Sheesh, this tempest would fain tip the teapot. I mean the bitter disharmony on display here, not that little letter. The letter causes nary a ripple for the powers that be.

The underlying issue--tell me if I'm wrong--is this. Belief in clear, objective rules of sin became a rallying point for rigorists. That belief is in deep trouble. You don't have to be Irish to think up a scenario--several scenarios are well known--where thwarting an ethically considered abortion would be un-Christian. And it's not hard to think of Christian exceptions to the no-communion rule for un-annulled remarrieds (we have a "quote" from You Know Who naming one exception). So good luck with objective rules. Judgment is not ours.

Can we still accompany each other? We've come to the last straws of objectivity, and those are wafting away. Soon all any of us will have left to confront will be our own failure to love. Yikes, I can sympathize! I don't like thinking about that at all.