"Like a strong father"

One thing that has been wonderful these past few days, apart from the Pope himself being here, has been the delighfuly unexpected quality of a lot of the public commentary on the Pope, the Church and faith itself. (Granted there's also been some real doozies too, but they were here before the Pope came)

This recent post from Kathleen Parker over at NRO is particulary enjoyable to read, perhaps more so because it comes from a non-Catholic's observations:

..."The question is how we reconcile what is true with what is merely convenient? That we might choose a path other than the pope’s is the prerogative of a free people — and no one recognizes that freedom with greater consistency than this pope. No one has to be Catholic.

But to ask Benedict to change the church’s rules to suit modern appetites and lifestyles is to ask that he forsake the sanctity of human life for the benefit of earthly delights. Those are not his concerns.

Even for non-Catholics like me, there’s something comforting about a stubborn pope in a world of moral relativity. Like a strong father, he ignores his children’s pleas for leniency knowing that his rules, though tough, serve a higher purpose.

If Benedict were to relent and compromise the value of human life, what would be left to debate? Perhaps only one’s own time to die. And then ...

Who decides?"

Read the rest at: Kathleen Parker on Benedict XVI in America on National Review Online