I'm late to the party

but Callooh Callay! Have you seen the new Catholic Digest? 

The one, the only, Danielle Bean is the new editor-in-chief! And the magazine has a whole new look. I might finally start reading it again, which I had pretty much stopped doing over the years, except for Sean Patrick. 

For at least the last decade, they were trying to be all things to all people (ie. appealing to everyone from Catholics for Choice to the Rad Trads--yeah, good luck with that). You had to give them credit for trying, but I think they just turned a lot of people off. I was horrified the time they put ex-governor of New York Mario Cuomo on the cover. Exactly how does it help spread the faith when their main interview is with a pro-abort politician who waxes nostalgic about how his Catholic upbringing "made him who he is today"? Sheesh. 

Or the time when the Digest published an article titled “Who is Catholic?” which was basically a defense of cafeteria Catholicism. The author wrote: “Boomer Catholics have embraced the culture of choice.”(You gotta love that statement for its smugness. He almost makes it sound like the “culture of choice” is something the Boomers invented, and it makes them kind of elite and sophisticated.) God invented the 'culture of choice' by giving us free will. Lucifer "embraced" it in the Boomer sense: do whatever you like; you will be like gods.

The author went on to say:  “One hallmark of post-modernity is the ability to hold apparently contradictory things in tension comfortably.” Well, isn’t that special! Thomas Aquinas meets Yin and Yang!! The world has turned the definition of hypocrisy on its head. Struggling sinners are now “hypocrites” while boastful “Catholic” pro-abortion politicians are simply “holding contradictory things in tension comfortably.” 


It also used to annoy me that Catholic Digest rarely  featured men on the cover of their magazine. In fact on one issue, the headline was something like "How do we keep our kids Catholic?" and the cover photo was of a grandmother, a mother and a daughter. Not a male in sight. Ironic, no? We "keep our kids Catholic" mainly by having intact families. With some men and boys in them. Not that single moms can't do a good job, but it was a bit tiring to see just ladies on the cover, month after month, as though the mag was trying to pay obeisance to the fembots. 

Anyway, I'm pretty excited by the new format and direction the magazine seems to be taking. Congratulations, Danielle, you will do a fabulous job! 

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