Concerning my "lack of reflection and Catholic seriousness"

From Stephen Hand's blog (TCR Musings):

. . . confused war bloggers who like to dabble in religion will often be heard saying that war, unlike abortion, "is not intrinsically evil". And then, to butcher the syllogism, they jump to the conclusion that therefore this particular war (and probably any other war the United States waged or will) is justified because George Bush said so. It's about that simple for them. There's very little reflection on Catholic principles required to join the club. One certainly never hears from them what one would expect from a Catholic, a plea for peace...

'Freedom' at the point of a preemptive gun is a simple, harmonious truth for such as these. And rather than be repelled by national war propaganda, they admire its cleverness.

One of them (to be polite I will not name the fellow) who I used to respect for his archival skills formed a fan club with some Americanist theological caveboys and seems oblivious to the fact that his startling lack of reflection and escapades with them has ruined him so far as the worth of his opinions are concerned. He is a mere archivist now and parrot of a strain of thought (we can call it Manifest Destiny) which repulses Catholicism despite its corporate backers. Theology for him means looking up what George Weigel wrote... Utterly unhindered by Catholic seriousness, he.

Oh, come now, Stephen. Don't be modest. =) You're sniping is directed at yours truly, as anybody will realize.

For those out of the loop regarding my "warblogging" and dispensing of "national war propaganda", Stephen's referring to the exchange w. I. Shawn McElhinney, Greg Mockeridge, Dave Armstrong and myself. See the May 2005 Archive for details.

And as to the reason why I'm "merely archiving" at the moment, I explained earlier this month ("Interlude" August 5th, 2005), I'm taking a "leave of absence" to spend some time in serious reading and pursuit of personal interests in research (the "Augustinian-Thomist"/"Whig-Thomist" debate, for example) as well as some of the latest works of our Holy Father (for whom Stephen and I share a mutual esteem, despite our differences).

Consequently, posting at Against The Grain will be sparse in the interim (apart from the occasional roundups, as I prefer to continue directing my readers to other bloggers and articles which I've enjoyed). I think most of you can understand, but I apologize to those who, like Stephen, bewail the abominable lack of substantial theological content.

This is not to say I haven't been writing at all -- I refer you to my other blog Religion & Liberty, chiefly used as a means for note-taking but lately corresponding with David Jones (la nouvelle théologie) and Chris Burgwald (Veritas), among others, who share my interest and the pleasure of a civil discussion.

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The RatzingerFanClub is not a fan club per se, in that we do not have any secret handshakes, membership cards, or chapter meetings (For details on the origins of the site, its humor and its inspiration, click here).

We do have a email discussion list, however, that presently runs 600+ members (not all of them active) -- a good number are from the United States, but others herald from Latin America, Europe and Russia. If you turn to our online forum you'll find several hundred members, also from around the world, few whom I think would take kindly to being called an "Americanist theological caveboy."

As to my "startling lack of reflection . . . unhindered by Catholic seriousness", I'll leave that assessment to my readers. After all, "St. Blog's Parish" is a pretty diverse place. Those who are offended by my utter vacuity and subserviance to corporate backers (where are they? I wouldn't mind the help) can surely find another blog to their liking. =)