Free Republic

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: In that sense, as the program unfolds today, we're gonna go back and revisit this whole contraception, abortion, Catholic Church business. There was a piece called to my attention over the weekend at Ricochet, it's a website started by a good friend of mine Peter Robinson. Peter Robinson took over the equivalent of Firing Line, hosted by William Buckley when Buckley gave that show up. Peter's out at Stanford at Palo Alto and he started the website Ricochet, and it's a highbrow place, highbrow conservatives. Paul Rahe (r-a-h-e), a professor at Hillsdale College, wrote a brilliant piece...

Bishop Daniel Ryan was appointed Bishop of Springfield, Illinois in 1983, as a suffragan of sex offender Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago. Bishop Kendrick Williams of Lexington, Kentucky was the only man consecrated by Bishop William Anthony Hughes. Hughes was consecrated by Cardinal Bernadin, and retired early. Bishop James McGrath, an auxiliary of New York. No known connection. Archbishop Rembert Weakland was archbishop of Milwaukee, only a few dozen miles from Chicago, where Cardinal Bernadin was Archbishop. Bernadin and Weakland lived together during the time frame Weakland allegedly was a sexual abuser. Weakland was consecrated by Jean Jadot. Robert Sanchez, the...

Just what is the Bernardin Legacy? Ask that simple question to any Catholic and the answers you receive will vary from one extreme to the other. One either loved him or despised him. But regardless of your personal opinion of the man there is one point, I believe, we can all agree on: He was a powerful and influential individual, both politically and spiritually. James Hitchcock wrote in an article published shortly after the Cardinal’s death that: “He [Bernardin] consistently used his influence to promote liberal causes, even attacks on Church teachings and traditions.” Hitchcock went on to say: “...he...

Cardinal Francis George believes anxiety over false accusations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin hastened his death from pancreatic cancer in 1996. "I think it killed him," George said in an interview Thursday. "Cancer is a psychosomatic disorder very often. Would he have died as quickly as he did if he had not gone through that terrible ordeal? I don't know. Others have suggested that might be the case." In November 1993, Steven Cook, a 34-year-old from Philadelphia, filed a lawsuit against Bernardin claiming the cardinal and another priest had sexually abused him in the 1970s while Cook was...