If Mark Shea were here...

...he would call this an "Episcopal Spine Alert." Check it out:

Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine, raise their concerns in the August 4 issue of the Jesuits' America magazine.

The bishops write that two previous America articles by John Hardt, assistant professor of bioethics at Loyola University of Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine, and Thomas Shannon, emeritus professor of religion and social ethics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, "appear to misunderstand and subsequently misrepresent the substance of Church teaching on these difficult but important ethical questions" about "our moral obligations to patients who exist in what has come to be called a 'persistent vegetative state.'"

Both professors argue for exceptions to Church teaching, thereby allowing the removal of a feeding tube and hydration...

Now, this is a big deal. Not just because two bishops stood up to dissenting professors at ostensibly Catholic institutions. Oh, no, that's too easy. What we have here, is a case of two bishops standing up to the Jesuits. More than that, it is a case of two EAST COAST bishops standing up to the Jesuits. And THAT is the really big deal, because as insiders will tell you, Catholic bishops on the East Coast are all scared $#!†less of the Jesuits.

So, this week's Tip of the Black Hat goes to Cardinal Rigali of Philadelphia, and Bishop Lori of Bridgeport, for reaching deep down and digging up a bigger dose of testicular fortitude.

And as if that news were not exciting enough, there's more...

The other big news (speak of the devil), is that today is Mark Shea's fiftieth birthday! If Amy is the queen, then Mark is the king, the Mac Daddy, the Grand Poobah of the Catholic blogosphere. He'd have to be, because all the really cool kids in the Catholic blogosphere travel from Austin and Boston and parts in between, to the celestial city of Seattle, just to have their picture taken with the Big Kahuna himself. (I know what you're thinking; I left my camera at the house that day. This shot I stole from Mark will have to do.)

So, go on over to his blog Catholic And Enjoying It! and show the man some love. Tell him I sent you. Really.
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