I found this article from the International Herald Tribune by the historian Paul Kennedy very worthwhile. It was sent me and I thought it deserved wider readership. However, I will merely post it for those who desire to read it, without follow-up comments.Here is the ending:

The Churchs destiny has variously been described as akin to a person on a lengthy pilgrimage, or a caravan wending its way across the desert. If those are apt analogies, then it seems to me that the pilgrim has become lost in a forest, or the camel train has encountered a sandstorm. It is time to face the matter with grace and intelligence, and leave the belated breast-beatings and obfuscations behind. And read a few more of John Donnes poems, both the sacred and the profane, to get a better sense of our round earth and humankinds curious place upon it.

And here is the rest.