Interesting Day Post Mortem

I'm still trying to process the backlash from the detractors and the fantastic round ups of bloggers.

On the one hand we have dissenters who have been using Cardinal Bernadin's diaper for 40 years to undermine the seriousness of killing infants who are behaving rather badly.

I don't want to get specific, but I had an exchange with somebody whose name rhymes with Snarlson where we were characterized as disobedient ecclesial campaigning crowing pride-filled egotistical superior mocking sedevanasit gossip slandering mongerers lacking humility and taking credit for what happened.  Satan prevails in the Church sometimes and we are confusing pollitical rehtoric for religious sentiment and politically smearing and dragging bishops through the mud.   But the worst part was his contemptible mischaracterization of Bp. Dolan as having the same poor judgment as Bp. Kicanas when it comes to sexual abusers.

I can't tell whether prudence was thrown out the window when I invited him to be tarred and feathered and thrown under the bus or when I called his sore looser attack on Bishop Dolan despicable.  Why doesn't Henry just put on the proabortion and sexual immoralikty sash and be done with the intellectual dishonesty.   Have convictions and be a man about them instead of hiding your dissent behind these silly tortured campaigns to try to shut people up who are whistleblowing about internal corruption.

It has got to go.

Don't miss MSW.  It is a must read for those of us in Boston who have been building the whistleblowing Church Militant crusade.

There is one other aspect of the story that I alluded to yesterday and which was confirmed for me by several bishops. The attacks on Bishop Kicanas in the last week before the election worked. These attacks focused on Kicanas’ service as a seminary rector, when he recommended for orders a man who went on to be a child molester. Kicanas had answered the charges at the time and there was nothing to them, but on the eve of the election, when the CNN ticker had an item about “Top bishop denies promoting child molester,” I knew there was trouble for Kicanas. Survivors’ groups unwittingly did the bidding of the most conservative bishops by joining in the attacks. If that were not enough, the gay activists in the Rainbow Sash movement sealed Kicanas’ fate when they “endorsed” him, a classic case of failing to anticipate the opposition. Still, I had anticipated there might be a sympathy backlash for Kicanas, not least because – whatever the bishops intended – some on the right now think they possess a “heckler’s veto” over USCCB elections. Throw enough mud at the last minute, and they can stop someone they do not like from winning. They sent text messages to bishops. They called the bishops’ rooms at the hotel. It was ugly. But, no bishop wanted to return to his diocese and be pummeled with questions about Kicanas’ treatment of a sexual abuser. There was enough smoke to suggest a fire, and the bishops have no desire to be burned on that score anymore.

Someone we don't like...for no good reason.   (rolling eyes)

Pardon me, but aren't these the people who wanted to lay people to be more vocal and Bishops more responsive and who just spent the last ten years whining about pedophile enablers?

Congratulations.  The chicken has come home to roost.

Like everyone else, I found the Rainbow Sash statement fascinating.   Note they mention a 'hard right' toward...the Republican party and Tea Party.  Evidently, the Pope is no longer even in the picture to the picture to them. I will say one thing for them - they at least have the decency to be honest and forthright about their convictions.

Here's Grant Gallicho's end game:

I wonder whether Rainbow Sashers knew exactly what they were doing, and are happy to use Kicanas’s loss to raise awareness–and money.

But what about the rest? Text messages? Phone calls to bishops’ hotel rooms? The attacks from conservatives may not have been the only thing that torpedoed his candidacy, but do the bishops who voted against Kicanas because of that smear campaign recognize they just caved in to the swiftboating of a brother bishop–and it could happen to them?

Everyone I think saw what happened to Cardinal Law and are acutely aware that dissenters have had them by the spines.  What happened was when orthodox Catholics also rose to hold them accountable, they had nothing left to loose and they simply just did the right thing.

Catholic World Report has a fabulous piece about the unraveling of the seamless garment which our friends from BHE have posted with commentary HERE.

The media casts Kicanas’ defeat and Dolan’s win as a “traditionalist” victory. But that is overstating it. For one thing, Dolan—though he sees himself walking in the footsteps of John O’Connor—is far from a confrontational conservative. According to the media’s telling, the “moderate” lost and the “conservative” won. But it is more accurate to say that the moderate won and the liberal lost. In reality, the immediate outcome of the USCCB election has to do primarily with the slow unraveling of the “Seamless Garment” and the aftershocks of the abuse scandal. Bernardin’s dream of the USCCB as a Vatican-resistant body of progressive political opinions was simply overtaken by the nightmare of clerical corruption.

BTW - do not miss the spectacular BHE trip down memory lane that notes the devastating effects of the Bernadin/Hehir seamless garment.

There are many who will try to tell you that Bernadin meant well by defining the failure to shut lights off in your home to save energy or littering on the same level of seriousness as executing unborn children in the womb.  I don't buy into it.  The fruit of the tree is just too rotten.  It was long past time to take the ax to the root

Speaking of which - do check out our blogging friend Tim who is working on an unfaithful schools blog.  He's got some reading on Boston College that is quite informative.

Archbishop Dolan's Piece Rejected at the New York Times

I read about the NYT rejecting +Dolan's op-ed but hadn't read it until this evening.

It's a corker.

He indexes several examples of anti-Catholicism in the New York Times of anti-Catholicism within the last few weeks like their story about 40 rabbis caught sexually abusing children in one small sect of the Jewish faith and by gum, no whip of of frenzy that the word rabbi is synonymous with pedophile. Or, the ludicrous NYT pitch that after year of Anglicans petitioning Rome for union with the Catholic Church, it was all a sinister lure to collapse competition. And, of course, my favorite and yours (and apparently Archbishop Dolan's) the anti-Catholic screeds of sourpuss Maureen Dowd which +Dolan charitably refers to as "intemperate and scurrilous".

* In a diatribe that rightly never would have passed muster with the editors had it so criticized an Islamic, Jewish, or African-American religious issue, she digs deep into the nativist handbook to use every anti-Catholic caricature possible, from the Inquisition to the Holocaust, condoms, obsession with sex, pedophile priests, and oppression of women, all the while slashing Pope Benedict XVI for his shoes, his forced conscription -- along with every other German teenage boy -- into the German army, his outreach to former Catholics, and his recent welcome to Anglicans.

True enough, the matter that triggered her spasm -- the current visitation of women religious by Vatican representatives -- is well-worth discussing, and hardly exempt from legitimate questioning. But her prejudice, while maybe appropriate for the Know-Nothing newspaper of the 1850’s, the Menace, has no place in a major publication today.

I love this Bishop!

And, he mentions the malice-tinged rant of malcontent Patrick Kennedy against the Catholic Church.

Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday.

Lots of times in our history grouches have circled the wagons. The Lord is comforted by the depth of love for HIm and the Church that inspires public testimony.

Viva Christo Rey!

The Joy of the Lord

Archbishop Dolan's Phenomenal Installation Homily in it's entirety.

-- The risen Christ is alive here in the Church in and through her priests. My brother priests: you are the apple of my eye! You mean everything to me. Without you, I can do nothing. In you I still see St. Isaac Joques, Venerable Felix Varela, Issac Hecker, Fighting Father Duffy, Fulton J. Sheen, Richard John Neuhaus, Avery Dulles; in you I see men who continue the power of the resurrection at the altar, in the confessional, in the classroom, with the sick, searching, and the poor. I have long admired you from afar, but today for the first time I can say, "my brother priests" of the Archdiocese of New York-my admiration, deep appreciation, and unflagging love to you;

--The Risen Christ is alive in her consecrated religious, women and men, in whom Elizabeth Ann Seton, Francis Xavier Cabrini, and Michael Judge find most worthy heirs, as you continue to give the Word flesh in your simplicity of life, charity, and obedience.

--The awesome yet gentle might of the Christ's Resurrection continues in the Church of New York in her faithful people, women and men who love their Church in spite of her wounds, who savor their baptismal call, rely upon the grace and mercy of prayer and the sacraments, live as committed husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, and generous single people, and who bring the person, teachings, and invitation of their Lord to family, community, parish, and the public square, continuing the legacy of such lay leaders as Pierre Toussaint, Dorothy Day, and Governor Al Smith.

--Christ is one with His Church in this archdiocese as we obey his final mandate to teach, as we praise God for the prize of our celebrated Catholic schools, to whose flourishing I pledge my best efforts and support, and our promising programs of evangelization and catechetics.

--The Resurrection of Jesus goes on in our apostolate for the struggling, searching, and marginalized, as thousands of those closest to Christ's Sacred Heart-the hungry, homeless, sick, troubled, and immigrants--find solace and help in our Catholic charities and healthcare. Conscious are we of former Mayor Ed Koch's observation that the Catholic Church is the glue that keeps this city together . . . and, and . . . the Resurrection goes on, as His Church continues to embrace and protect the dignity of every human person, the sanctity of human life, from the tiny baby in the womb to the last moment of natural passing into eternal life. As the Servant of God Terrence Cardinal Cooke wrote, "Human life is no less sacred or worthy of respect because it is tiny, pre-born, poor, sick, fragile, or handicapped." Yes, the Church is a loving mother who has a zest for life and serves life everywhere, but she can become a protective "mamma bear" when the life of her innocent, helpless cubs is threatened. Everyone in this mega-community is a somebody with an extraordinary destiny. Everyone is a somebody in whom God has invested an infinite love. That is why the Church reaches out to the unborn, the suffering, the poor, our elders, the physically and emotionally challenged, those caught in the web of addictions.

--The risen Jesus remains alive in this archdiocese as the Church partners with respected neighbors and friends of other Christian families, our Jewish older brothers and sisters in the faith, who today conclude Passover and have our best wishes, and with our Islamic and Eastern religious communities, as the Church relishes the unique ecumenical and inter-religious concord of this greater New York community; and as the archdiocese collaborates with our political, civic, cultural, and business leaders, so very welcome here today, in all noble prospects advancing human welfare and dignity. Seven-and-a-half years ago, on September 11, 2001, New Yorkers gave a lesson of extraordinarily generous courage to the world. Selfless police officers, fire fighters, and emergency medical personnel, saved lives, and many gave theirs. Their sacrifice was an ecumenical, interreligious civic testimony to the worth of every human person. You did us all proud, and now how proud I am now to partner with all of you in that same spirit;

--and, maybe most of all, Christ remains present in His Church as people whisper prayers, worship at Sunday Mass, struggle with sin and pursue virtue, hunger for God's Word and Sacrament, and realize that, as much as we love New York, we have here no lasting home, for our true citizenship is in heaven.

And just what, I ask you, does the Church have to give? Does she have power and clout, property and prestige? Forget it! Those days are gone, if they ever did exist at all.

The Church instead borrows the vocabulary Jesus Himself used in those days after He rose, as we speak of "a peace He gives us,"

of "feeding my sheep,"

of "teaching the nations."

The Church really has no treasure but her faith in the Lord, which is not bad at all, as we shrug and say with Peter and John in the Acts of the Apostles, "Silver and gold we have not, but, what we do have, we give: ...

Jesus Christ...!

Now, let me bring this home by suggesting that we all take a little stroll down...the road to Emmaus.

See, I mentioned to you that the Church continues not just the rising but also the dying of Jesus Christ. We've just been through a litany of ways that the rising of Jesus radiates in the Church in this historic archdiocese. But we'd be naive if we overlooked the dying, wouldn't we?

For indeed not only the Resurrection but the cross, the dying, of Christ goes on:

--As we are tempted to fatigue in our works of service and charity;

--As we continue realistically to nurse the deep wounds inflicted by the horrible scandal, sin, and crime of sexual abuse of minors, never hesitant to beg forgiveness from God and from victim survivors and their families, committed to continue the reform, renewal, and outreach Pope Benedict encouraged us to last year, when, among many other places, he urged us in this very cathedral, "to respond with Christian hope to the continuing challenges [of] this painful situation..."

-- The cross is there as more and more of our people are burdened under financial woe and uncertainty;

--As strains on the family take their toll, or as the Church is ridiculed for her teaching on the sanctity of marriage;

--As we struggle to keep our parishes and schools strong, and recognize that we need a new harvest of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, and faithful, life-long, life-giving marriage;

Shortages and cutbacks, people mad at the Church or even leaving her, and our seeming inability to get the Gospel message credibly out there . . .

. . . are we not at times perhaps like those two dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus? They were so absorbed in their own woes, so forlorn in their mistaken conclusion that the one in whom they had placed their trust was dead, so shocked by the shame, scandal, and scorn of last Friday . . . that they failed to recognize Jesus as He walked right alongside of them!

I say to you, my sister and brother disciples now on the road to Emmaus, let's not turn inward to ourselves, our worries, our burdens, our fears; but turn rather to Him, the way, the truth, and the life, the one who told us over and over, "Be not afraid!", who assured us that He "would be with us all days, even to the end of the world," and who promised us that "not even the gates of hell would prevail," the one who John Paul the Great called, "the answer to the question posed by every human life," and recognize Him again in His word, in the "breaking of the bread," in His Church.

Let Him "turn us around" as He did those two disciples, turned them around because, simply put, they were going the wrong way, and sent them running back to Jerusalem, where Peter was, where the apostles were, where the Church was.

For three weeks in July, 1992, I was on pilgrimage in Israel. I had a wonderful Franciscan guide who made sure I saw all the sacred places in the Holy Land. The day before I departed, he asked, "Is there anything left you want to see?"

"Yes," I replied, "I would like to walk the road to Emmaus."

"That we cannot do," he told me, "You see, no one really knows where that village of Emmaus actually was, so there is no more road to Emmaus."

Sensing my disappointment, he remarked, "Maybe that's part of God's providence, because we can now make every journey we undertake a walk down the Road to Emmaus."

My new friends of this great archdiocese, would you join your new pastor on an "adventure in fidelity," as we turn the Staten Island Expressway, Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, Broadway, the FDR, the Major Deegan, and the New York State Thruway into the Road to Emmaus, as we witness a real "miracle on 34^th street" and turn that into the road to Emmaus?

For, dare to believe, that:

From Staten Island to Sullivan County

From the Bowery, to the Bronx, to Newburgh,

From White Plains to Poughkeepsie...

He is walking right alongside us.

"For why do we look for the living among the dead?"

"For He is risen as He said, alleluia, alleluia!"

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever."