Reflections of a stormy petrel

To separate the institution from God is a mistake, both in terms of Catholic self-understanding and in terms of psychology. The same attitude of resentment against absolute authority, authority rooted in the nature of things - what one might call an Oedipal complex raised to the Nth power - will lead a man both to hate the Catholic Church - for presenting itself as the vehicle of something that is true - and the notion of God HImself. Of course I am not making this point about all atheists; but I think that in people like Pullman and Dawkins, the cosmic Oedipal complex is not just perceptible but evident. And perhaps having one's spiritual home among the medieval chapels and Gothic spires of one of Europe's great ancient Catholic institutions hasn't made it any less grating. (That is not to ask a personal question, but have you ever been to Oxford?)