JUpdike:  "can certainly voice opinions, but should expect that there will be a response"  OK, but the response should be based upon the substance of the views expressed, not that the view is offered by a convert, no?

"have to apply and live their faith/doesn't show much experience"  Granted, I do not know when the gentlemen listed in this piece (Douthat, Schmitz, Reno) converted, but unless they were received at this year's Easter Vigil, it seems to me that the mentioned folks have been applying and living their faith.  How long does one have to have been a formal member of the Church to have a right to air their views?

OK, I tried to look some of that up.  Reno converted in '04, it seems.  To me, that's a lot of living and applying of one's faith, for 13 years.  Douthat apparently converted in 1996 or thereabouts; again, how long is long enough for one's views to count, so to speak?