Ross Douthat is a brittle convert to Catholicism, and like all brittle converts believes that all the pegs that construct his own narrow view of religion must line up in exactly the right order or the whole house of cards comes crashing down. Phooey on him.

Michael Gerson is the former George W. Bush speechwriter who helped Colin Powell write his now infamous speech to the U.N. selling the Iraq War to the world. He later defended the act of water-boarding, aka torture, since his boss ordained its use in war. He is hardly the person who should be lecturing anyone about the supposed ideals of conservatism when his very own work helped to destroy Edmund Burke's ideal of what conservatism should be.

As for the fearful über-conservatives in the Vatican worried about their future: cry me a river. Those of us who've been dealing with the after effects of their work for the past thirty-five years are happy to see the shoe on the other foot. Might I suggest psychotherapy for them - or yoga.