“Your complaint is not with the Church; it’s with God,” said then-Archbishop James Stafford, responding to a reporter in the late 1990’s. The reporter had persisted in a series of dull questions on how does the church plan to keep its members when its teachings aren’t relevant to “today’s issues” such as divorce, abortion, etc etc. etc. “The Church only teaches what God taught,” Archbishop Stafford continued, thoughtfully. “If a person has a problem with the teachings of the Church, then he or she has a problem with God’s teachings, not with the Church.” Cardinal Stafford's few, direct words years ago are applicable today, especially regarding Pelosi's expressed outrage at her archbishop's patient, clear directive on her ability to receive Holy Communion. It's not rocket-science. Context The response to a reporter, mentioned above, took place in a private, media-only press conference which I’d arranged in the late 1990’s. Working in the public relations field, I’d had the privilege of being allowed to set up and run a press conference for Thomas Aquinas College’s commencement speaker that year, then-Archbishop James Stafford. At the time, Cardinal Stafford was president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and with the searing clerical abuse scandals continuing to grab headlines, the press conference I was allowed to host—although well-defined and framed, was nonetheless an opportunity indeed for reporters. Interestingly, I had received many, enthusiastic “I’ll be there” responses from local media—including from the Los Angeles Times. But various media emergencies and shifting assignments resulted in only one lone reporter and his cameraman showing up, a reporter from the Ventura Star....
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