Indeed …

… A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Colosseum - The Catholic Thing. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

… only a few years ago, the task of Catholics in contemporary culture was to demonstrate – amid the clamor of scandal and bad news within the Church – that compared with the mild achievement and low horizons of contemporary secular culture, we could at least offer something better.  At this hour, it would be more accurate to say that Catholic writers and artists offer something real, something good, something beautiful, while our modern, secular Rome offers nothing at all, except savage vituperation and hot air.