Msgr. George A. Kelly spoke at the conference by the Nassau Center for Catholic Studies and made an interesting point. He said that the world (and Church) was made up of Lions and Foxes. The lions built things up, created things and took chances that involved risks. Most of the great pre-conciliar Church was built by lions. Once things are established, people become weaker, corrupt, lazy, satisfied, etc.. and the foxes come in and attack when they sense this weakness. This is what happened in the Battle for the American Church. The dissenters are the foxes who have ravaged every apostolate built by lions. In Kelly’s words the Church has become “foxy”. I am sad that he will probably not live to see the day when the next generation of lions rebuild the Church, sometimes from scratch. The so-called scandals have hopefully awoken the lions of the Church to action, rebuilding apostolates, restoring parts of our tradition, and also tearing the foxes apart.