Sorry, but no one needed to plant any seeds of disunity. The seeds were already there since the release of Humanae Vitae and have grown since then. The coup de grâce was the sex abuse scandal. Today, the laity is out of sync with the hierarchy on a number of key issues and will not be drawn back. Whatever was uttered in this e-mail conversation has been uttered millions of times already in the kitchens, dining rooms, and bedrooms of American Catholics.