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Tussling Over Jesus - NYTimes
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OP-ED COLUMNIST
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: January 26, 2011
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The thought that keeps nagging at me is this: If you look at Bishop Olmsted and Sister
Margaret as the protagonists in this battle, one of them truly seems to me to have
emulated the life of Jesus. And its not the bishop, who has spent much of his adult life as
a Vatican bureaucrat climbing the career ladder. Its Sister Margaret, who like so many
nuns has toiled for decades on behalf of the neediest and sickest among us.
Then along comes Bishop Olmsted to excommunicate the Christ-like figure in our story. If
Jesus were around today, he might sue the bishop for defamation.
Y et in this battle, its fascinating how much support St. Josephs Hospital has had and how
firmly it has pushed back in effect, pounding 95 theses on the bishops door. The
hospital backed up Sister Margaret, and it rejected the bishops demand that it never again
terminate a pregnancy to save the life of a mother.
St. Josephs will continue through our words and deeds to carry out the healing ministry
of Jesus, said Linda Hunt, the hospital president. Our operations, policies, and
procedures will not change. The Catholic Health Association of the United States, a
network of Catholic hospitals around the country, stood squarely behind St. Josephs.
Anne Rice, the author and a commentator on Catholicism, sees a potential turning point.
St. Josephs refusal to knuckle under to the bishop is huge, she told me, adding: Maybe
rank-and-file Catholics are finally talking back to a hierarchy that long ago deserted
them.
With the Vatican seemingly as deaf and remote as it was in 1517, some Catholics at the
grass roots are pushing to recover their faith. Jamie L. Manson, the same columnist for
National Catholic Reporter who proclaimed that Jesus had been evicted, also argued
powerfully that many ordinary Catholics have reached a breaking point and that St.
Josephs heralds a new vision of Catholicism: Though they will be denied the opportunity
to celebrate the Eucharist, the Eucharist will rise out of St. Josephs every time the sick are
healed, the frightened are comforted, the lonely are visited, the weak are fed, and vigil is
kept over the dying.
Hallelujah.
I invite you to visit my blog, On the Ground, where this week, George Clooney and I are
taking your questions about malaria. Please also join me on Facebook, watch my
YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on January 27, 2011, on page
A31 of the New York edition.
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