Andrew Sullivan posts a note from a reader:

There is no denying that religion, and the Catholic Church in particular, has inspired and fostered many wonderful people. I think of Peter, humble and contrite and transformed after his denial; Mary Magdalen, of whom nothing need be said; the fathers of the Egyptian desert and their almost unbearable kindness and gentleness; Francis of Assisi and his Lady Poverty;

Francis de Sales, who found a way to be both a prelate and a saint; and in our own times, Dorothy Day, who practiced a Christianity as radical as Christ's own, while remaining a faithful daughter of the Church. And I say nothing of the countless mute, inglorious saints whom only God knows.

But the Church as an institution is mired in the world to its own great detriment. The worst thing that ever happened to it was Constantine's conversion and its consequent establishment. For the Church itself should have remained a pilgrim. No cathedrals and episcopal palaces. No mitres, croziers, and gorgeous vestments. No princes of the Church. Just plain men and women going out to find and care for lost sheep, the wisest among them showing the way by example and quiet counsel.

It might have gone that way. It could yet. But the need to overawe people and demand obedience from them is powerful and seductive. It is a part of that world that the kingdom of heaven is not of.

There are certainly things there to criticize - mainly the generally protestant take on history: the Church wasn't "established" in the wake of Constantine, for example, and it depends what he means by "demand obedience." But the idea that my Catholic Church's presentation of itself could definitely be more along the lines of the presentation of its Founder -- humble, prophetic, identifying itself far more explicitly with the poor in its public face, "afflicting the comfortable," and so on -- is something that has occurred to me as well.

Vatican: Obama not the Antichrist

[UPDATE: Edited for clarity - Matt]

I need to read Dionne more often.

In fact, whether he is the beneficiary of providence or merely good luck, Obama will have his audience with Benedict just three days after the release of a papal encyclical on social justice that places the pope well to Obama’s left on economics. What a delightful surprise it would be for a pope to tell our president that on some matters, he’s just too conservative.

That’s certainly my beef with Obama – he is too beholden to the power of economic elites to qualify as a true “liberal” (as compared to, say, Harry S. Truman) in my book.

The conservative minority among the bishops as well as political activists on the Catholic right have insisted on judging the president only on the basis of his support for legal abortion and stem cell research.

But the Vatican clearly views Obama through a broader prism. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio in Washington, has privately warned American bishops that harsh attacks on the president threaten to make the church look partisan.

I’m glad someone in authority is saying that – the Church is not supposed to be either The Republican or Democratic Party On Its Knees.

The Vatican press has been largely sympathetic to Obama, and in a recent article, Cardinal Georges Cottier, who was the theologian of the papal household under Pope John Paul II, praised Obama’s “humble realism” and on abortion went so far as to compare the president’s approach to that of St. Thomas Aquinas. (Pray this won’t go to Obama’s head.)

Hoo boy…I fear that popping sound I just heard was conservative Catholics' heads exploding.

Sheesh...

Via Vox Nova, one Professor Kmiec has been denied communion, due to a decision, not by a Bishop, but by a chaplain.

Awesome - so I guess chaplains can, at their discretion, now refuse communion to Catholic National Review columnists who are insufficiently opposed to torture? Any Catholic politician who has failed to oppose the Iraq War?

Is a Catholic politician opposed to the pastor’s social justice group? Back to the pews with you.

The Communion line is going to get pretty short, unless Bishops put an end to waging the culture war during Mass.

I give up: I think I’ll recommend to my pastor to refuse communion to any admitted Republican, until they publicly sign a renunciation of support for Unjust War, Torture, and Racism.

Of course, this will be countered by the Republicans in my parish, who will agitate for the denial of communion to anyone who has ever voted for a Democrat, until such time as they sign a renunciation of support for Abortion, Gay ‘marriage,’ and Pre-Marital sex.

So, I imagine Mass is going to turn into a situation of everyone checking carefully who receives, and the pastor, before offering the Body and Blood, asking for ID and checking a book to verify that each recipient is authorized to receive; meanwhile, we’ll all thank God that we are not like other men, especially those reprobate Demoncrats/Rethuglicans who are surely going to hell on roller skates.