Picking prudery over the poor

Italian Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana has apologized to its readers for running the silhouette of a woman's naked backside in a recent issue in an ad for a bathroom fan, saying it "broke a taboo," although the ad was really more of a joke than anything. In Chicago the pressure is on a gallery owner to remove from his windows reproductions of famous fine art nudes; the gallery is across the street from a Catholic church and school.

While I'm not for plastering nude bodies all over the place, if Catholics are only appearing in the media outraged about a sexy ad or otherwise complaining about sex, I'm afraid that our opposition to secular sexual mores is all we'll be known for. As it is, Catholicism in the popular mind is associated only with opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and homosexuality--not with opposition to the death penalty or war, not as an outspoken advocate for a just health care and welfare system. Where is the Catholic outrage now that Congress is proposing $54 billion in cuts in "entitlement" programs like Medicaid and food stamps?

Makes French nudes and barely sexy magazine ads look like small potatoes.