Peripheral Catholics

For Damon Linker's strong reaction (in the New Republic) to Joseph Bottom's assertion (in the Weekly Standard) that "opposition to abortion is at the center of Catholic culture in this country," see http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/linker/default.aspx.
Cathleen Kaveny links to this at dotcommonweal. In the comments section she says, "So do we have one center that cannot hold? Or two stable centers, of two very different worlds? What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches toward South Bend to be born? And how do we get off that awful widening gyre?"