On any given Sunday

Benedict XVI is set to put in his first appearance in the U.S. next week with stops in New York and Washington, D.C., ostensibly to mark 200th anniversary of America's oldest parishes. He may also be trying to sell himself to American Catholics. Unfortunately he doesn't have a very good track record in this regard. This pope set off a row with Muslims in a widely misinterpreted speech to theologians. Then came the declaration that Catholicism was the one true way of Christianity, stating that all others are defective. Then he rattled the Jewish cage with a revision of the Good Friday Latin rite. At least he's willing to talk about the church sexual abuse scandal. About time and just in time for all those other sex scandals that have plagued us of late.