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When Catholic Leaders Abandon the Faithful
Crisis Magazine ^
| September 8, 2014
| MATTHEW HENNESSEY
Posted on 09/08/2014 11:52:21 AM PDT by NYer
Earlier this year I warned that New York Citys centuries-old St. Patricks Day parade up 5th Avenue could soon be shut down for violating the human rights of gay groups. It never occurred to me that the parades organizers would unilaterally surrender the issue.
A political and public relations battle has raged for decades between the parades organizerswith historic ties to the Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish-Catholic fraternal organizationand groups which sought to march in the parade under banners proclaiming their sexual preferences. I thought the citys progressive politicians would work to scuttle the parades legal basis by revoking permits and forbidding public workers such as police and firefighters to participate in the annual celebration of New York Citys patron saint. Wednesdays announcement that the parade committee had caved and would let openly gay groups march under their own banners spared them that effort.
By now its common knowledge that the Catholic Church does not select who marches or otherwise have an official role in running the parade. But March 17 is a feast day on the Christian calendar set aside for celebrating and commemorating the holy life of Saint Patrick. The parade begins with a Mass at St. Patricks Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of New York and the mother church of an archdiocese comprising 368 parishes and 2.6 million Catholics. This year, in a vexing display of political naiveté, the parade will actually be led by New York archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, recent former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Suffice to say its a very Catholic parade. But for decades, New Yorks Catholic leadersincluding John Cardinal OConnor and Edward Cardinal Eganimplored the faithful to stand tall and support the parade committees unpopular policy on the grounds that the parade is, and should remain, a non-political celebration of the Irish Catholic experience in New York. Hence, no pro-life banners, no pro-gay banners, no 9/11 truther banners, no anti-globalization bannersnone of that.
Now, apparently, theyve changed their minds.
My mother used to say, Theres no sense in being Irish if you aint thick. I guess Im pretty Irish, because it never occurred to me that Cardinal Dolanwho once said of non-faithful Catholic politicians, I am a pastor. I dont want to embarrass you and you dont want to embarrass mewould, in the end, embarrass those faithful Catholics of his archdiocese and beyond who supported the parade committees staunch insistence that the event was no place for political posturing. I confess to being pretty confused. I thought the Church wanted us to stand for something. I thought we were told wed be universally hated on account of Jesus name.
Ah well. Times change, I guess.
What really burned me up, though, was Dolans declaration at his press conference accepting the job of grand marshal. I have no trouble with the decision at all, he said, as if nothing of consequence had been heatedly debated over the past several decades. I think the decision is a wise one, he added. Arent those of us who put ourselves out on a limb to defend this parade owed a slightly more robust explanation of what happened than that? If Cardinal Dolans thinking on this subject has evolved, could he possibly enlighten those of us who view him as the de facto leader of the American church as to the reason why?
Absent an explanation, we get to hear the New York Times call the decision to drop the ban a measure of changing attitudes in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. Im not sure how they know that, but I do know that a great many faithful Catholics in New York City and across the country are feeling now like they got left holding the bag. How many of us defended the parade committees stance over the years, both in public and in private, only to have them suddenly and without warning reverse course? How many of us have suffered being called bigots and worse for supporting the parades historic Catholic identity only to have local Church leaders suddenly do an about-face and give blessing to the demands of crude, libelous, and disingenuous activist groups?
The Times reported that NBC/Universal, whose contract to air the parade on television expires next year, pressured the parades organizers to allow a group of its gay employees to march under a gay-themed banner. Reports had it that last year Guinness similarly withdrew its sponsorship of the parade.
Sowhats a faithful Catholic to concludeit all comes down to money? If thats true, I cant think of anything more disheartening for an American Catholic community beaten down by six years of relentless attacks by the president and his HHS mandate, decades of relentless scrutiny stemming from the sexual abuse scandals, and a dominant culture intent on painting us as insensitive, backward, hate-mongers.
How many more lumps are we expected to take before our spiritual leaders demonstrate some commitment to principle? Why do we have to lose all the time?
In 2010, on the occasion of his first St. Patricks Day as archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan wrote a letter to the archdiocese. In it, he noted that the feast should be a day of particular prayer as well as a good occasion to look at how we are living the Catholic faith that has been handed on to us by so many generations.
A good occasion indeed.
TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Moral Issues; Religion & Politics
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(Photo credit: NYPD march in the 2014 St. Patrick’s Day parade with gay protest banner in background / David McGlynn.)
1
posted on
09/08/2014 11:52:21 AM PDT
by
NYer
To: Tax-chick; GregB; Berlin_Freeper; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; ...
2
posted on
09/08/2014 11:52:39 AM PDT
by
NYer
("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
To: NYer
Don’t the LGBTQIZ%* already have their parade?
Why don’t they let other identity groups have their own parades without shoving their unwelcome presence into it?
3
posted on
09/08/2014 11:56:43 AM PDT
by
Westbrook
(Children do not divide your love, they multiply it.)
To: Westbrook
The faggots have to ‘sodomize’ everthing ... the center their own lives on their perverted proclivities ... they won’t be satisfied until you center your life on their perverted proclivities.
To: NYer
It’s either an imprudent decision or a cowardly act. We’re obligated in charity to give him the benefit of the doubt, with an absence of clear evidence, however difficult that may be. Unfortunately, bishops, acting alone, aren’t infallible.
5
posted on
09/08/2014 12:01:35 PM PDT
by
St_Thomas_Aquinas
( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
To: NorthMountain
Doing because of a very sinful lifestyle choice.
6
posted on
09/08/2014 12:05:20 PM PDT
by
Biggirl
(“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
To: Westbrook
You can expect bearded barbarians marching in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade behind their black ISIS flag.
Why not? Don’t we have a guaranteed freedom of expression?
It has already been determined that returning ISIS fighters carrying US Passports cannot be barred from entering the country.
7
posted on
09/08/2014 12:07:11 PM PDT
by
353FMG
To: Biggirl
Yep ... lifestyle dedicated to perverted evil ... they lie to themselves that their evil is good ... they DEMAND that you lie to them also.
Their lifestyle is based on lies, filled with lies, produces lies, demands lies from others.
We know who is the “Father of Lies”.
To: St_Thomas_Aquinas
It would be much more difficult to deal with if I professed to believe him infallible.
9
posted on
09/08/2014 12:21:20 PM PDT
by
Hieronymus
( (It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged. --G.K. Chesterton))
To: All
By now its common knowledge that the Catholic Church does not select who marches or otherwise have an official role in running the parade. But March 17 is a feast day on the Christian calendar set aside for celebrating and commemorating the holy life of Saint Patrick. The parade begins with a Mass at St. Patricks Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop of New York and the mother church of an archdiocese comprising 368 parishes and 2.6 million Catholics. This year, in a vexing display of political naiveté, the parade will actually be led by New York archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, recent former president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Suffice to say its a very Catholic parade. But for decades, New Yorks Catholic leadersincluding John Cardinal OConnor and Edward Cardinal Eganimplored the faithful to stand tall and support the parade committees unpopular policy on the grounds that the parade is, and should remain, a non-political celebration of the Irish Catholic experience in New York. Hence, no pro-life banners, no pro-gay banners, no 9/11 truther banners, no anti-globalization bannersnone of that. Now, apparently, theyve changed their minds.
PFL
10
posted on
09/08/2014 12:25:02 PM PDT
by
Alex Murphy
("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
To: Alex Murphy
It’s all about money$ The convenient Catholic leaders look the other way when their cash cow is running dry.
As a Catholic, I find this to be shameful.
11
posted on
09/08/2014 12:29:25 PM PDT
by
Dacula
To: NYer
The church left me years ago.
And this is one of N reasons (where N is an increasingly large number) that I have not returned.
Yup, let’s let gays in a parade, but say nothing about martyred Christians.
12
posted on
09/08/2014 12:30:25 PM PDT
by
Da Coyote
(00)
To: NYer
Let’s face it, among the USCCB and the several Cardinal Dolan types, there are many in leadership who have cashed in the Truth, in exchange for redeeming a ticket to some mecca of deliberate false teaching and false unity— the door opened by Pope Francis when he said, “Who am I to judge”.
This is getting bad, when a sitting Cardinal proudly announces his deference to the god of “Unity”, based on the canard, “who am I to judge”.
Now this parade fiasco comes just following Dolan’s recent and just as proud statement praising the example of the gay football player for coming out, wherein Dolan prescribes, “Who am I to judge?”.
Poor St Patrick, whose name is at the mercy of those proudly and cheerfully willing to compromise with the devil.
13
posted on
09/08/2014 12:31:23 PM PDT
by
RitaOK
( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming.)
To: NYer
Dolan can lead the homos by himself and every marching band should sit this one out.
14
posted on
09/08/2014 12:36:30 PM PDT
by
Ray76
(True change requires true change - A Second Party ...or else it's more of the same...)
To: RitaOK
Lets face it, among the USCCB and the several Cardinal Dolan types, there are many in leadership who have cashed in the Truth, in exchange for redeeming a ticket to some mecca of deliberate false teaching and false unity the door opened by Pope Francis when he said, Who am I to judge.That door had been left open long before the current pope uttered those words. One could even make the argument that Francis was elected Pope because that door had been opened, and not the other way around.
15
posted on
09/08/2014 1:10:09 PM PDT
by
Alex Murphy
("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
To: Ray76
Oh, please, yes. A boycott by Catholics is in order, and there are other churches in NY to attend for Holy Mass, on parade day, besides St. Patrick Cathedral.
It’s all so heartbreaking, including the catalyst for this nonsense, in Pope Francis’s remark, “Who am I to judge?”, which Cardnal Dolan has waved like a banner when proudly cheering Michael Sam for “coming out” as gay, in football.
16
posted on
09/08/2014 1:10:23 PM PDT
by
RitaOK
( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming.)
To: NYer
Pride parades must now allow
the Westboro float.
17
posted on
09/08/2014 1:10:58 PM PDT
by
WKTimpco
To: NYer
Just one more confirmation that Dolan is an obese POS. As my Irish Catholic mother used to say, “He is so full of it, it is coming out his ears.”
18
posted on
09/08/2014 1:22:10 PM PDT
by
CdMGuy
To: Alex Murphy
I missed Vatican II completely, as a capital P Protestant at the time, and still I do not know the intracacies of what happened between its intention and its implementation, but regardless, the fruits of what it has wrought upon the devout faithful, at least in the West, is a scandal and damaging. The downward spiral naturally caused many poorly formed Catholics to fall away entirely.
Over the course of just the last 13 years I have seen for myself the unfortunate and obvious fall of piety and reverence, truncation of and increasingly casual approach to, the Holy Sacrfice of the Mass.
I don’t like it one bit.
19
posted on
09/08/2014 1:47:17 PM PDT
by
RitaOK
( VIVA CRISTO REY / Public education is the farm team for more Marxists coming.)
To: NYer
If a cardinal in the church is unable to speak out against the public celebration of homosexuality, I have to imagine there is a reason.
He needs to be replaced.
20
posted on
09/08/2014 2:12:09 PM PDT
by
marron
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