Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 5:05am

The White House Hopes For Schism

Timothy Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York has been a leader in the fight against the HHS Mandate.  Below is an update that he gave on the current status of that battle this week.  His remarks are fascinating on several grounds.  Here are a few observations:

1.  Schism.  The Cardinal believes that the White House is attempting to take advantage of a de facto schism in the Church in America and render the opposition of the Bishops harmless.  “Instead, they advised the bishops’ conference that we should listen to the “enlightened” voices of accommodation, such as the recent hardly-surprising but terribly unfortunate editorial in America.  The White House seems to think we bishops are hopelessly out of touch with our people, and with those whom the White House now has nominated as official Catholic teachers.”  Some of us have of course seen this coming for a very long time, symbolized by the Obama day of worship at Notre Dame’s commencement in 2009.  The Obama administration hopes to create their own de facto version of a “Patriotic Catholic Association” here in the US, completely subservient to the administration.

2. Religious Liberty.  The Cardinal understands the gravity of this attack on religious liberty.  And it is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical contraception.  Pure and simple, it’s about religious freedom, the sacred right, protected by our constitution, of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry.  This of course is all about Obama’s goal of making the Catholic Church in this country harmless to his ambitions, ambitions I am beginning to fear even his most ardent opponents do not truly comprehend yet.

3.   Shocked, Shocked.  Obama’s word is meaningless.  When the President announced on January 20th that the choking mandates from HHS would remain — a shock to me, since he had personally assured me that he would do nothing to impede the good work of the Church in health care, education, and charity, and that he considered the protection of conscience a sacred duty — not only you, but men and women of every faith, or none at all, rallied in protest.   Frankly I am shocked that the Cardinal was shocked, but better wise late than never.

4.  Litigation–  The Cardinal believes that the HHS Mandate can be beaten in the courts.  And the courts offer the most light.  In the recent Hosanna-Tabor ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically defended the right of a Church to define its own ministry and services, a dramatic rebuff to the administration, but one apparently unheeded by the White House.  Thus, our bishops’ conference and many individual religious entities are working with some top-notch law firms who have told us they feel so strongly about this that they will represent us pro-bonoThis of course underlines one of the many reasons it is essential to defeat Obama in November.  Another four years would give him probably at least two more supreme court appointments and hundreds of lower federal court appointments.

The Bishops I think, at least the vast majority of them, are now awake to the danger posed to the Catholic Church by the Obama administration.  It is therefore a great pity that too many of them, and their predecessors, over the years, allowed underlings in the Church bureaucracy to continue to have the Catholic Church in this country act as the Democrat party at prayer, and thereby helped foster an attitude of casual indifference, or active approval, as that party embraced position after position directly contrary to Catholic teaching and thus lull most Catholics into the belief that none of this was important when it came to them casting their ballot.  The canonization   funeral Mass given to Teddy Kennedy was a prime example that members of the hierarchy in this country shared fully in this attitude.  These ecclesiastics have sown the wind and now we are all reaping the whirlwind.

Here is the statement of the Cardinal:

 

 

Over the last six months or so, the Catholic Church in the United States has found itself in some tension with the executive branch of the federal government over a very grave issue:  religious freedom.  Can a government bureau, in this case the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), define for us or any faith community what is ministry and how it can be exercised?  Can government also coerce the church to violate its conscience?

I wanted to let you, the great people of the archdiocese, know how we’re doing in this fight.  Thank you for your extraordinary unity, support, and encouragement.  Throughout all the archdiocese, our people – both as patriotic citizens and committed Catholics — have been very effective in letting government know that we are not at peace at all with this attempt to curtail the  freedom of religion and sanctity of conviction we cherish as both Catholics and Americans.

This has not been a fight of our choosing.  We’d rather not be in it.  We’d prefer to concentrate on the noble tasks of healing the sick, teaching our youth, and helping the poor, all now in jeopardy due to this bureaucratic intrusion into the internal life of the church.  And we were doing all of those noble works rather well, I dare say, without these radical new mandates from the government.  The Catholic Church in America has a long tradition of partnership with government and the wider community in the service of the sick, our children, our elders, and the poor at home and abroad.  We’d sure rather be partnering than punching.

Nor is this a “Catholic” fight alone.  As a nurse from Harrison emailed me, “Cardinal, I’m not so much mad about all this as a Catholic, but as an American.”  It was a Baptist minister, Governor Mike Huckabee, who observed, “In this matter, we’re all Catholics.”

And it is not just about sterilization, abortifacients, and chemical contraception.  Pure and simple, it’s about religious freedom, the sacred right, protected by our constitution, of any Church to define its own teaching and ministry.

When the President announced on January 20th that the choking mandates from HHS would remain — a shock to me, since he had personally assured me that he would do nothing to impede the good work of the Church in health care, education, and charity, and that he considered the protection of conscience a sacred duty — not only you, but men and women of every faith, or none at all, rallied in protest.  The worry that we bishops had expressed — that such government control was contrary to our deepest political values — was eloquently articulated by constitutional scholars and leaders of every creed.  Even newspaper editorials supported us!

On February 10th, the President announced that the insurance providers would have to pay the bill, not the Church’s schools, hospitals, clinics, or vast network of charitable outreach.  He considered this “concession” adequate.

Did this help?  We bishops wondered if it would, and announced at first that, while withholding final judgment, we would certainly give it close scrutiny.

Well, we have — and we’re still as worried as ever.  For one, there was not even a nod to the deeper concerns about trespassing upon religious freedom, or of modifying the HHS’ attempt to define the how and who of our ministry through the suffocating mandates.

Two, since a big part of our ministries are “self-insured,” how is this going to help us?  We’ll still have to pay!  And what about individual believers being coerced to pay?

Three, there was still no resolution about the handcuffs placed upon renowned Catholic charitable agencies, both national and international, and their exclusion from contracts just because they will not refer victims of human trafficking, immigrants and refugees, and the hungry of the world, for abortions, sterilization, or contraception.

So, we have given it careful study.  Our conclusion: we’re still very worried.  There seem far more questions than answers, more confusion than clarity.

Now what to do?

Well, for one, we’ll keep up advocacy and education on the issue.  We continue to tap into your concern as citizens and count on your support.  Regrettably, the unity of the Catholic community has been tempered a bit by those who think the President has listened to us and now we can quit worrying.  You’re sure free to take their advice.  But I hope you’ll listen to your pastors who are still very concerned.

Two, we’ll continue to seek a rescinding of the suffocating mandates that require us to violate our moral convictions — or at least a wider latitude to the exemptions so that churches can be free — and of the rigidly narrow definition of church, minister, and ministry that would prevent us from helping those in need, educating children, and healing the sick who are not Catholic.

The President invited us to “work out the wrinkles,” and we have been taking him seriously.  Unfortunately, this seems to be going nowhere: the White House Press Secretary, for instance, informed the nation that the mandates are a fait accompli (and, embarrassingly for him, commented that we bishops have always opposed Health Care anyway, a charge that is simply scurrilous and insulting). The White House already notified Congress that the dreaded mandates are now published in the Federal Registry “without change.” The Secretary of HHS is widely quoted as saying, “Religious insurance companies don’t really design the plans they sell based on their own religious tenets,” which doesn’t bode well for a truly acceptable “accommodation.”  And a recent meeting between staff of the bishops’ conference and the White House staff ended with the President’s people informing us that the broader concerns of religious freedom — that is, revisiting the straight-jacketing mandates, or broadening the maligned exemption—are all off the table.  Instead, they advised the bishops’ conference that we should listen to the “enlightened” voices of accommodation, such as the recent hardly-surprising but terribly unfortunate editorial in America.  The White House seems to think we bishops are hopelessly out of touch with our people, and with those whom the White House now has nominated as official Catholic teachers.

So, I don’t know if we’ll get anywhere with the executive branch.

Congress offers more hope, with thoughtful elected officials proposing promising legislation to protect what should be so obvious: religious freedom.  As is clear from the current debate in the senate, our opponents are marketing this as a “woman’s health issue.”  Of course, it cannot be reduced to that.  It’s about religious freedom.  (By the way, the Church hardly needs to be lectured about health care for women.  Thanks mostly to our Sisters, the Church is the largest private provider of health care for women and their babies in the country.  Here in New York State, Fidelis, the Medicare/Medicaid insurance provider, owned by the Church, consistently receives top ratings for its quality of service to women and children.)

And the courts offer the most light.  In the recent Hosanna-Tabor ruling, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically defended the right of a Church to define its own ministry and services, a dramatic rebuff to the administration, but one apparently unheeded by the White House.  Thus, our bishops’ conference and many individual religious entities are working with some top-notch law firms who have told us they feel so strongly about this that they will represent us pro-bono.

So, we have to be realistic and prepare for tough times.  Some, like America magazine,  want us to cave-in and stop fighting, saying this is simply a policy issue; some want us to close everything down rather than comply (In an excellent article, Cardinal Francis George wrote that the administration apparently wants us to “give up for Lent” our schools, hospitals, and charitable ministries); some want us to engage in civil disobedience and be fined; some worry that we’ll have to face a decision between two ethically repugnant choices: subsidizing immoral services or no longer offering insurance coverage, a road none of us wants to travel.

Sorry to go on at such length.  You can see how passionately I feel about this.  But, from what I sense, you do too.  You all have been such an inspiration, and I owe it to you to keep you posted.  We need you more than ever!  We can’t give up hoping, praying, trying, and working hard.

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T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 8:43am

Apropos from John Hinderacker: “Have we ever had an administration like Barack Obama’s? An administration that tries to benefit from pitting Americans against one another? An administration that uses its billion-dollar slush fund, not to mention the resources of the Executive Branch, to demonize private citizens who disagree with its policies? An administration that uses hate as an instrument of domestic politics? I don’t believe that there is any precedent in American history for the mean-spiritedness that now emanates from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

c matt
c matt
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 9:05am

This is all well and good, but the Cardinal only in passing touched upon an important point. Religious freedom belongs not only to institutions, but even more so to individuals. Why should an individual be subjected to abrogation of his rights any more than an institution?

trackback
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 9:24am

[…] The White House Hopes For Schism – Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic […]

RL
RL
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 9:31am

Yeah cmatt. They mention it along with others but only about 50% of the time. They need to make these into bullet points, internalize them, and always present them in their entirety.

PM
PM
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 9:41am

Such a cool role model.
Conducting a discordant orchestra.
Mean-spiritedness down to a science.
Kids are shooting kids. Bullying prevails over education scene.
People speechless from confusion and fear.
National identity crisis.
Systematic disintegration, John Hinderacker has it.
1. Pitting Americans against one another.
2. $lush, Executive Branch limitle$$ budget demonizing citizens = jobs created.
3. Hate & buzzwords to carry out agenda .
Victims: Infants, children, elderly, working citizens, business owners, churches, and integrity.

Chris
Chris
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 11:34am

a shock to me, since he had personally assured me that he would do nothing…..

I really, really respect Cardinal Dolan. Both his office and from everything I have seen in interviews he appears like the kind of person you could sit and have a beer with (or club soda) and just talk about life.

However, this is the second time he has been shocked and hoodwinked by politicians. The first was during the gay marriage debacle in NY when he was assured by certain people (whoever they were) that it wouldn’t go anywhere.

In fairness without trying not to Monday morning quarterback, it seems like he needs to stop giving the benefit of the doubt these politicians and their operatives.

Maybe a good rule of thumb is if you are dealing with a politician who thinks abortion, gay marriage and every other immoral activity is okay (for example Obama or Cumo) they shouldn’t be completely trusted at their word. Maybe irrespective of what they tell him, he should forge ahead regardless.

We Catholics need a hero; we need someone we can rally behind to fight the good fight. I for one will offer my rosary tonight for the good Cardinal.

Quinlan
Quinlan
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 3:51pm

Amen to Cardinal Dolan, but in truth, I (an 84 year old woman with limited education) knew this was coming and cannot figure out how or why the Bishops, et al didn’t. It was so obvious. When Obama was running for the Presidency, you could see right through the hypocrisy and it just blew me away to think that Catholics were so Gung Ho to elect him, even our pastor. We sow what we reap. If he is re-elected – it’s all over.
Our Saving Grace is in the Lord.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 4:56pm

St. Mark 3:25

“And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

Read it all. Here Pharisees allege that Jesus is Beelzebub and so commands demons. Jesus teaches that there are eternal sins, i.e., sins that cannot be forgiven. These are sins against the Holy Spirit. Democrats constantly sin against the Holy Spirit.

Social justice ever is used to rationalize eternal sin.

Romans 14:8

“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; or whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Therefore, whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Amen.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 5:06pm

For whether we live free, we live freely unto the Lord; or whether we live in chains, we live freely in the Lord.

Nero did not prevail over the Holy Spirit nor will Obama nor any earthly power or prince.

Mary De Voe
Saturday, March 3, AD 2012 11:25pm

Sovereign immunity is that shield from the state’s penetrating into one’s immortal soul and taking God-given freedom from a person, sucking the marrow from his constitutional bones. The Catholic Church has been compliant with rules and regulations to help the state, such as incorporating as a non-profit or as a religious institution. This is in good will. The Church does not need to do this. The state cannot, in reality, give the Church a tax-exemption, because the state cannot tax the Church. Therefore, an exemption implies that the state may tax the Church, but is being a nice guy about generosity. Well, generosity is a virtue, a God-given virtue and the practice of religion by the state in rendering the virtue of charity through the God-given virtue of generosity to the Church. And God is left laughing.
Sovereign immunity, like diplomatic immunity, defines the realm of the Catholic Church as being autonomous in its existence through the Catholic Church’s institution by Jesus Christ, of the Catholic Church’s creation by God, of which the state has had and may have no part.
In redefining freedom, the state has dissolved the very foundations of its existence as constituted by the sovereign persons who have constituted the state. In violating the will of the people, the state has failed to be the state. In violating the will of God for His Catholic Church and for the people of God, the state has incited the wrath of God.
Back to the future in the catacombs.
As President, Bill Clinton wrote an executive order making all free lands and waters the privilege of the president. As President, Obama wrote executive order 13575 Rural Councils, making all private land the object of eminent domain, to be taken at will from all persons, but not FOR all persons, as eminent domain requires. The LOST treaty, not ratified by Congress (only Congress ratifies treaties) signed by Hillary Clinton, secretary of State with the United Nations, an atheistic entity without sovereign authority or immunity since only God gives sovereignty through the immortal soul of man, privatizes all the oceans and seas and the mineral rights under the seas to the United Nations. American citizens will now have to pay to sail the seas. The reason this is of utmost importance, is that now, when Obama nationalizes the Catholic Church and her property, there is nowhere to say Mass. Once upon a time, in Ireland, Mass was said in a goat drawn cart hauled onto the land exposed by the receding tide. This riprarian land was no man’s land. The exiled Catholic Church Mass was free to be said on this land which belonged to God. Obama has usurped what belongs to God and redefined God’s property as his own. There is nowhere for the Catholic Mass to be said, once Obama nationalizes all church property, except the catacombs, once again.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 1:16am

“Have we ever had an administration like Barack Obama’s? An administration that tries to benefit from pitting Americans against one another?”

Actually, we have. The president in question was James Buchanan (1857-1861), who supported the Fugitive Slave Act and the Dred Scott Decision, and who did nothing to stop the bleeding in Bleeding Kansas. In fact he encouraged it by supporting the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution that would have made Kansas a slave state. It was during his administration that Abraham Lincoln directly quoted Christ’s words about the “house divided against itself.”

Suzanne
Suzanne
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 7:28am

Excellent comment by Quinlan and Voe they get it. If Obana is elected another 4 years we could very well have to go underground as a Roman Catholic Church similar to China. When I was in grade school over 40+ years ago a nun prophetically told our class that one day we will be persecuted for our faith in this country as was the case in China. I believe by this mandate the wheels have been set in motion.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 8:57am

One positive development: if this had all happened twenty years ago, would they have even fought back?

Foxfier
Admin
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 9:08am

Quinlan –
different baseline assumptions.
I’m guessing you’re more to the right or libertarian side of an important world-view line– have the idea that people can and should help themselves as much as possible, and are aware that giving lots of power is like giving a psycho a knife, it can be used for good or bad.
The Bishop– as one might guess from the way he’s a Bishop– has had a lot of exposure to the good that organizations can do, and is probably constantly running up against the “what we could fix if we had the power” situation.

It’s hard for me to empathize with it, because my worldview is so different– lower middle class, enlisted, rural, deal with people of a wide range of motivations, and for some reason people keep mistaking me for a mouse instead of a shrew (to steal my mom’s line), so I get to see how people behave with the power they have when they don’t think they’ll be called on it, as well as seeing the on-the-ground effects of some stuff that sounds very noble. (Who could be against protecting, say, bald eagles? People who stand to lose their life’s work if some idiot sees the eagles and reports it. To make it worse, the “protection” tends to have the opposite effect if someone DOESN’T shoot, shovel and shut up.{disclaimer: I have no names of individuals who have so violated the endangered species act– it’s common knowledge that it’s done})

I’d guess that even among politicians, there are a lot of folks who’d hesitate to lie to a priest’s face.

Stilbelieve
Stilbelieve
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 12:28pm

Your Eminence,

You hold the cards – God, and parishes scattered throughout the country, and your right to speak freely from the pulpit on anything attacking the Church. You also have the right to hold Voter Registration drives after every week-end Mass giving the opportunity of the faithful to be sure they are registered to vote in this very upcoming election that will have such a major impact on the future of religious freedom in America. Words, alone, won’t change anything – actions will; that is why voter registration after the Masses is your best arrow in your arsenal in defending freedom of religion and the practice thereof. Registration drives also allow people to change their registration – and how one is registered to vote is the Holy Grail of politics.

Juan
Juan
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 1:03pm

Policies are negotiable-Principles are not negotiable! We support Catholic teachings!

GHU
GHU
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 1:04pm

I have all due respect for Cardinal Dolan, but there has been a schism in the Church for a very long time. The left leaning/ Democrat loving Bishops/ Priests have been undermining the Church as long as I can remember. I hate to say it but a lot of this mess has been the results of the Bishops and Priests not doing what they should have been doing….teaching the beliefs of the Catholic Church especially on moral issues. Instead they have largely ignored what the Church actually believes on contraception ( Humanae Vitae), sterilization, abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage. They allowed these things to be taught in schools, seminaries and still allow speakers and politicians who go against our beliefs in Catholic Schools/Colleges. What are they going to do now with “catholic” politicians who continue to go against the Church? There were 13 “catholic” Democrats who just voted against the Blunt amendment to protect religious liberty against the HHS mandate. Anyone looking into Obama’s past should have known his true beliefs and intentions. I’ll be praying for our Bishops, Priests and the USA….we’re going to need a lot of prayer!

Chris
Chris
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 4:01pm

This is why I love Newt, stuff like this. Newt at his best, wish I could wrap up Newt and Santorum together! I have not heard this articulated so well.

Newt owns David Gregory on contraception debate

http://www.therightscoop.com/newt-owns-david-gregory-on-contraception/

Stilbelieve
Stilbelieve
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 4:06pm

GHU

I concur with everything you wrote, but now we need to do more than “just” pray – we’ve been doing that for decades and things have gotten worse. That is because actions were not implemented to go along with our faith. Now, not only is the Church under attack by this pro-abortion, pro-infanticide Democrat Administration, our country is at risk of being lost as well. We can turn this all around this November and eliminate the threat to Religious Liberty and to freedom in America if we will get active in registering people to vote at church. That action coupled with prayers in EVERY Mass for the overturn of Obama’s Health and Human Services’ order to take effect this August 1st, (just like we used to pray for the conversion of Russia) will be a major step towards recovering our country in our precious Constitutional Rights. As Catholics’ go, so goes the country. If there was EVER a reason why Catholics should remove their name identification from the Democrat Party, and stop voting for them, this IS the time. Catholics don’t HAVE to become Republicans, just register out of the Democrat Party in protest of their war, not only on the unborn, but NOW on the missions of the Church while dismantling the Constitution in the process. The should register as Independents or Decline to State. In many states, now, such Voter ID allows one to vote in any Primary Election as is evident in the “Republican” Primaries going on now.

trackback
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 4:28pm

[…] Hattip to commenter Chris for pointing this out to me.  Newt Gingrich is a flawed candidate, but when it comes to standing up to the Mainstream Media, and refusing to allow them to set the terms of the debate over issues, he is in a class by himself.  In the video above, he takes David Gregory apart on Meet the Press today, refusing to allow Gregory to frame the debate, dishonestly, as access to contraception rather than as an assault on religious liberty.  Newt recognizes that the Mainstream Media is almost entirely an unpaid arm of the Democrat party.  He knows that they are adversaries and he treats them accordingly.  All Republicans and conservatives:  look and learn! swfobject.embedSWF("http://www.youtube.com/v/PYrCF5jPsVM&rel=0&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=0", "vvq-36510-youtube-1", "425", "344", "10", vvqexpressinstall, vvqflashvars, vvqparams, vvqattributes); Tagged HHS Mandate, Mainstream Media, Media Bias, Newt Gingrish […]

trackback
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 4:40pm

[…] Hattip to commenter Chris for pointing this out to me.  Newt Gingrich is a flawed candidate, but when it comes to standing up to the Mainstream Media, and refusing to allow them to set the terms of the debate over issues, he is in a class by himself.  In the video above, he takes David Gregory apart on Meet the Press today, refusing to allow Gregory to frame the debate, dishonestly, as access to contraception rather than as an assault on religious liberty.  Newt recognizes that the Mainstream Media is almost entirely an unpaid arm of the Democrat party.  He knows that they are adversaries and he treats them accordingly.  All Republicans and conservatives:  look and learn! […]

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 4:53pm

I believe it was H. L. Mencken who stated the Catholic bishops were the Democrat Party at prayer.

The bishops, past and present, have been so far off the mark in dealing with a Democrat Party whose platforms, aims and goals have been so anti-Catholic. The USCCB has been blind as a bat in realizing who and what the Democrat Party is all about. The FDR New Deal died in Chicago in 1968.

it is not just about abortion. The USCCB pays lip service to school choice. Yet, do we really have school choice in the USA? No.

Look at the states that have enacted homosexual marriage. Certain of them, namely New York, usually are at the top of the highest number of abortions. Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Maryland and Illinois have a large number of so-called Catholics, but the politicians those states elect, be they “Catholic” or not, do not reflect Catholic teaching on just about anything.

Catholic education stunk in the 1970s when I was in Catholic school. Catholic higher education is, in most universities that call themselves Catholic, is anything but Catholic. The nuns who broke with the USCCB and supported Obamacare are another example.

And yet, only bishop Bruskewitz and then Archbishop Burke were the only Catholic bishops who would stand up to abortion supporters. Cardinal Wuerl has gone out of his way NOT to confront such politicians. Look at the example of the poor priest from Montgomery County who did not give Communion to the lesbian at her mother’s funeral. Wuerl used to be my bishop. He approved of Teresa Heinz’ golddigging husband, John FARC Kerry (the FARC comes from Kerry’s lipservice making excuses for the Marxist narcoterrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – my wife is from Colombia and saw them commit murder).

To top it off, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, my favorite team, daily communicant Dan Rooney (I used to see him at Daily Mass at St. Mary of Mercy in Pittsburgh) supported the Abortionist In Chief. I suspect his father would have let him have it.

I’ll be damned if I let some Marxist nitwit with the intelligence of a soap dish like Barack Obumbler and his minions make me rot in a prison cell for my faith or for any other reason. I’ll send my family to Colombia. There is a lot to fear in Colombia – drug traffickers, violent criminals, the FARC, the ELN, paramilitaries – but not the Colombian government.

Donna V.
Donna V.
Sunday, March 4, AD 2012 10:19pm

“However, this is the second time he has been shocked and hoodwinked by politicians.”

I love Dolan, but that statement is true. However, I blame him more for being hoodwinked by NY politicians – why would anybody expect NY politicians to be honest? Yes, Obama is a politician, but he is also the President of the United States. I can understand how a clergyman would believe that the President of the United States would not lie to his face.

John C. Hathaway, OCDS
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 2:38am

Many years ago, a good friend pointed out to me that priests and bishops really do live in a very sheltered world, and don’t understand how bad things are for us laity in the trenches. I thought it was an interesting insight, and a good way to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I really couldn’t understand how that could be.
Then, recently, I was talking to a new friend who’s a convert, a little younger than my father, and comes from a very conservative Presbyterian background. He, too, said that the thinks priests are kind of sheltered and don’t understand how bad our culture is.
Then, a couple weeks ago, my Carmelite community had our annual retreat. The Carmelite priest who came down to give the retreat was talking about teaching a class a few years ago, where one of his students protested that he doesn’t think we’re right about God and free will, that he doesn’t think it can be free will if God punishes you for not making a certain choice. The priest was shocked at what the student said. Another student tried to explain to him that this is the attitude most people in our society have, and how this is what this young man had been taught in his entire education. The priest was surprised.

So, yes, I learned, many older priests really *are* that naive.

Phillip
Phillip
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 5:23am

John,

Priests are sheltered in many ways. I remember the priest at one parish I was at. He had recently retired and was living for the first time in his life in an apartment. Prior to this had lived at home, seminary or rectories. He commented that it was the first time he had paid a bill. The first time. Before this he had others who had handled the accounts. Now he knew the actual cost of things. This after he retired. And he had be talking all through the years about the economy when he didn’t even know what the monthly cost of phone service or utilities were.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 5:43am

Now he knew the actual cost of things. This after he retired. And he had be talking all through the years about the economy when he didn’t even know what the monthly cost of phone service or utilities were.

Where was this man ever posted? I am quite sure that in all the parishes I have ever been associated with, the priest/administrator was intimately familiar with the parish accounts.

Phillip
Phillip
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 7:47am

His words Art, not mine. I am quite sure about them. If you have doubts, address it with him.

Though familiarity is a tough concept. Another example, the pastor of another parish was “familiar” with the shaky finances. His parish finance committee constantly informed him of them. Of course one day he went out and bought a house across the street to be the parish for a youth center. Dropped the bomb on the parish finance committee that was then in a scramble to figure out how to find money .

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 9:12am

After a night of thought, I realized I’ve done something much like Cardinal Dolan on a small level: online game guilds have twice royally betrayed my husband and me. Each time taught us things to look out for the next time we join up, but didn’t mean we expect EVERY member of an organization to act like the bad ones from before.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Tuesday, March 6, AD 2012 10:52am

Yes I think there is already and has been such a schism, and that is becoming more pronounced. Rick Santorum and Obama are making the schism more visible and definite….a clear contrast. At Catholic study group yesterday we came to this conclusion: (1 Timothy 4:1 2) …”proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.”

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Wednesday, March 7, AD 2012 9:19am

What strikes me is that nobody seems to be pointing out the obvious: that each and every turn for the worse is coming from The Father of Lies. The Deceiver and Enemy is firmly entrenched in the Peoples’ Democratic Party leadership, including President Caiaphas, and has hoodwinked a good portion of what used to be God’s Own Party.

He who has deceived Eve, Adam and everybody else in history except Jesus Himself has not only gotten stronger in past decades but enlisted multitudes of useful idiots to do his work for him without even knowing it. So-called “freedoms” that are nothing more than license and anarchy have been used as reasons to gut the most powerful and God-fearing political document ever written, and the singular goal is the elimination of God from our society so as to erect a Humanist-fascist worldwide dictatorship.

When it is realized that the endgame is to set up a single, Satanic government controlling the globe, then it is also to realize just where in history we stand. It may well be generations away, but as the old saying goes, “A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step.”

The first step was taken some time ago; whether it’s too late to turn back remains to be seen.

Frank Galmish
Wednesday, March 7, AD 2012 6:26pm

If there exists a schism, and the liberal faction disobeys the bishops, it won’t because the church wanted it. However if some weak Catholics go that way; they ought to be handled as the church handles schismatic heretics, and excommunicated publicly by the church. In the long run a rotten apple kept in the barrel of apples spoils all and the good ones need to be protected and saved and not corrupted by the rotten ones.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, March 8, AD 2012 5:51am

John Hinderaker: “Barack Obama has been a terrible president in many ways, but perhaps his most poisonous legacy is his cynical fomenting of partisan hate to advance his own political interests. After three years, we have learned that ‘hope’ is not the word that we should associate with the Obama presidency.”

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, March 8, AD 2012 5:52am

Hate and Chains!

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Friday, March 9, AD 2012 4:51am

[…] June of last year.  This is all being carefully orchestrated by the White House as part of their ongoing war against the Catholic Church and any other individuals and entitities that dare oppose the South Side […]

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Monday, March 12, AD 2012 5:31am

[…] adversaries are among Christians who take their faith seriously.  That is why they are promoting a de facto schism in the Catholic Church, and why they have attempted to promote Sandra Fluke, that summary of all that is wrong […]

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Friday, March 16, AD 2012 3:23am

[…] poses.  They recognize that the goal of the current administration is to strip the Bishops, through fostering a de facto schism in the Church, of their ability to stand in the way of this administration.  This is all very unprecedented in […]

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Thursday, March 22, AD 2012 5:45am

[…] is firing the opening shots in a struggle against the religious freedom of Catholics, and exploiting a de facto schism within the Church in America to accomplish their ends, a film is being released this election year detailing the struggle of Mexican Catholics in the last […]

Jay
Jay
Friday, March 23, AD 2012 10:11am

As an aside, the communist Chinese are seeking out (and praising) the empress of the Episcopalian denomination, aka their Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts-Schori. Jefferts-Schori is an ex-Catholic who misses no opportunity to trash the Catholic Church.

If schism is indeed brought to fruition in the US, a faux ‘Episcopal’ hierarchy and liturgy are already in place for an “American Catholic church” with which to link up. Just saying.

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2012/03/14/rise-in-christians-has-chinas-churches-government-looking-for-help/

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