A friend of mine recently approached me with many worries on her mind–not worries about her family or someone’s health or even things that are happening in the community, nation or world. Her worries are about the Church.

I feel ill-equipped to address the worries my friend enumerated, many of which concern Vatican II, the existence of a Pope Emeritus, and the Catholic press. I have the feeling that some of her concerns come from mis-reading certain resources, but I can’t be positive.

I might have shelves upon shelves of Catholic books, but most of mine are devotional, not political in nature. I don’t even own a copy of the Documents of Vatican II (I did read it for a college class, but college was a long time ago).

My stumbling blocks are not my friend’s stumbling blocks, and I don’t feel informed enough to debate the points she wants to make.

I did tell her that anyone who writes books based on conspiracy theories, such as the one she is trying to get me to read, are usually written by someone with an axe to grind.

It’s not that I want to hide my head in the sand here (well, I do, but there’s a lot more to it than that.) My Catholic to-be-read pile grows higher all the time, and I’ve got to be selective about what I read. Questionably-factual books aren’t going to make it into that pile.

And now I need to find a way to return that book to my friend, because I’m neither going to read it nor get into a debate with her about its contents. I just don’t know what to do with all the concerns she’s dumping into my lap. I certainly don’t know enough to address them.