Unpublished letter to the Catholic Times on Loftus

I sent this off long enough ago to give them plenty of time to find room for it if they wanted to publish it. However, I didn't seriously imagine that they would; it is more of a protest than anything else. Only a periodical with a much greater self-confidence than the Catholic Times would publish a letter so critical of their editorial policy.

The letter I refer to by Miss Thomas was excellent, incidentally; some of my readers may have seen it on Facebook. The subject of the correspondence was Loftus' extraordinary (even for him) attack on Archbishop Naumann of Kansas City, for being pro-life, which I discussed here.

I've pinched the image of the mythical Basiliscus Loftus from Bruvver Eccles.

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Sir,

Unlike Mgr Basil Loftus, I was unable to detect 'intemperate language' in the letter of Miss Rhoslyn Thomas (8th December 2017), which he 'regrets'.

It is clear, however, that I should defer to Mgr Loftus' judgement on this matter, because he is something of an expert on 'intemperate language', though he doesn't always 'regret' it.

Thus when he called Bishop Egan 'closed minded' (13/6/14), Bishop Hopes as 'deeply disturbing' (19/7/14), or that remarks of Bishop Davies 'called for anger' (16/6/13): I fancy this is the kind of intemperate language he likes.

Or when he called Cardinal Ranjith a 'fetishist' (17/11/2013), Cardinal Mueller 'not fit for purpose' (14/7/13), or Cardinal Burke a 'judgemental zealot' (19/1/14).

But he likes to paint with a broader brush too. He described those who receive Communion on the tongue as 'fundamentalist bigots' (29/8/14), a Pontifical Commission in Rome as 'arrogant and unjust' (24/11/13), and a Congregation 'the Gestapo' (20/3/15).

It is no surprise, then, to see Mgr Loftus call a respected American Archbishop a 'terrorist', and apply this description to the entire pro-life movement, and to liturgical conservatives as well for good measure.

What does seem surprising is that an otherwise respectable Catholic newspaper should continue to give this display of spleen space in its pages.

Yours faithfully,

Joseph Shaw

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