Posted on 01/22/2014 3:49:39 PM PST by NYer
In the run-up to today’s March for Life, Boston’s archbishop, Cardinal Seán O’Malley, gave an interview to the Boston Herald (h/t Rocco Palm) which was published yesterday. One of the questions asked of His Eminence was about Pope Francis’ now (in)famous remark that the Church needing to avoid being obsessed with issues like abortion, gay marriage, and contraception.
Here’s what the Cardinal had to say:
The normal Catholic in the parish might hear a sermon on abortion once a year. They’ll never hear a sermon on homosexuality or gay marriage. They’ll never hear a sermon about contraception. But if you look at the New York Times, in the course of a week, there will be 20 articles on those topics. So who is obsessed?
Bingo! But the Cardinal doesn’t leave it there. He continues:
Now, the Church’s positions are very clear and very consistent. For us, life is at the very center of our social teachings. Life is precious. It is a mystery. It must be nurtured, protected, the transmission of life is sacred. And our defense of human life is a great service to society. When the state begins to decide who is worthy of living and who isn’t, all human rights are put in jeopardy, but the voice of the church is very clear. And we’re not just saying that life is precious in the womb but life is precious when someone has Alzheimer’s when someone has AIDS when someone is poor when someone has mental illness. Their humanity is not diminished – and they have a claim on our love and on our services. So the church’s position is a very consistent one. It is a consistent life ethic. I don’t think that we are obsessed, however, when the New York Times is writing 20 articles a week about these things and make reference to the Church in half of those articles, it gives the impression. But I think in the parishes, these things are talks, in a routine way, in CCD classes, along with the rest of the Catholic doctrine but all of our teachings fit together. They’re part of a whole. There’s a consistency in our life ethic.
While we ought to insist on the truth–and a fair accounting of the truth, as Cardinal O’Malley does–we must never let the failings of others define our own mission. It’s the easiest thing in the world to complain about media bias. It is also easy to fall into a trap where a lack of fairness becomes an excuse for bitterness. When this happens, when we lose focus on our ultimate goal, the half-truths and lies can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Moreover, we risk missing a particular opportunity for grace. As Christ Himself tells us:
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.
On this unhappy anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, let’s all resolve to keep up the fight for life. Let’s also resolve to never let our own frustrations obscure the joy of the Gospel.
Ping!
Lutheran bravos!
If this is supposed to be a defense of O’Malley, it’s pretty lacking.
How soon until Gov. Cuomo calls for the closing of St Patrick’s Cathedral and the indictment of Cardinal Dolan for “hate speech?”
Coupled with the words of Psalm 139:13, the photos here speak more eloquently than words ever can.
Whoops, Cardinal O’Malley
“The normal Catholic in the parish might hear a sermon on abortion once a year. They’ll never hear a sermon on homosexuality or gay marriage. They’ll never hear a sermon about contraception.”
Precisely. That’s probably why so many Catholics use and approve of contraception, abortion, gay marriage and help vote in every socialist politician who does.
Barack Obama and “devout catholics” like Andrew Cuomo, Pelosi, et al are in office because too many bishops are weak when it comes to standing up against them and salad bar “social justice” Catholics vote them in.
Sorry, the failure of the vast majority of Bishops to go after these politicians strongly just pushes my buttons.
What’s so eloquent? He basically pushes more “social justice” at the expense of solid doctrine. That the average Catholic “never” hears sermons on the perversion of marriage is hardly something to boast about, and is partly why so many states are in the mess they’re in with regard to the subject. This is the kind of stuff that makes the struggling pew-sitter incredibly frustrated. Is it true naiveté or deliberate obtuseness?
This is a stunning self-indictment. Does the Cardinal realize that? Woe to these guard dogs who do not bark at the armed robbers at the door, these priests who, like Eli, do not require righteousness from their sons, these shepherds who have abandoned the sheep.
That’s in New York. O’Malley is in Massachusetts.
I’d like to ask O’Malley: then why do we hear sermons on all those other issues that are “the same” as abortion and the perversion of marriage? Why do we have speakers from the prison ministry, the AIDS ministry, the homeless ministry, the groups that travel and help the “sister parishes” all over Latin America? If it’s all about consistency, why do all those social issues take precedence, ALWAYS?
I agree. His point - which is that it is the media and civil society that is truly obsessed with the Church's opposition to these evils and talks about it incessantly - is a good one.
But it almost sounds as if he is boasting that nobody in the Church ever talks about these things. Not something to boast about.
Cardinal O'Malley is a very mixed bag. BTW, did De Blasio's good friend Cardinal Dolan issue a statement?
O’Malley preaches against abortion when and where he will be applauded: at the Vigil for Life at the National Shrine.
Otherwise, he’s slobbering on Obama at Ted Kennedy’s canonization Mass.
Ted Kennedy, who “didn’t do all that he could have” to defend the unborn.
Now O’Malley is BRAGGING about not preaching about abortion.
Twisted, sick, perverted. And THIS is the Pope’s most trusted adviser on American matters!
What sermons have you given recently, Father?
I’m retired now. When I was a pastor, I preached with perfect clarity about contraception, abortion, and voting for wicked, violent, unjust, corrupt people for public office.
That was my thought exactly.
When was the last time the USCCB called for fasting and a nationwide lobbying campaign for the end of abortion? For a life amendment to the Constitution? (i.e., "we call for a new Constitutional amendment: 'For the purpose of the law, life begins at the moment of fertilization.'")
Weak, your eminence, weak...
I think so. I’ll check later this morning.
The pastor of St. Catherine of Siena parish in Norwood, MA, Msgr. Paul Garrity, published a letter in his bulletin last weekend that puts the Holy Family at parity with families that have two mothers and two fathers. Incidentally, Cardinal O’Malley had commended this same pastor months earlier for his focus on promoting Catholic education. This is yet another example of the ongoing problem of Cardinal O’Malley and his senior staff coddling pastors who promote homosexuality.
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