Title: A Church In Search of Itself
Author: Robert Blair Kaiser
This week I took a look at Robert Blair Kaiser's book "A Church In Search of Itself", which I picked up from the "new book shelf" at the nearby public library, mostly out of curiosity. Kaiser is currently the editor of the website Just Good Company, which describes itself as a "A Cyberjournal of Religion and Culture". And in times past, Kaiser had been a "religion reporter" for the NY Times, Time, and CBS, at least according to the blurb on the book's dust cover. And the website says he now "lives and works in Rome as a reporter and editor for Newsweek magazine and The Tablet".
Anyhow, to put it briefly, Kaiser's book concerns recent events in the Catholic Church since the death of John Paul II and the installation of Benedict XVI. And I think I can tersely summarize it as follows: Kaiser is sucking lemons because things have not turned out the way he wanted, which was for the Liberals to have taken over, completely, the Catholic Church. In fact, if one glances at his picture on the dust cover, Kaiser even looks like he's been sucking lemons, what with his stern glare of a man who is peevishly disapproving of everything. While his straight forward news reporting was okay, by and large Kaiser's book was very slanted. And I think it's fair to say that Kaiser made no effort to disguise his disrelish with Benedict XVI.
Liberals can be very peevish, I guess, when they're not getting their way.