text: The problem with the bishops -- well, one of them, anyway -- is their intellectual laziness. Long ago they settled in on the cozy notion that THE way to oppose abortion was at the ballot box. The fact that this approach hasn't worked in 40+ years and shows no signs of ever working is beside the point. If you want to be a faithful Catholic without much effort, just vote for Republicans every couple of years and you're good.
  
  I've read that Joe Kennedy, in his younger days, used to travel around with a priest so he could go to confession as soon as possible after committing adultery. I remember thinking what a perverse notion of Catholicism that reflected. Now I'm wondering if he was just ahead of the political curve.