Postscript.

"[It] is about the size of an 18-hole golf course, so it's not that big." (1)

--Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, describing Vatican City to journalists before his elevation to cardinal.

"As Catholic pastors, we wanted to remind the Governor that conscience, while always free, is properly formed in harmony with the tradition of the Church, as defined by Scripture and authentic teaching authority. A personal conscience that is not consistent with authentic Catholic teaching is not a Catholic conscience. The Catholic faith cannot be used to justify positions contrary to the faith itself." (2)

--Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, in a letter to the Chicago Sun-Times, criticizing how Governor Pat Quinn characterized his meeting with the bishops. Quinn said it focused on the poor; the bishop claimed it focused on abortion.

"Not everyone wants to talk about it, but that is a clear factor in the decline of the Catholic community." (3)

--Bishop Alexander Sample of Marquette, Mi., on the role of contraception in the declining Catholic school population.

"I can see [American Catholics being arrested for their faith], yes. " (4)

--Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's supreme court, speaking about the "war" between secularism and Christian culture in the US, which "will destroy us" if secularized culture prevails.

"We have only to look at Nazism and Communism and the manner in which they violated religious freedom to see how similar it is in today's world with the desire to redefine human life and its origins; to justify abortion; to redefine marriage to justify same-sex unions; and to redefine medical care to justify abortion, contraception, and euthanasia and then to impose these new definitions on people of faith." (5)

--Bishop Samuel J. Aquila of Fargo, North Dakota, comparing present-day health and social policies to those of the Nazis.

"Organizers (of the pride parade) invited an obvious comparison to other groups who have historically attempted to stifle the religious freedom of the Catholic Church. One such organization is the Ku Klux Klan.... It is not a precedent anyone should want to emulate. " (6)

--Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, criticizing organizers of an LGBT pride parade.

"Women lie when they say they were raped." (7)

--Bishop Luiz Gonzaga Bergonzini of Guarulhos, Brazil, alleging that women claim they have been raped in order to access abortion services, which are legal in the case of rape.

"Pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and woman. This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself." (8)

--Pope Benedict XVI called for "policies which promote the family" and the restriction of marriage to one man and one woman in his "State of the World" message to Vatican diplomats.

"It is very hard to give the church a fair shake when the church itself confuses the hell out of people." (9)

--Journalist Charles Lewis on the Vatican's "communication problem," explaining why "criticizing the Vatican shouldn't always be a sign of anti-Catholicism."

(1) Sharon Otterman, "His Message in Rome: New York Isn't Sin City," New York Times City Room Blog, February 14, 2012. (2) Neil Steinberg, "Is It Still OK to Elect Catholics?" Chicago Sun-Times, December 18, 2011. (3) Jim Graves, "Bishop Alexander Sample on the Need for a Renewal of Orthodoxy," Catholic World Report, November 1, 2011. (4) David Kerr, "Cardinal Burke Reflects on his First Year in the Sacred College," Catholic News Agency, November 28, 2011. (5) Bishop Samuel J. Aquila, "We must bring Christian values to public square to build just society," New Earth (Fargo, ND), December 2011. (6) Brian Slodysko, "Cardinal defends Klan comparison," Chicago Tribune, December 29, 2011. (7) PragmatismoPolitico.com.br, "Absurd: Bishop suggests that women are only raped when they want to be," June 20, 2011. (8) Philip Pullella, "Gay marriage a threat to humanity's future: Pope," Reuters, January 9, 2012. (9) Charles Lewis, "Criticizing the Vatican Shouldn't Always Be a Sign of Anti-Catholicism," National Post, November 2, 2011.