Bishop Dolan Elected in Upset.
New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan was elected president Tuesday of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a surprise win that underscored the bishops' shift toward a more aggressive defense of orthodoxy.
Kicanas was pilloried in the days leading up to the vote by conservative Catholic bloggers, who urged readers to send protest faxes and leave messages for bishops at the Baltimore hotel where they are meeting.There is nothing like open public documentation to Bishops that states the scandal, asks them do the right thing, is backed up by blogochatter and articles written by activists and the prayers of the people, the Communion of Saints and souls in Heaven and purgatory. It is a winning combination and one that we intend on carrying forward with other scandals going on right here in the Archdiocese of Boston. (Next on my radar are the structure changes that moved power away from the Archbishop and the first policy being written by counterfeit operation in power in the Boston Chancery - "non-discrimination policy" at Catholic schools - brace yourselves)
Lots of hands went into this - kudos to everyone for answering the call to serve the Lord to work towards the dramatic turn around of the USCCB.
The Bishops heard our pleas and responded. This is an absolute change in the wind for Church Militant.
The good old boy network that gave absolute assurances to internal protocol for the first time in 40 years was broken up.
What happened today is huge in so many ways.
Theology will be impacted, education, direction on the best way to serve God's people in political activism, including the 2010 election.
There are calls for a more unified voice, building on the work that Cardinal George began three years ago.
Here's the quid pro quo - Archbishop Kurtz was elected as VP. Here's his thoughts on Summorum Pontificum. Here he is at an abortion clinic.
Here's some thoughts one of the patrons of Commonweal left relating to her experiences over the Liturgy:
Some here have wondered what ideological position Kurtz might occupy, or what sort of a mind he has. Let me offer one illustrative ancedote. When he was pastor of a parish in the Diocese of Allentown, he invited me to give a workshop for his liturgical ministers. The next day he phoned to complain that my presentation had not been sufficiently doctrinal. What was wrong? I had referred to the Eucharist as the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation.
Any more questions?
And, best of all, Archbishop Chaput is poised to be next in the machine.
I know some Catholics in conservative quarters have some reservations about Ab Dolan because he (disappointingly) has circumvented the Church's call of the Prodigal Father (Canon 925) and there was disappointing participation at a parish where moral theology on human sexuality is being twisted into Masses celebrating their booty calls. I saw the video of that and I was not too pleased myself -- but you've got to remember that Ab. Dolan signed the Manhattan Declaration. He is a solid prolifer and has spoken out courageously about politicians and abortion. I believe we scored on this one.
Dolan has been a strong friend and ally and has been called a “hero” by leading pro-life advocates in part for speaking out about Catholic politicians who support abortion.
“It bothers me if any politician, Catholic or not, is for abortion,” Dolan has said. “Because in my mind, we’re talking about a civil right, we’re not talking about a matter of Catholic Church discipline. We can’t allow the noble pro-life cause to be reduced to a denominational issue.”
In 2008, Dolan took House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice-President Joe Biden to task for misrepresenting Catholic pro-life teachings.
“Church tradition is equally clear that bishops are the authentic teachers of the faith. So, when prominent Catholics publicly misrepresent timeless Church doctrine – as Biden and Pelosi regrettably did (to say nothing of erring in biology!) – a bishop has the duty to clarify,” he explained.
Big. Huge. Gargantuan.
The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has just freed up from the chains of the immorality of Bernadin's 40 year reign of terror.
Feel the momentum.
We've had enough of exhortations to be silent"! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues. I see that the world has become rotten because of silence." ~ St. Catherine of Siena
And He shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah.
9 comments:
Bad bloggers, bad, bad!!
Next crusade: I know some moms who've been dogging the bishops for 20 years over classroom sex-ed. The USCCB teaches 4th graders about masturbation, and teaches 7th graders what "gays" do and what "sex toys" are for ... and there's much more.
"Big. Huge. Gargantuan." (Carol)
I'm afraid not. Kicanas would have been to the left of George. Archbishop Dolan really represents the Status Quo, though less abrasive than George in his style.
No "momentum" either.
I must repectfully and vigorously disagree!
I am very hopeful that Ab Dolan's loving but faithful outreach will transition the Bernadin crowd into Courage and some will join the rest of us who have surrendering our spirit to Divine Will and amending our liveswith the help of the Sacraments.
We don't want an exodus. We just want the truth to be zealously taught and pastoral guidance to get us all into Heaven. I am actually really, really hopeful that the Holy Spirit is working.
People will leave, but many others will return, I believe.
Now that the earthquake is over Carol, maybe it's time for the first aftershock. I hope to have the first part of my post up on BC by Thursday afternoon. God Bless you all.
Tim
Carol - as you can imagine, the Catholycs didn't take Dolan's election all too gracefully.
ps - sorry for the self-promotion...
very funny! I needed that!
Look and read the reign of Bernadin is crashing to a close. Pray the Lord hastens the end to every remaini8ng influence he has. Even in Rome where his supporters still have influence beyond their numbers
Yeah, well check out what one rad-trad has to say. (Copied from the commbox of a rad-trad/SSPXish blog):
"My apologies for being somewhat negative again but having had Timothy Dolan as my Bishop I would not get too terribly excited over his new honor at USCCB. Yes, he is slightly friendlier to tradition, and as a man was a better person than his execrable predecessor Rembert Weakland, but while in Milwaukee he was basically a politician, saying things people wanted to hear not what they needed to hear. I would never accuse Bishop Dolan of being overzealous in teaching the truths of the Faith.
While in Milwaukee he allowed Mr Weakland to continue masquerading as a Catholic Bishop by giving him Bishop's duties (Confirmatons, etc.) when he was too busy. He kept in place most of the lavender mafia types entrenched in the Chancery. No major reforms of any kind were undertaken by him and everything was pretty much kept status quo. He even had the bad taste to invite Weakland to his installation ceremony (so did the new Bishop, Listecki, as well) even after the Weakland perversion scandal broke. Protocol or not, that sent a very disturbing message to demoralized Milwaukee Catholics.
He did the usual "ghettoizing" of the ancient Mass by allowing it in one parish only - not, of course, that he had any right whatsoever under Summorum Pontificum to do so. And the traditional order he gave the Church to, the Institute of Christ the King, while a generally good group of priests, is seemingly more willing to compromise than uphold doctrine too strongly. Many Bishops prefer this order because they are less "troublesome" to the local Ordinary (funnily enough, they are more than a little "troublesome" to their parishoners due to a somewhat unpleasant arrogance which they possess).
The "cheese head" thing is very typical of Dolan and I don't for a moment think he is in the slightest bit embarrassed by it. He'd do it again in a heartbeat if he finds himself in Milwaukee in the future.
His empty platitudes (so common among all Bishops, including the Bishop of Rome I'm sorry to say), his obsequiosness towards Jewish interests which he has put above Catholic interests.....I don't know, but I wouldn't get overly optimistic about him.
People can change, of course. We can but hope."
I'm not sure what's worse - the left freaking out about Dolan or this kind of poison.
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