Monday, June 4, 2012

Cardinal Dolan Is Off To Ireland To Celebrate The Eucharist-----Oh Really?

Cardinal Dolan looks right to find some inspiration for his latest exercise in blaming the victims--and no one's laughing anymore.


I'm not a really big fan of Andrew Sullivan, but this time I am in total agreement.  I posted a couple of days ago that Cardinal Dolan was not going to be able to laugh his way out of his bribery scheme for laicizing priests, and he isn't even trying.  Instead he is attacking the NY Times, casting doubt on the veracity of his old Archdiocese and blaming SNAP.  Sorry, this is not going to fly with any Catholics other than those whose faith can't accept the truth of our Bishops.  The following is Sullivan's take on the response Dolan gave to questions asked after his noon Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral yesterday.  It's sad to me that a man who just ate and drank the body and blood of his Lord could attack the very people Jesus taught us to find Him in.  This is a millstone of Dolan's own making because Jesus never said the millstones He spoke about would be material.

Dolan: Is He A Republican Pol Or A Cardinal?

 Andrew Sullivan - Daily Dish - 6/4/2012
Here is how the Cardinal has responded to his previous archdiocese's spokesman's revelations that he authorized payments of $20,000 to pedophile priests to expedite their removal from the ministry:


"The New York Times does not have a reputation for fair and accurate reporting when it comes to this issue. So, to respond to charges like that — that are groundless and scurrilous — in my book it’s useless and counterproductive."
Does he regard his former archdiocese, whence the NYT's proof came, as equally fallacious?
And then you get the real Dolan, the man who puts ecclesiastical power before the protection of children or compassion for the abused:
The cardinal also lashed out at an advocacy group — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — that has called the payments 'secret deals' and 'incentives.' But Dolan fumed, “SNAP has no credibility whatsoever.”
You heard that right. A cardinal from a church revealed to have operated a global child rape cover-up for decades says the chief group for the victims "has no credibility whatsoever." After this outburst, Dolan took a week off in Ireland.

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The  last American Cardinal to blame the media for the abuse crisis was Bernie Law.  He was given sanctuary in Rome just before the Boston Police came for him with subpoenas.  Not surprising then that Cardinal Dolan is taking off for Ireland.  The performance of American Cardinals and Archbishops with the sexual abuse crisis is nothing short of abysmal, only matched by most of the Irish version.  No wonder Cardinal Dolan is headed for Ireland where he will take in the Eucharistic Congress.  Given his performance after yesterday's Mass one can only pray he gets more out of the Eucharistic congress than he got out of the religious theater he himself starred in on Sunday.

To be honest, I have really serious doubts these men actually believe in what they purport to enact at the Consecration because in their day to day life it seems to have zero effect.  I wonder how many of them are nothing more than actors in expensive costumes on spectacular stages. That is a very dangerous kind of speculation  for lay Catholics to engage in as far as the hierarchy is concerned.  At least with the LCWR sisters I have met, I never questioned that they believed in Jesus Christ.  Nor did I ever believe they were engaged in some sort of charade.  I may not have agreed with the Jesus they believed in, but never once did I doubt that personal relationship with Jesus was the core that fueled their mission.  Not once.

In the last twenty or so years, but especially the last ten, I have developed very serious doubts about the men who supposedly lead us. I absolutely do not understand how they can express the things they express if they had any real understanding of life in Christ.  Cardinal Dolan is an absolute disgrace as a Christian man, but we Catholics are to believe he is an exemplar of a Catholic.  Which says what,  Catholic Cardinals are not to be confused with followers of Christ?  Something tells me about right now, Pope Benedict is wondering the same thing, and if in truth he is wondering, he should look in a mirror for the reason.

I no longer give a blank belief check to any bishop, archbishop, or cardinal.  They have to prove to me they can walk their talk.  Readers of this blog know there aren't very many I actually think walk the talk or believe in the efficacy of the rites they perform.  I also don't think I am alone.  There will come a time when more and more Catholics admit to themselves they have the same doubts, and when a critical mass is reached there will be enormous change in Catholicism.  It may turn out that 2012/2013 is the time frame in which that critical mass is reached.

In an NCR posting today, Robert McClory posts an article from former Maryknoll provincial John Sivalon.  Sivalon writes the Vatican assault on the LCWR and other Catholic progressives is just a prelude to what's coming in October when Benedict opens the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, the first alleluia salvo for the Year of the Faith.  I don't have any reason to disagree with this assessment and a number of reasons to believe it's true. I also find the designation 'Year of the Faith' a prophetic designation, especially if the Benedict Vatican is out to wage all out war for their view of the faith.  Since they are utterly distracted waging their own internal war, the forces for retrenchment may find out they are up against more than they bargained for and with field generals like Cardinal Dolan they will have only themselves to blame when critical mass is reached and they find they have lost.

10 comments:

  1. So far as Dolan's comments are concerned, I am reminded of something a lawyer once told me: When the law is against you, argue the facts. When the facts are against you, argue the law. When the law and the facts are against you, scream bloody hell.

    Now, I don't know the efficacy of this in the practice of law. But it sure helps as a rule of thumb when analyzing PR statements for truthfulness.
    Veronica

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    1. That's got some wisdom in it. In Cardinal Dolan's case when the facts and the law are against him he blames the NY Times and the victims. I'd prefer he just screamed bloody hell. It wouldn't be as irritating.

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    2. Dolan is the expression of denial during the implosion. His lack of honest, faithful leadership meets the standard low now exhibited by the RCC Episcopacy. As a teacher, he is worthless and as a Bishop his is an unethical hypocrite. The real problem is that the implosion is fed by the many Dolan's who's appointments come from a German pope who gets his jollies out of censoring the better theologians in the RCC. Is there any hope for this organization. None as it is currently structured. The Vatican is burning in its own self set fires. Is it hell or is it reality? Time for the Italians to reincorporate this piece of land back into Rome and tax its museums.

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    3. Hmmm, I actually never considered Pope Benedict might take some measure of personal satisfaction from censoring the work of other theologians. That's gotta be a head trip I would think.

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    4. I haven't forgotten Bernie "Above the Law's" blame the messenger approach to news about the hierarchy's coverups of sexual abuse. As I mentioned on Bilgrimage, that dog won't hunt anymore. Dolan hasn't yet learned this.

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    5. Kathy, I think Dolan has spent so much energy trying to get where he's at he hasn't paid attention to the mistakes of his fellow cardinals. It seems to me they all have to learn the limits of their power once they get the red beanie, and unfortunately some of them never get it. I think Cardinal Dolan is one who will never get it, which is precisely why he is not just the Cardinal Archbishop of New York, but the head of the USCCB.

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  2. All the generals in Benedict's army act more like corporals, and very poorly trained at that.

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  3. Here are the *lineameanta* of the "Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith":

    http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/documents/rc_synod_doc_20110202_lineamenta-xiii-assembly_en.html

    It's the usual impenetrable bureaucratspeak. I just wish the bishops would stop killing trees like this, & damn well *preach* as the Apostles did - & allow priests to do so. This thing will go nowhere, because the CC cannot evangelise its way out of a paper bag. I feel so depressed when I see the high-ups in the Church wasting time on trying to do something which the structures & set-up of the CC make impossible to do.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately Rat, it's about the higher ups, because it sure ain't about us low lifes unless we assert the authority of the higher ups. Authentic authority or not.

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