National Catholic Reporter: Joan Chittister April 13, 2005:

"Journalists are rushing from source to source trying to determine the future of a church led by a theologian considered by many to be both doctrinaire and dogmatic. "

Doctrine and Dogma from a Catholic? Who'd've thunk it?

Well obviously Joanniekins wasn't expecting it...

"Did anyone really think such an election could happen at a time when the church is apparently more in need of openness than intransigent resistance in the face of so much new information and emerging new questions? Answer: No."

Umm, Michael Novak predicted it and there were others. People who actually report and analyze and don't just project their own views onto the Church. John Allen of your very own paper thought it entirely likely.

"Does anyone know why the Cardinals of the church elected as Pope one of its most polarizing personalities? Answer: No. "

Umm, well the quick answer is that the electors presumably know why they voted for him.

"Hospitality, the fourth dimension of Benedictine spirituality, takes everyone in. No one is excluded from the Christian community. No one is too bad, too poor, too useless, too unimportant to be part of the community. 'Let the Guest be treated as Christ,' the Rule says. Treating one another as Christ becomes the norm."

We should note that there is also a section in the Rule on excommunication.

Anyhow, it's not as bad as one might of expected from the ex-Abbess.