New arse, same old excrement

I’ve followed news about about the new Archbishop of Westminster with increasing hilarity.
I laugh because it proves that all rationalists need do now is sit back and watch Anglo-Catholicism chew itself to bits.
Forget recent attempts at positive spin by the church’s PR wing and look at the real signs.
The Daily Telegraph has long been Anglo-Catholicism’s real mouthpiece, and by that I mean not just those ‘officially’ within the church but fellow travellers secretly wanting to abandon Anglicanism but unable find a new paymaster for reactionary twaddle.
As I’ve mentioned before, the paper’s ‘official’ religious correspondent reported back on the views of insiders at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5067037/Bishop-of-Leeds-favourite-to-become-next-Archbishop-of-Westminster.htm. He went into more detail at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4991585/Leading-candidate-to-be-next-Catholic-Archbishop-criticised-by-fellow-bishops.html, from which we learn that, not only do many other bishops despise the new guy, but the Vatican’ s own London ‘ambassador’ briefed Benny the Boy Nazi against this ‘career churchman’.
So unsuprising that when the new Westminster Weasel had to be announced to Telegruff readers the PR team bypassed their usual cheerleader and went for someone blander with http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2009/04/04/ten_things_you_should_know_about_archbishop_vincent_nichols_englands_new_catholic_leader.
By the way, do we really care about any of those ‘ten things’ and isn’t the only relevant question something much simpler?
Murphy O’Connor's record on clerical child abuse was abysmal. So will his successor, when faced with evidence of priestly improprieties involving kids, co-operate with police enquiries? Or will he simply follow diktats put in place by Benny when he was just the ‘Defender of the Faith’, i.e. use the Vatican’s ‘diplomatic immunity’ and send the papers direct to Rome to be hidden away in a big safe long enough for victims not to be able to press charges?
Think we know the answer to that!
Then again, no-one in their right mind these days leaves vulnerable people in the same room as clergy, so why not just laugh from the sidelines as they screw each other’s lives up.