A Dear Readers Note of Apology for My Failure to Respond to Comments Here

Dear Friends — a quick note to update you on why I'm not making headway with responding to most of your very welcome comments here right now. I'm frankly pretty worn down by the tooth issues with which I've been struggling, and not finding a lot of energy to do more than post some pieces here, and then let you do the discussing.

Why the Pope's Meeting with Kim Davis Is the Last Straw for Me: With Commentary on Father James Martin's "Points to Keep in Mind" About the Meeting

Several days back, I received an email from America Magazine asking me to contribute financial support to America as a member of the America community. Something to that effect: I don't have the email any longer, and so can't quote it word for word.

Comments Keep Pouring in About Pope's Choice to Meet with Kim Davis: "Lost Me," "Wonder If Francis Realizes That He Now Stands Shoulder to Shoulder with Mike Huckabee"

And the comments just keep pouring in to my email inbox and my Facebook feed, people crushed and angry that the pope chose to meet with Kim and Joe Davis and Mat Staver while he was on a U.S. tour preaching mercy, and, we were told, encouraging the rest of us to rise above the culture-war fixations:

Charles Pierce on Pope's Decision to Meet with Kim Davis As Dumbest Thing He's Ever Done — "Undermines Everything He Accomplished on His Visit Here"

Charles Pierce on the pope's meeting with Kim Davis as the dumbest thing he's ever done as pope — and on the disastrous consequences of this meeting for his credibility and what many folks thought he had accomplished on this papal visit:

Responses to Pope's Meeting with Kim Davis from My Facebook Feed: "Last Straw," "Don't Want to Identify As ROMAN Catholic Anymore," "Tiny Sliver of Hope Now GONE," "So Disappointed"

Responses to the news that the pope met with Kim Davis and her lawyer Mat Staver of the anti-gay hate group Liberty Counsel has had my Facebook page lit up all morning. I'd like to share with you some of the comments now coming in:

Vatican Confirms Pope's Secret Meeting with Kim Davis, Moynihan's Site Comes Back Online

Vatican confirms meeting: spokesman Rev Lombardi says he doesn't deny Pope and Davis met but won't add more. Via @EPovoledo @nytimes

— Laurie Goodstein (@lauriegnyt) September 30, 2015

Robert Moynihan's Inside the Vatican report on Pope Francis's secret meeting with Kim Davis has just now come back up (I reported earlier today that it had been down previously), right after Laurie Goodstein sent out the tweet above.

Quote for Day: If Kim Davis-Pope Francis Story True, "Conservatives Will Feel Cheered by It"

Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Harriet Sherwood, and Calla Wahlquist in The Guardian this morning on the secret meeting Pope Francis is said to have held with Kim Davis: