Sorrowful arrogance

It wasn't conscience or caring that brought down the Rev. Bob Cushing. It was sheer arrogance, plain and simple.

The priest is being removed from St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church in Augusta after taking it upon himself to travel to Japan to apologize for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago.

It is highly presumptuous, to say the least, for Cushing to even appear to speak for the rest of us. And make no mistake about it: It couldn't help but appear that way, regardless of what he intended.

But it is the most despicable arrogance for him to decree that "the bottom line is, we as a country haven't dealt with it at all." So he's going to deal with it for us?

How dare he? Not even an ordained priest has the moral authority or the deific power to divine what Americans have or have not "dealt with."

The truth is, it's quite likely Americans have "dealt with" the dropping of the bombs quite thoroughly - but have simply reached conclusions Cushing doesn't like. That's the real problem. Unless we agree with him, we haven't really "dealt with it."

Even his friends in the church couldn't deal with Cushing's arrogance anymore. His pastor and longtime friend, the Rev. Thomas Peyton, asked Bishop J. Kevin Boland to remove him. The bishop has agreed, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

"I am concerned about your using your position as an ordained priest of the Catholic church to foster and nourish your agenda as it pertains to your opinions about World War II," the bishop wrote to Cushing, according to the Reporter. "You have a right to your opinions, but you do not have the right to use the 'pulpit' in the symbolic sense to push your agenda. I consider that approach as a grave misuse of your ministry as a priest."

Cushing's high arrogance must be particularly galling for veterans of World War II and the survivors of those U.S. troops who did not come back. And what of those Americans who suffered at Japanese hands in inhumane POW camps and the Bataan death march?

There is a self-loathing at the heart of extreme liberalism that blinds the bearer to such things. Forgive us, father, for not flogging ourselves as you would like. Japan pulled a sneak attack on America and invaded a number of Southeast Asian nations in a bloodthirsty attempt at Pacific domination at the end of a bayonet. America defended itself from an unprovoked attack, saved the region from Japanese imperialistic oppression - and, indeed, ended up saving Japan from itself.

No thanks is necessary. But certainly neither is an apology.