You Can Criticize Bad Bishops, But Don’t You Dare Criticize the Pope Who Appointed Them

George A. Kendall has written a long-winded article called “Is New Oxford Review Becoming a Protestant Publication?” in The Wanderer (Aug. 24). Kendall says: “I suspect that, sometime in the next few years, we might see NOR becoming a Protestant, fundamentalist periodical, with a strong Calvinist cast.” This is a bizarre and crazy accusation!

Kendall says: “At the time of Pope Benedict’s election, NOR seemed quite delighted…. Within a short time, however, all that changed. Suddenly there was attack after attack on Pope Benedict in the pages of NOR.” Attacks? They were criticisms, not attacks. Obviously, The Wanderer and Kendall were not paying attention when we “attacked” Pope John Paul II for his unwillingness to discipline Catholic dissenters, and when he appointed bad bishops.

Now they know. Apparently, we got embroiled in a family feud between The Wanderer (Editor Al Matt) and The Remnant (Editor Michael Matt, who attends the indult Tridentine Mass). It all started when Walter Matt (now deceased) split from The Wanderer and founded The Remnant in 1967. It’s been going on for 39 years and it’s still going on. The Wanderer will attack bad bishops, but it will not criticize the pope. But who appointed those bad bishops? The pope! The Remnant will criticize the pope.

So when The Wanderer found out that the NOR critiqued Pope Benedict, it went ballistic. Al Matt banned all of our ads. Why? Because of the NOR’s Editorial, “Homosexuals in the Seminary: Why the Priesthood Will Continue to Become a ‘Gay’ Profession” (Feb. 2006). The document on homosexuals in the seminary is not a doctrinal statement; it’s only about “discipline” (or shall we say ill-discipline). The NOR has not banned ads or list rentals for The Wanderer.