It exists a different name now but once upon a time there was a Catholic entity called "The Legion Of Decency". Ratings were A-1 = family, A-2 = adults and adolescents, A-3 = adults, A-4 = well, a little slippery, B = objectionable but in part (isn't theology fun and obscure?) and what's left for readers noting my rigmarole cadence? C = watch the young boys passing in the parochial school hall look over at the posting of this organization's ratings and immediately drop their eyes to the bottom of the sheet. These days "B" and "C" have been consolidated into a rounded and sensible "O".

The original "Miracle On 34th Street" received a "B" rating because the mother was divorced and the film did not waste any cadence showing she was awful, or doom her to a dire fate. Now for some trivia. What was the initial Walt Disney film not to be rubber stamped with A-1? Why, it was "Blackbeard's Ghost" with an A-2. Because, the titular character from beyond helped a character cheat in an athletic event! Given the Church's furrowed brow on the paranormal, though, I think this one still got a hall pass in the "God must be in His Heaven by 'The End' 1960's".

Recently something called "Scott Pilgrim Versus The World" was a pretty much one or two removed from the fast lane "PG" but guess what? UCSSB gave it a decisive "O". Why, the hero has a gay friend who is treated in a very matter of fact and functioning manner! You'd better know, bub, the Vatican and accessories such as the UCSSB are not going to slip on morals. Even if the sainted families who run the parishes long ago gave up on organizing marches on the studios while phallic references on late night talk shows are deployed nightly. And myriad further examples.

But now I turn to the imminent beatification of one John Paul II. He gave Cardinal Law a cushy job in his neighborhood after Law's own Boston-based m-a-s-s-i-v-e complicity in a church wide scandal of children raped by unpunished priests, with victims and protesters intimidated. And there was a head of a school for deaf and blind named Marcial who used to molest crying inmates after ingesting loads of hard drugs. John Paul openly praised this squirming piece of sewage. Well, two things: Il Papa is infallible ***on morals***. And---it's an "and" with no "but's" allowed!---he can't know everything!

Bottom line: It is Wednesday, and a pretty one. I am looking forward to dinner at a renowned eatery this Saturday with an more fabulous friend. But I am sick. Very sick. And---many Catholics who openly adored JP-2 and sneered about molestation victims as "liking it" will agree with me.