Mary Ann Glendon's Nomination

I share your assessment, Tom, of the acclamation that ought to accompany Mary Ann Glendon's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.  But just to show that it's simply impossible to underestimate people's ability to be "pissy" (sorry, Rob's grandmother!), take a look at the Boston Globe's coverage of this news.

I find particularly offensive (and, frankly, idiotic) Notre Dame's Father McBrien's comments: 

"She has also been an outspoken critic of feminism, tending to write it off as a relic of the 1970s," said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a University of Notre Dame theologian, "all of which endears her to conservative Catholics and makes her an ideal choice for President Bush."

From that comment, it strikes me that his understanding of the term "feminism" must be a relic of the 1970s, if not the 1950s.