PopeWatch finds the near universal applause that Pope Francis is currently receiving somewhat disturbing. If a Catholic cleric is doing his job, he is likely to receive just as many boos as cheers, if not more so. Case in point, the first Archbishop of New York, John Hughes, known universally to friend and foe alike as “Dagger John”. Go here, here, here and here to read prior posts about him. Dagger John was ever a champion of the Faith and his beloved Irish, both held in low esteem by many non-Catholic and non-Irish Americans. One story about Dagger John gives the essence of the man: After the anti-Catholic riots in Philadelphia in 1844 he called on the mayor of New York, an anti-Catholic bigot, and informed him that if a single Catholic church were touched in New York, New York would be a second Moscow. (The reference was to the burning of Moscow in 1812 during Napoleon’s occupation of the city.) Not a Catholic church was touched. Russell Shaw at Our Sunday Visitor has a story in which he recalls an incident fifteen years after the death of Hughes:
Here is the full quotation from Cook’s attack on Hughes:
Go here to read the rest. This attack on the memory of Dagger John and on the cathedral elicited responses in The Catholic World, go here to read it, and Donahoe’s Magazine here. Long after his death Dagger John still elicited hate from those who hated the Church and love from those who loved the Church. No Catholic can have a finer monument to his memory, and PopeWatch hopes that Pope Francis will have such a monument.
Guess the boos PF gets here don’t count against the ledger being kept by some?
I guess that some people can’t tell the difference between boos, constructive criticism and simple observation of facts.