Tom is sounding a bit pessimistic about fellow Catholics who are unclear on the "blessed are the poor" concept when it interferes with their political conservatism.

Recently I heard a story from a young man who was engaged in the very Protestant custom of church-shopping. One he liked until he asked the pastor what the church did by way of service.

"Oh, we don't really do that."

So what, he asked, was their theory of Christian living?

"Mostly, we take after James Dobson."

Well, that was it for that church.