[sinkspur]

There was heroism along with tragedy on Sept. 11, and it was often informed by true religious values: self-sacrifice, concern for others, accountability for one's own actions. Among the first casualties that morning was a Fire Department chaplain who hurried from his base at the St. Francis of Assisi church on 31st Street to the stricken World Trade Center so that he could minister to the dying. That hero, it should be recalled, was Mychal Judge, a Catholic priest, who, not that it should matter, happened to be gay.

My ways are not your ways.

[rdb3]

That hero, it should be recalled, was Mychal Judge, a Catholic priest, who, not that it should matter, happened to be gay.

Well, if it shouldn't matter, why bother bringing it up?

[Palladin]

A very interesting take on the sex scandal in the Catholic Church, with some very apt comparisons. For once, I agree wholeheartedly with Frank Rich.

[Notwithstanding]

CLICK FOR DIRECT LINK TO DESCRIPTION WITH VIDEO FEED LINK

CRISIS IN THE CHURCH (60:00) Join Raymond Arroyo and guests Colin Donovan, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, and Michael Novak for a spiritual analysis of the genesis as well as the  outlook for resolution of Catholicism's current crisis. The round-table discussion  will include your live call-in questions and comments on the response of U.S. cardinals to their recent meeting with the Holy Father in Rome, and what impact the resulting papal directives may have on the Catholic Church in America.   Monday April 29- 8:00 pm ET LIVE  Tuesday April 30 1:00 pm ET  Encore

[SkyPilot]

Only the New York Slimes would begin an article that is about HOMOSEXUALS raping teen Boys and instead begin with Enron!

[okie01]

Only Frank Rich would take advantage of this tragic situation to a.) attack the church while, at the same time, b.) defending homosexuality.

[glorygirl]

This column is a generally weak excuse for Frank Rich to demonstrate his anti-Catholic bias. While he is right on some points, in general, his column is geared to stirring up emotion against the church, rather than accurately reflecting and providing any possible solutions:

"A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds that the church's standing among Catholic and non-Catholic Americans alike is crashing — a crisis of confidence "as bad as anything that I've seen"

Where are the numbers? There's a reason they were omitted.

"The cardinals' rhetoric, righteous in style but often self-serving in content, seems like a metaphor for too much of the behavior we've seen from American religious, political and business leaders alike since the nation's supposed moral turning point of Sept. 11."

So everybody who invoked God after September 11 was faking it? And doing it for their own political gain? Right.

"Mistakes may have been made," said Cardinal Edward Egan of New York — but always by somebody else. Instead of taking responsibility for their own failings, American cardinals have made a hymnal out of the Enron playbook."

Yes, Mr. Rich. Cardinal Law ,and all the other cardinals and bishops across the U.S, are just like Jeffrey Skilling. They have so far DENIED knowing anything and placed the blame on his subordinates. Yes, right. And the Pope, just like Ken Lay, is acting as though everything was A-okay. Right.

"With the exception of Tom DeLay — who this month announced that "only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in this world" — no politician in power has ratcheted up this rhetorical religiosity louder than John Ashcroft. In a February speech he declared, "We are a nation called to defend freedom — a freedom that is not the grant of any government or document, but is our endowment from God." So much, then, for that trifling document that defines our freedoms, a k a the Constitution. "

This is what Delay and Ashcroft believe, and, as much as you might not like it, Frank, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.." First amendment, U.S. Constitution.

"The president's push to ban therapeutic cloning is typically cloaked in a stated reverence for human life, without any humble recognition of the fact that he is playing God in determining that the "life" of a blastocyst, a tiny cluster of cells, is worth more than the lives of those suffering from juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases whose remedies could be hastened by the most comprehensive medical research."

Now who's playing God?

"If we learned anything from Sept. 11, surely it is that there is a reason to worry when politicians hijack religion"

What does this statement mean? Who is he referring to? Osama Bin Laden, perhaps? A "politician"?

"..the destruction of a religious institution brought on by its own priests' practice of victimizing their young charges."

You wish, Frank.

"That hero, it should be recalled, was Mychal Judge, a Catholic priest, who, not that it should matter, happened to be gay."

He was also, we might add, a Catholic, along with many of the firefighters and cops who died that day.