Everything is “Egypt” all of a sudden. The Wisconsin protests are just like Egypt. Indiana is just like Egypt. And now it seems that the Catholic Church too is just like Egypt, according to one writer.

I’ll get into the particulars in a sec but can we all just agree that nothing right now is like Egypt. We don’t even know what’s going on in Egypt yet but all of a sudden everything is being compared to Egypt. Anytime a few people have a gripe it’s Egypt all over again.

At least the Nazi metaphor is getting a much needed break.

I guess it’s no surprise that progressives in the Catholic Church who’ve been unhappy with the Church since the 1960’s would like to compare themselves to the people in the streets of Egypt who toppled a dictatorship in a week. The progressives have been trying to topple the Church for 40 years but no dice. I shudder to consider the particulars of what a sit in at the Vatican by leftover hippies would look like. All the faded tie dye, walkers, canes, knee high socks crammed into Birkenstocks, attending nurses, and the dinner break at 3:30 p.m. would be just too horrendous to watch – even for C-Span. Something tells me the sitting-in would be easy but the getting back up could take a while. If these guys are like Egypt it’s a really slow motion Egypt.

Anyway, this piece by Richard Taylor in the Philadelphia Inquirer is the official jump the shark moment for the Egyptian metaphor.

He writes:

The Catholic Church isn’t an Egyptian dictatorship, but its authority structure has many similar features. It is autocratic and totally top-down. It fears and crushes dissent. It disdains democracy, at least in its own structures. It is not accountable to its members, nor does it consult meaningfully with them.

When Catholics try to offer helpful ideas, we are rebuffed or ignored. More often than not, our leaders treat us like children who are to be seen but not heard, rather than thoughtful adults with talents, intelligence, and experience that the church desperately needs. Our protestations about priestly sex abuse and leaders’ cover-ups fall on deaf ears.

Won’t our beloved church continue to be held up to scorn for its actions until this medieval structure changes?

I think we can all agree now that the Egypt metaphor has been beaten to death. To continually beat something over and over like this it’s like…well…an Egyptian dictator…or something.