Posted on 12/28/2011 7:56:40 AM PST by markomalley
A slip caused by excessive oratory impetus? Or polemical bitterness, born of a well thought out communication strategy? What is certain is that the statement made on Sunday by Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, has not gone unnoticed.
The Bishop pronounced the “offensive” phrase, one that is brewing up a real storm, before the cameras of Fox TV: “Some of the events held by the gay movement, with their intolerance of the Catholic Church, come close to resembling those of the Ku Klux Klan, which were characterized by the same hatred towards Catholicism.”
The Cardinal was commenting on the possibility that the next Gay Pride in Chicago, scheduled for Sunday, June 24, 2012, would parade right in front of one of the oldest churches in the city and at a time (ten in the morning) in which families are at mass.
The possible discomfort for the faithful, seeing that last year the city saw the arrival of almost 800 thousand people for the parade, was pointed out by the parish priest of Our Lady of Mount Caramel.
“I agree with the priest, it makes no sense to cancel the mass because of the Gay Pride parade,” said the archbishop during the telecast. Then came that polemic comparison between gay and the KKK. “Don’t you think that it’s too strong?” the interviewerasked. “It is - George replied - but the rhetoric between the KKK, and some members of gay pride, with regards to Catholicism, is very similar. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy? The Catholic Church.”
It is worth remembering that the first KKK was born in Tennessee in 1886 as a secret society. Its members, who shared a complex ritual, consisting in robes and white hoods, marred themselves with a series of crimes against coloured people. In 1871 Congress declared the organization illegal.
The organization was reborn, however, in the early 20th Century, with the scope of asserting white superiority. It was founded in 1915, in Georgia, by William J. Simmons, a traveling salesman and insurance agent, who had connections with the Methodist environment. An influence that favoured the return of the KKK was the film by D. W. Griffith “Birth of a Nation”, which extolled the former Klan. Over time the organization became one of the meeting places for militant patriotism.
Over the years the Klan's hostility was directed not only against blacks but also against other minorities (Jews, Catholics, foreigners, homosexuals themselves). The slogan most yelled said: “One hundred percent American”. Especially used by those who saw in newcomers (immigrants) competitors for jobs. In the biography on the Italo-American writer John Fante, the critic Stephen Cooper writes: “The Catholic Church represented the Klan’s number one enemy because its members were practically all immigrants, and certainly not from Anglo-Saxon countries. It was considered a foreign presence that crept into the main institutions of the country to disrupt the American way of life.”
Beyond the historical reconstructions, however, the comparison between the gay community and the hooded society was not accepted by gay and lesbian Americans who flooded the network with petitions: “A painful and degrading comparison: an apology will not suffice. The only way out for Fr. George, if he still has a shred of dignity, is to resign.”
In any case, the organizing committee has accepted the City’s requests to delay the start of the parade for 12 hours in order to allow parishioners to go to Sunday church service.
The Cardinal reappeared on TV and on ABC and tried to clarify his comments: “Obviously it is absurd to say that the gay community are like the KKK. My comparison was between the type of parade, it was not a reference to the people.”
At this point, however, it is easy to imagine what the favourite target of the upcoming June 24th parade will be.
Yeah, that works.
They're not too fond of us BREEDERS, either!
.
..the first KKK was born in Tennessee in 1886...In 1871 Congress declared the organization illegal.
Gay timeline?
parade of clowns
If you’re taking flak, you must be close to the target.
Declared illegal 15 years before it was born? Neat trick! < /fixthetypoalert >
One only has to look at what happened to Prop 8 supporters in Cali.
His Eminence was speaking truth to power. The lavendar mafia made him blink. Pity.
> the first KKK was born in Tennessee in 1886 as a secret society........In 1871 Congress declared the organization illegal.
Congress was proactive back then? They outlawed it 15 years before it was created?
They will be far more successful than the KKK were at intimidating others into changing public policy, because back then, you wouldn’t be Catholic AND KKK. Today, some large number are are Catholic AND ‘confused’ into being ‘libertarian’ on sexual immorality. Today, there are a number of Catholics on the Courts and in Congress that are against the Truth and will side with them, against our teachings and freedom. (There is a lot of money and the televised news/entertainment industry has their absolute support) The new healthcare without conscience protection is the perfect example of enforced support of something anathema to our Church, yet many influencial Catholics supported it.
But who needs to be employed as a doctor or a nurse or a pharmacist or a wedding photograper anyway. We’ll just copy the successful Vietnamese immigrants that came here after working with us in Vietnam, sweeping floors at factories here when once they were doctors and nurses. Until we’re spotted in those jobs too. Perhaps the good Cardinal should have said “Soviet May Day Parade”.
I guess it’s too late for him to stick by his guns ... sigh.
At least the Klan guys were covered up, though - no vomit-inducing displays of sodomitic flesh.
He should have stuck to his guns. Sodomites may be even more anti-Catholic than the KKK was.
Agreed. He was right in the first place. And this will be said again, and back-pedaled away from again. But it will still be true.
A co-employee of mine, who is of that “persuasion” used that term (breeders) around me once.
Once.
Ashley Wilkes was in the Klan.
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