Abp Broglio Is An Embarrassment

by Michael Sean Winters

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Sen. John McCain is not the only man embarrassing himself on the issue of "Dont' Ask; Don't Tell." Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the archdiocese of the U.S. military posted a column at the Washington Post in which he repeats an especially clumsy analogy he has used before, comparing homosexuality to alcoholism.

Take your pick: Is that analogy more offensive than it is stupid, or more stupid than offensive?

Mark Silk has already taken on the evangelical military chaplains who are opposing repeal of DADT and he has now posted an article on Broglio. Both postings are, predictably, very smart.

What Silk does not ask, however, is why Broglio has gone out on a limb about DADT. After all the USCCB did not take a stance on the issue. I don't recall hearing anything about the bishops of other countries where gays and lesbians serve openly in the military taking up the issue. Is Broglio trying to redeem himself?

The reasons he was sacked from the Vatican diplomatic corps have never been made manifest. Broglio appears to lack "the juice" you might expect from someone who was Cardinal Angelo Sodano's right hand man for many years.

Who knows? I suppose his motives matter less than his arguments which are, as Silk notes, unworthy of a passing grade on a midterm. I only have one question for the archbishop: Wanna go for a drink?

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