By Michael P. Riccards

The controversial and confused bishop of Phoenix, the Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmstead, has given pastoral advice on everything from President Obama speaking at Notre Dame to abortion.

He most recently has written a pamphlet titled Into The Breach. The Breach apparently is any change that Pope Francis would recommend in terms of the orthodoxy. Yet he finds that since the year 2000, some 14 million Catholics have left the faith; parish religious education is down by 24%; Catholic school attendance has dropped by 19%, infant baptisms are down 28%; adult baptisms are down 31%, and sacramental Catholic marriage is down 41%. God forbid any changes in Arizona!! 

If Catholicism is in a state of decline, so is most of Christianity according to the Pew Foundation.

The reasons are probably due to the increasing irrelevancy of that faith in general across the denominations of Jesus, not just Catholicism. Adherents are not only turned off by rigid Christian belief systems but by the total decline of the importance of that way of life.

There is also, among the young, the general stupidity of fundamentalists who claim to be guardians of the faith. Nowhere is this so true than in my state, Florida, where there is a host of censorship of books, especially among children’s selections. Our governor has made a crusade against the acquisition of books, especially those that deal with sexuality and activities that deal with gay activities. He has decided to make such children’s books a litmus test in our pledging to the orthodoxy that differentiates between what is permissible and what is morally obnoxious. 

Born and raised an Italian American altar boy, Gov. Ron DeSantis intends to bring back the worst of the index of Forbidden Books after Pope Pius VI abolished those major works of major literature like Voltaire, Montesquieu and Galielo.

DeSantis has decided to focus on children’s books, especially those that emphasize  tolerant children and gay literature. The Tampa Bay Times has discovered that most of the complaints in Florida come out of two counties (Clay and Escambia) and from only two parents. One transplant from New York claimed his son was so traumatized from the Empire State’s readings that he had to move to Florida and bring his values to pollute those of us who are here.

Those verboten books in populous Hillsborough county are “Being a Girl” by Haley Long, “This Book is Gay” by Juneo Dawson, “Danny and he Dinosaur” by Syd Hoff, “Eleanor” by Barbara Cooney and “Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke” by Pamela Duncan Edwards

In Pinellas County, the list includes “Jesus in Verse” by Gennady Spirin, “Read and Learn Bible” by Eva Morore and “Ruby Bridges” by Euzha Palay. The most controversial volume is the story of a baby penguin who is adopted by two adult penguins and Arthur, who plays spin the bottle.

Somehow, I preferred the Index of Pope Paul. At least, it dealt with real works of literature and real authors like Chaucer and Boccaccio.

Michael P. Riccards, a former college president, is the author of 30 books, including a two-volume history of the presidency, The Ferocious Engine of Democracy, and the recently published Woodrow Wilson as Commander-in-Chief. Riccards wrote this article for the Jandoli Institute.

Categories: Jandoli Institute, Media, Michael Riccards, Politics