Straightened out

Protestants used to joke about denominational differences. They don't anymore, maybe because most don't know what makes the denominations different from one another, and thus can't provide fodder for jokes. Catholics used to joke about religious orders. They don't anymore, maybe because there are so few members of them, or because they don't wear distinctive garb of the sorts that used to inspire jests.

Back when they did, a familiar joke had a Benedictine (O.S.B.) and a Dominican (O.P.) arguing about which was the best religious order. After having fought to a draw, the two decided to take it to the Lord in prayer. As their prayers rose in the chapel, a piece of paper floated down, bearing a message: "They are both good religious orders. (Signed) The Lord, S.J."

The Society of Jesus also won out in a recent M.E.M.O column in which I assigned the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis to the Jesuits. Two Protestant graduates of Aquinas called me on this. The fact that no Catholic complained suggests either that a) Catholics don't read the Christian Century (which I know is not true) or b) they are too apathetic about religious orders to care or c) they don't know Aquinas is Dominican or don't know the difference between a Jesuit and a Dominican establishment.