Michael Higgins, president of New Brunswick’s St. Thomas University and a regular columnist in The Catholic Register [not the National Catholic Register but a local Toronto weekly], offered his explanation on why Pope Benedict said what he did at Regensberg saying, “the only possible answer is gross stupidity.” He has publicly said that, “Pope Benedict XVI lacked either the intelligence or the moral awareness to avoid offending Muslims in his Regensberg Germany speech”.
A common theme among liberal critics of Benedict’s speech was also echoed by Higgins who told Maclean’s that as Pope, Benedict must be more responsible, no longer having the freedom to make “airy theological speculations.”
Higgins’ holds a prominent position as a leader within Canada’s left-leaning “liberal” academic elite which Pope Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, has criticized for decades. Before his appointment as president of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, Higgins was President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Jerome’s University at the University of Waterloo, a school notorious for its promotion of a secularized, dissident Catholicism that has dominated Canadian Church institutions for decades.
Shelray ends with the comment "This guy sounds like he trips over cordless phones and turns off his AM radio after noon! "
Now how could someone come to this conclusion? Why of course “the only possible answer is gross stupidity.” Well actually I think this is a documented case of Benedict Derangement Syndrome (BDS).
8 comments
Michael Higgins,
To quote a secular-humanist, “Stupid is, is stupid does”.
Nice to see I’m being read in these foreign parts.
The local bishop should consider declaring this university as not Catholic. (If not already)
I wish there were some way to find out whether this oh-so-smart person bothered to read the Pope’s speech. Most people who criticize it as “offensive to Muslims” haven’t — including the rioting Muslims. The actual passage in question is nothing like the way it’s been presented in the press and by the rabble-rousing imams.
I find it interesting that members of the liberal mafia who so eloquently wax poetic about the virtues of nuance and etiquette fail so spectacularly to utilize it themselves when discussing those with whom they disagree. “Gross stupidity” is hardly a term worthy of a University president and particularly less so when targeted at the leader of both a major religion and a sovereign country. Or is this, perhaps, a manifestation of the old saying that “one hates the most in others what one sees in one’s self”, in this case, gross stupidity. What a twit. Oops, so much for nuance… 🙂
Yeah, who does that fellow think he is saying things that enrage unbelievers so that they plot to murder him for his true words and his influence? Why, if he was a good Catholic he’d be following the example of his Lord and would…um…
Huh.
Peter, they’re like kids when something disaggreable arises. “You’re stupid, stupid this, stupid that, etc.”
I think you’re being too hard on Mr. Higgins. Clearly there’s more at work here than pique. Why would a leader in education and a noteworthy columnist choose such unprofessional terms to critique the Pontiff? The only possible answer is that Mr. Higgins is a dumb-head. (Possibly a jerk-face, too, but I’ll need to consult with my colleagues before making such a weighty pronouncement.)
-MJ
(P.S. The terms “dumb-head” and “jerk-face” have been brought to you by the neighbourhood kids and the letter S.)
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