Posted on 09/16/2005 9:54:04 AM PDT by NYer
LOS ANGELES, September 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The annual service award for the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles is billed as rewards for “long and distinguished records of service,” according to the Los Angeles diocesan newspaper, the Tidings. Roger Cardinal Mahoney, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, chose to include among this year’s recipients attorney William M. Wardlaw, “a parishioner of Holy Family Church in South Pasadena.”
Wardlaw, according to the diocesan newspaper, is a “business executive who has served on numerous school and organization boards in the archdiocese including Catholic Charities.” What is not mentioned is that Wardlaw is also a major power broker in the state Democratic Party and distinguished himself as President Clinton’s California point man during the 1992 and 1996 campaigns.
Wardlaw’s wife, the Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw, was appointed judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Clinton and served on the Clinton-Gore Presidential Transition Team. Mrs. Wardlaw has also been the recipient of prestigious awards including one from the rabidly pro-abortion anti-family organization National Organization of Women.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Wardlaw are members of the elite “F.O.B.,” club (Friends of Bill [Clinton]), and have been guests of the Clintons in the Lincoln bedroom. William Wardlaw was appointed by Mahoney in 1999 to the committee raising funds to pay for the diocese’s massive new concrete Cathedral, mocked by Catholic commentators as the “Taj Mahoney.”
Clinton will be remembered as the Abortion President and his administration as one of the most scandal-plagued periods of US presidential history. During Bill Clinton’s presidency, the Democratic Party became synonymous with abortion advocacy, both domestically and in overseas eugenic population control programmes. Bill and Hillary Clinton are seen as heroes by the abortion movement.
Anglican scholar and historian, Philip Jenkins, in his 2003 book, The New Anti-Catholicism, identifies the close connection between the US Catholic hierarchy and the Democratic Party as a source of what he calls, “liberal anti-Catholicism,” which he says has in many cases created an insoluble conflict of interest pitting the bishops against their Church. As the Democrats become more and more the “party of abortion” and gay “rights,” the Catholic bishops who continue to support them, says Jenkins, since Roosevelt’s leftist “New Deal,” are more and more at odds with the moral and social tenets of the Catholic Church.
This conflict became blatant during the Bush/Kerry presidential race when few US bishops were willing to speak out against John Kerry’s militantly pro-abortion policies.
Mahoney’s decision to grant awards to one of Clinton’s most intimate supporters flies directly in the face of a declaration to which he was signatory - 2004’s “Catholics in Political Life.” That document states, “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
Mahoney’s record as Archbishop of Los Angeles is itself a litany of financial, sexual and political scandals that has raised a clamour from pro-life organizations and Catholic groups demanding his resignation. Homosexual lobbyists had reason to celebrate when in June 2004 the Cardinal ordained proudly active homosexual, Eric Stoltz, as a deacon.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Homosexual Activists Disturb Masses, Some Denied Communion, Some Steal It Anyway
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05051701.html
Cardinal Mahoney’s Cathedral Guards Remove and Threaten Pro-life Youth During Honours for Pro-abort Mayor
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05070502.html
Read L.A. Catholic blog for information on Eric Stoltz ordination:
http://onelacatholic.blogspot.com/2005/06/openly-g...
Mahony is such a blight on the US Catholic landscape.
Why does Rome allow such people to be in charge?
How did we end up with 19 out of 20 bishops saying, "The king's the Head of the Church in England? I'll go with that. Sounds preferable to martyrdom."
The Pope can issue all the advisories and orders he cares to but it is still up to every individual to act in obedience or not. The Church can't force me or the Cardinal to say, "Amen". We have to do that ourselves.
It's exasperating and confusing:
"The Pope orders, the cardinals do not obey, and the people do as they please" - Benedict XIV
Another day, another outrage in Mahonyland.
We have to put our money where our mouth is. What do you think about withholding our tithe from these people/places, and instead mailing it to another more deserving Diocese.
I live in a fairly good diocese and I already direct the majority of my donations myself. If I was in L.A. I might be inclined self-direct just about all of my donations.
I appreciate the response, but am still confused. We're not talking about martyrdom here. What do they have to lose by strongly advocating the canon's of the Church? The adoration of the Godless? These guys are the Church's representatives in America. It's not like they're even arguing the point on stuff like contraception...abortion is murder and any Christian easily sees it.
Argh. Sad. Confused.
(sigh)
It's Cardinals like this that make it difficult to be optimistic about the future of the Roman Catholic church.
Given that I've taken up residence on the east side of the Tiber, I'm just glad that he isn't our problem.
Pick up your cross and follow Me daily. Hey! Nobody mentioned the splinters!
Yeah, they aren't under duress. No one is physically coercing them.
Another analogy. The Arian heresy. At one point in time the majority of the bishops adhered to it and it lasted for centuries. And, for the most part, it was a matter of choice.
Personal opinion, being a bishop appears to be an impossible task. Right up front, they can see that they've got an unrelenting opponent:
"Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat"
And He doesn't say that Satan will be prevented from doing that. That should give any man pause.
The Church's history is full of bishops that look like failures, enchanted by the world. Who knows what they look like to God? All we can do is ask God to give us good shepherds and protect the ones we have.
Of course, just because he's a bishop doesn't mean we won't tell him when it looks like he's wandering down a crooked path. And it doesn't mean I'm going to hand over my donations to him just because he holds an office.
**Honorable Kim McLane Wardlaw, was appointed judge to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by Clinton**
Nothing else needs to be said. 9th Circuit is nuts.
His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony
Archdiocese of Los Angeles (website)
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241
Mailing address and telephone number
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
3424 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90010-2202
213 637 7000
info@la-archdiocese.org
Only God can remove the evil called Roger Mahony.
Honest, I got through the first couple of paragraphs and a light bulb went off in my head -- 'bet they are loaded and contributed big time to the Tajmahony' --- and yep, later on in the article it mentions just that fact. 30 pieces of silver.
Raymond Arroyo's book on Mother Angelica is great but one of the saddest parts of it is how Cardinal Mahony relentlessly and singlemindedly pursued her for YEARS over her comments regarding his watery, borderline heretical document on the Eucharist. Reading about it was like reading about a little kid kicking and having a tantrum because he isn't getting what he wants.
Anyhow, the worldwide success and endurance of EWTN must be a thorn in his side. Reminds me to send them some more cash asap.
"Rome" really didn't pick him. It was largely the work of the American hierarchy, and the older ones are generally liberal. The pope usually confirms the choices of the national bishops. And he HAS become blanantly more liberal the older he gets.
Gregory Peck is buried in the crypt. Surprised when I saw that, At some time in his life he MUST have been Catholic? He DID play a priest serveral times, most convincingly in "The Keys of the Kingdom," back in the day when Hollywood did not spit on the Catholic faith. Good movie.
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