead I hear a bishop–let alone two bishops–sound sensible, and (dare I?) courageous. The bishops in question: Charles Chaput of Denver and Sean O’Malley of Boston.

K-Lo provides a link below to Archbishop Chaput’s column about the senate dustup over the Pryor nomination, but Chaput’s column is so good-and so startling–that the money graphs deserve to be appear right here in our happy Corner:

I’ve never met Mr. Pryor, but his political life is a matter of public record. He has served the State of Alabama with distinction, enforcing its laws and court decisions fairly and consistently. This is why President Bush nominated him to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and why the Senate Judiciary Committee approved him last Wednesday for consideration by the full Senate.
But the committee debate on Pryor was ugly, and the vote to advance his nomination split exactly along party lines. Why? Because Mr. Pryor believes that Catholic teaching about the sanctity of life is true; that the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision was a poorly reasoned mistake; and that abortion is wrong in all cases, even rape and incest. As a result, Americans were treated to the bizarre spectacle of non-Catholic Senators Orrin Hatch and Jeff Sessions defending Mr. Pryor’s constitutionally protected religious rights to Mr. Pryor’s critics, including Senator Richard Durbin, an “abortion-rights” Catholic.
According to Senator Durbin (as reported by EWTN), “Many Catholics who oppose abortion personally do not believe the laws of the land should prohibit abortion for all others in extreme cases involving rape, incest and the life and the health of the mother.” This kind of propaganda makes the abortion lobby proud, but it should humiliate any serious Catholic. At a minimum, Catholic members of Congress like Senator Durbin should actually read and pray over the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” and the encyclical “Evangelium Vitae” before they explain the Catholic faith to anyone.

An American bishop, suggesting that Catholic members of the United States Senate ought to behave like…Catholics!

As for Sean O’Malley, installed today as archbishop of Boston, K-Lo has already presented a lengthy excerpt from his homily. I’d add only that when I became a Catholic a couple of decades ago O’Malley heard my first confession. No need for details, but I’ll tell you this much: The man is very, very good at dealing with sin.