(RNS) — Naming it "corrosive" and a "dark" sign of contemporary American culture, the U.S. Catholic bishops approved a document this week condemning the production and use of pornography as a mortal sin.
Reaction from the bishops' critics didn't take long. Some said the bishops themselves have very serious problems with pornography; others pointed out the not-so-distant sex abuse crisis. The upshot was that the bishops ought to have different priorities.
Two weeks before the Paris massacre, we took our twin granddaughters, age 11, for their first visit to Paris. They live in Berlin and were eager to see Mona Lisa smile, watch artists paint in Montmartre and take a boat trip on the Seine. One night we watched the tip of the Eiffel Tower light up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July (or Bastille Day, if you like). Twenty-thousand flashing lights illuminated the sky above Paris for five minutes, as the lights had done every hour from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. every night since 1999, when they were introduced on New Year's Eve to celebrate the new millennium.
The glorious spectacle of flashing lights showed everyone that the City of Light knows how to brighten the skies. The girls stood in awe, their faces radiant with discovery and illumination, watching the famous landmark up close. At an outdoor cafe later they sipped hot chocolate and nibbled lemon-and-sugar crepes, chattering about how the Eiffel Tower looked like a lacework of iron against the stars of the night sky.
