Chefs and clergy

Twas reading an interesting article in City Journal titled "The Future of Conservative Books"—which focuses mostly on politically conservative books—written by Harry Stein, and came across this very funny quote:

It isn’t surprising, then, that while those who edit the new conservative imprints are in the publishing world, they are distinctly not of it—a dispiriting obstacle in a business that thrives on collegiality. “It was total culture shock,” says Bernadette Malone, until recently senior editor at Sentinel. “Everybody reads the New York Times every day and takes it as orthodoxy—signing books on that basis! It was evident very quickly how insular the whole system is. They could all name three, four, five chefs but couldn’t name a single clergyman.” [emphasis added]

For the life of me, I can only think of the name of one chef, and I suspect she is too low-brow to be considered a real chef by the folks described by Malone. The quote isn't simply clever, of course: it holds a lot of truth. In a former life (before I became Catholic) I worked in advertising in downtown Portland, Oregon, and most of the folks there were of the same socially and politically liberal mold. My immediate boss was a wonderful, talented Jewish lady who had spent nearly thirty years working in New York in the Macy's advertising department. We had all sorts of fun, combative, and (mostly) good-natured conversations about religion and politics, with a decent amount of straight ahead barbs thrown in the mix. She once told me (with a smile) that I was a "zealot" for opposing abortion; from what I could best figure, only two other people in the department—with some 40 employees—were also pro-life. Not surprisingly, they were the only ones who also, as far as I knew, attended some sort of church.

I was shocked when she gave me, as a going-away gift, a copy of Thomas Sowell's Preferencial Policies. "I'm impressed that you know who Sowell is," I said with only partially-feigned surprised. "Oh," she said, "I'd never heard of him until my youngest son, who is a right-wing nut like yourself, mentioned him to me."

Not surprisingly, when she and her husband hosted a party in their stunning six-story townhouse, the food was exceptional. Unfortunately, I never got the name of the chef/catering company...

Comments

[Jeannine]

I thought this quote was pretty interesting, too:
"'But,' he adds, 'I also think conservatives are also going to have to adjust—get smarter, argue better, and write more with an intention to persuade, rather than just mock, belittle, and demonize.' The future of conservative publishing, he says, is not in books that can be readily dismissed as 'right-wing hyperbole' but in those that so manifestly grapple with important ideas that even those on the other side cannot dismiss them."

Think for a minute about how many vituperative, superficial, mocking books from the left are sitting on the shelves of bookstores right now (demonization of George Bush alone is a major industry in publishing)--then either laugh or cry at the above quote!

There IS no idea that the left can't dismiss! But I'd love to see this standard applied to books like "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big, Fat Idiot" or "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them."

[Katie]

Could you please knock off (in ther Brit sense of the word meaning desist from) the 'bishopette' and 'priestette' language. I (personally as they say)have absolutely no doubt about the 'non possumus' whatsoever, but sometimes the traditionalist men like to indulge in a bit of heavy-handed sarcasm. There is enough of a difficulty with getting and keeping young women in the church. On other websites I have seen the ordination of a woman likened to the priesting of a banana, or some other humerous object. Then of course there's the battuta about dogs walking on two legs and lady preachers. All this stuff sounds too CAMP, and reflects badly on the writers, so please why not find some more constructive (legal) language. These women are not bishops and they are not bishopettes either. They are gravely and perhaps culpably mistaken about the nature of the church but they are not inhumanly ridiculous.

[Carl Olson]

Katie: Hmmm....it sounds as though you are more offended by my use of "bishopette" than you are by the ridiculous and offensive actions of women pretending to be Catholic bishops. What's wrong with this picture? And what is wrong with a bit of sarcasm when it comes to such serious silliness? I began using the terms "priestette" and "bishopette" a few years ago because I think it captures the infantile and small-minded nature of what these women are doing, which is to claim possession of an office, title, and position that is not theirs to claim. Put another way (as my pastor has pointed out), these women are engaging in identity theft. My description of them is not meant to mock their inherent dignity as women; on the contrary, they are the ones indulging in mockery, the sort of mockery one expects to find in rebellious adolescents, not 60-year-old women who really should know a bit more about Church teaching and history. And, lest you think I am merely sexist, a little time spent on this blog will readily show that I take heretical men to task just as often (more often, actually). Finally, it is unfair to attempt to link my comments to those made by others since I don't indulge in the sort of remarks you described.

[Clavem Abyssi]

Regarding comments comparing the pseudo-ordination of women to bananas, dogs, etc... this may be in bad taste, but I think it is pointing to the fact that ordination is a sacrament and sacraments require proper matter to be valid and the matter for ordination is an adult male human. The point is not to say that women are like dogs or bananas. I think people who use this argument probably wish to avoid such value judgement - the value of the matter is irrelevant - although they end up sounding quite rude. Wine is not better than water - but one can be used for the Eucharist and the other can be used for baptism, and not vice versa. Likewise, there's a use for both hot and cold water, that is, men and women, but the lukewarm, those who insist on being both, the Lord spews from his mouth.

[Kevin]

"Wine is not better than water.."

Now that was uncalled for.