I don't see a problem with confronting Cardinal George face-to-face in a non-religious setting. The issue at hand is simple: a bunch of jerks harassed, pestered and attacked parishoners who were attending a ceremony unrelated to the war. The only thing these idiots achieved is allienating potential and current allies.

No doubt this alienated a number of folks in the audience at Holy Name. Every protest alienates someone on the scene .. like it or not. Shoppers on Michigan Ave. Passerbys in Federal Plaza. Drivers who are re-reouted because of permitted parade routes. Shoppers who are perturbed by having to cross strikers union picketlines at the supermarket. And decades ago, white working class diners sitting at a lunch counter in Mississippi.

Like it or not, Easter mass at Holy Name has been a public spectacle - with television cameras on the scene - for literally decades in this town. ( so is Easter Mass in Vatican City, in case you've missed it ) And George, like it or not - is a public figure who has taken a conciliatory approach toward George Bush. Would that other religious folks muster the courage to speak up from the audience at their churches, synagogues and mosques against the incredible death and destruction unfolding in Iraq and help shatter the complancy they may find there.

Andrea,

So you endorse scaring the living shit out of children only because Cardinal George met up with Bush? According to your logic, we should insult and pester every person that doesn't give Dubya the finger?