injustice when she suggests that Catholics are unconcerned about environmental issues.
It is simply that we have grown "street-wise" enough not to readily fall in behind the professional dissenters who are very keen on ignoring personal sin by emphasizing "communal sins" such as racism, sexism, poverty, "heterosexism," etc., the very people in fact responsible for bringing the Church in the North Atlantic civilizations to its knees Further, we are turned off by the militant followers of the heresy of vegetarianism and the nauseous sentimentalism (and hypocrisy) of people who would have no qualms about a town dweller owning a cat to keep down mice, but would seek to criminalize a countryman for owning dogs to keep down foxes — just the sort of people in fact who join organisations such as the Catholic Study Circle for Animal Welfare. Many Catholics are genuinely committed to a Christian stewardship of God's wonderful world, but we are not prepared to march behind the banners of those who are clearly scandalised by the very nature they purport to champion. When invited to march to someone's drumbeat, it is only prudent to check out whether the advertised destination is where they really plan to take you, before you