Pet Phrases

JohnLAllen I very much like and respect the work that John Allen does for the National Catholic Reporter (the same cannot be said for the rest of the paper).

But Allen has a waggish tendency that sometimes manifests in the form of a tin ear.

I still cringe whenever I remember a piece he did a while back in which he said that "some people" referred to the 2004 controversy over pro-abortion politicians (esp. John Kerry) receiving Communion as "the 'wafer' wars."

Whenever Allen says "some people" refer to some thing by a joking name of this sort–or that "a wag" might refer to it as such–I can't help thinking that he's just playing with a pet phrase he's come up with.

It brings to mind the classic piece of writing advice: Kill your darlings.

"Wafer wars" is just too unserious a phrase to use when discussing if Our Lord should be received in Holy Communion by people that advocating the mass slaughter of babies (or that the mass slaughter of babies should be legal–if you want to let them use the "Personally opposed but" dodge).

Now Allen's come up with another one.

Can your heart stand the shocking truth about . . . "TALIBAN CATHOLICISM"?

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

8 thoughts on “Pet Phrases”

  1. Good point, Jimmy. There’s no parity whatsoever between ‘Catholicism Lite’ and ‘Taliban Catholicism’. It’s a vicious comparison.

  5. Ah yes, Catholic Taliban must imply Catholic terrorism; that would explain all the bombs going off destroying things Catholics oppose.
    Mr. Allen has been using this phrase at least since April of 2007. I can’t find a date at that link, but it’s linked here on April 12, 2007 and here on April 15.

  6. And he’s still using it . (Okay, I figured out my formatting problem.)
    It’s encouraging, I think, that some people are politely disagreeing with him to his face:

    One younger faculty member rose during the Q&A period to offer a thoughtful, and heartfelt, challenge:
    “To say things with clarity is not to be the Catholic Taliban,” she said, adding that she found the phrase “profoundly offensive.”
    “There are no suicide bombers in the Catholic church,” she said, “but we have had an epidemic of Catholicism Lite for the last 30 years.” Younger Catholics, she insisted, should not be dismissed as fanatics simply because they seek “fidelity and clarity.”

    Naturally, there are some who object when someone defends orthodox Catholocism:

    Her remarks were met with applause, suggesting she had struck a chord, though others later pulled me aside to say they found them strident.

  8. It brings to mind the classic piece of writing advice: Kill your darlings.
    No doubt this is the real meaning of Psalm 109 when it says, “O Babylon, blessed is he who takes your children and dashes them against the stone.” As C.S. Lewis says, “Knock the little buggers’ brains out.”

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