Carl Olsen: Starting Power Forward for SLU!

Carl Olson has an excellent analogy for Coach Marjerus, who is being defiant of his archbishop and showing himself to be a less-than-orthodox Catholic. (Apparently, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, as one article points out that his mother is horrified by the situation, not because the son she raised to be Catholic is sticking his tongue out at the archbishop, but because the archbishop has the audacity to stick to the Spiritual Works of Mercy!)

Here's a bit of Olson's article, which I highly recommend you go and read in its entirety:

... Let's say, just for sake of argument, that I am a player on Coach Marjerus's team. He wants me, an already undersized power forward, to play center. He also demands that I practice for two hours a day, in addition to spending another two hours a day learning plays and watching film. On top of that, he has the audacity to inform me that he will be the one who decides when I play and how much I play. The problem is that I attended My Way High School and I learned a different set of value judgments. I was taught that I, being the star player and being a fully autonomous 18-year-old, should be able to practice and play however much I want and when I want. Who is the coach to tell me what I can do on the court? After all, I chose to play for his team, but that doesn't mean I have to do what he says. I have every right to be a starter on the team and ignore his coaching and do what I want. ...

Definitely go read the rest.

Of course, you've also got know-nothings in St. Louis who think that the archbishop of the Catholic diocese has no right to tell Catholics in his diocese that they ought to, as Catholics, follow what the Church teaches. What. Ever.

I'll tell you this. My nine-year-old just said, "Well, he can believe what he wants. He has free will. But it's true that he can't receive Communion because those things are a sin."

Come on, dude. If my nine-year-old gets it, how is it that someone with a degree from a Jesuit university does not? How is it that someone who has been through a Catholic college can think that you can dissent from the Church and still say you are a part of it?

Update(01-25-08, 8:52 a.m. EST): Olson continues to answer critics of the archbishop.

• Marjerus the Pro-Choice Martyr
• Clueless sports writers should stick to sports
• He also points out Ed Peters' take in Two excellent canon law-related posts by Dr. Ed Peters...

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