The Scandal of Professor Michael Perry

Professor Michael Perry writes at Mirror of Justice, and routinely publishes articles that call into question basic teachings of the Catholic Faith. This is in a real way scandalous and as such it needs to stop. It is a shame that this otherwise scholarly and orthodox group would entertain the views of someone who has made it his scholarly purpose to confuse and distort the truths of the faith.

(e.g. His latest post encourages an understanding of Humanae Vitae and openness to human life as something forced on the Church by the "power" of the Pope, which he puts in opposition to the love of Christ. )

The man himself is a psychological curiosity, but he is not unique. There are many others like him (Andrew Sullivan comes immediately to mind). He is someone who insists on belonging to a group to which he has no real intellectual relation. He is like a communist who insists on being part of a republican political party, or a Colts fan who insists on wearing Patriots jerseys. What is the point of forcing a relationship or pretending you have an affiliation with a group of people with which you have nothing in common?

The writers at Mirror of Justice should consider that, in providing Professor Perry a putatively Catholic platform with which to voice his manifestly anti-Catholic views, they risk doing their public readership harm.

Maybe I have it wrong; maybe the intention of the blog is not to be specifically Catholic but to have Catholic dialog with other Catholics and other people who call simply themselves Catholic. This is a different thing, and if it is the case then OK. But this should be clearly spelled out. Intellectual liberalism is a great thing but when the subject is authoritative religious teaching, some different guideines ought to apply. It is important to be clear about what is true and what is false, and Professor Perry's contributions to Mirror of Justice obscure the truth and encourage what is false.