Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 3:19am

Lip Service

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Sean Patrick Cardinal O’Malley, who presided over the canonization funeral mass of Ted Kennedy, read about it here, continues to disappoint.  Boston Catholic Insider gives us the details:

 

 

Cardinal Sean O’Malley appeared with liberal Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick on Friday to voice support for Patrick’s proposal to house illegal immigrants and offer Catholic social service assistance for illegals, while the Cardinal said nothing all week about a heinous law advancing in the Mass legislature to penalize those who try to prevent women from aborting their children. In our opinion, the Cardinal is yet more clearly showing his stripes as being a tool of the liberal Democratic pro-abortion establishment, and a hypocrite when it comes to protection of life.

On June 27,  Cardinal O’Malley came out in support of the Supreme Court decision that unanimously struck down the previous Massachusetts abortion clinic buffer zone law as unconstitutional. Never had Cardinal O’Malley been seen praying in front of an abortion clinic, but still, his statement was welcome and appreciated when he said that pro-life Americans who “peacefully pray for and offer alternatives to pregnant women approaching abortion clinics” have the same constitutional protections as anyone else  “This discriminatory law barred these citizens from gathering on nearby public sidewalks, while exempting ‘clinic escorts’ trained to expedite women into (abortion clinics),” he said. “Clearly this was an attack on pro-life Americans’ freedom of speech, and we welcome the Court’s decision to overturn the law.”

That was June 27.  Then this week, the Mass Legislature introduced legislation that is far worse for pro-lifers than the previous law struck down by the Supreme Court. Details of the legislation are posted here by MassResistance:

  1. Creates a new “buffer zone.” The bill creates a 25-foot buffer zone substantially similar to the one which the US Supreme Court recently struck down.
  2. Has a “Dispersal” clause. The bill allows police to define any two or more people standing near an abortion clinic as a “gathering.” Any law enforcement official may arbitrarily decide that this “gathering” is in some way impeding access, and may order them to “disperse” and to stay outside of the buffer zone for at least eight hours. This can be done with no legal hearing or due process, threatening them with unusually severe penalties of arrest, prosecution, criminal fines, and jail time for not complying. In addition, a court can later impose civil fines, large punitive damages, attorney’s fees and “expert witness fees”. [First time who “impede a person’s access to or departure from a reproductive health care facility with the intent to interfere with that person’s ability to provide, support the provision of or obtain services at the reproductive health care facility” face a fine of $1,000 or six months in jail]
  3. Harsher punishments for one group over another. The bill places unusually high punishments for anyone threatening, intimidating, assaulting, blocking, or otherwise impeding people entering or leaving abortion clinics. But these high punishments do not apply to people entering or leaving the clinics (or anyone else) who are perpetrators of assaults of intimidation against pro-life advocates.

A hearing was held on Wednesday, and the measure quickly passed the Mass Senate. What did Cardinal O’Malley say or do about this publicly? Nothing. On short notice, Mass Citizens for Life had erected billboards and asked people to call legislators and to attend and speak at the hearing. Other organizations including FRC and MassResistance rallied pro-lifers.  What did O’Malley, the Mass Catholic Conference and Massachusetts bishops do? Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zip. The last legislative alert sent out by the do-nothing MCC was six months ago. It is truly pathetic.  It is clear that the Cardinal’s rhetoric of June 27 was empty, and Cardinal O’Malley simply does not care about this issue–or whether pro-lifers wanting to help prevent women from taking the lives of their unborn children are fine, arrested or jailed.

Go here to read the rest.  The Republican party is sometimes accused of paying lip service to the pro-life cause.  For some Republicans that is true, although the avalanche of pro-life legislation emanating from the states since the Republicans took over many state legislatures in 2010 argues otherwise.  For some Catholic clerics in this country, it is obvious that the same criticism could be voiced of them.  Oh, they will mouth the right words, usually, but taking active measures to oppose abortion, not  a chance.   For these clerics, they are leftists first, and Catholics second.  Cardinal O’Malley started his tenure as Cardinal back in 2007 by noting that the Democrat party is a pro-abortion party and that the support for it of many Catholics was scandalous.    If only the Cardinal’s actions matched those words.

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Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Sunday, July 20, AD 2014 11:07pm

He is hard to understand. He made strong pro life statements at time of commencement speech by Ireland’s lady prime minister because of her pro abort stand. Do you think the inconsistency could be that he and his staff are not on the same page? Maybe he doesn’t get good information .

Paul W. Primavera
Monday, July 21, AD 2014 7:46am

Too many – perhaps a majority – of Roman Catholic clerics are reflexively liberal. This is because the appeal of social justice, the common good and peace at any price from the hand of the government is simply too appealing to them. Somehow they think however erroneously that with just a few more dollars and cents from the public treasury, we can usher in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Perhaps it is there that they think they will themselves have the power which they ever so secretly covet. After all, being in the lime light with a governor – any governor – enhances the appearance of a Bishop in this world and that becomes very attractive.
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When some years ago I live in a beach town in North Carolina, I attended a parish whose orthodox priest was relocated to the Diocesan center in Raleigh, and replaced with a decidedly lackluster one who lacked passion and (I do not know how to describe it) theological vigor or insight or wisdom. I knew more about Scripture than he, and I am a mere layman. In any event, to get back to my story, there was a program for us in Respect Life to care for pregnant women so that they could bear their children in safety and security. Some obviously were non-Christian and I suggested that we must present the Gospel to them in a way consistent with their station in life (not of course preaching hell fire and brimstone, but conversion, repentance and forgiveness). This priest opposed that, saying we must do nothing to offend their religious (or agnostic or atheistic) sensibilities. I was so very disappointed. Would St Paul have done that? This priest was more interested in conciliation and not offending. This is the kind of person Cardinal O’Malley is, and it disgusts me.

Paul W. Primavera
Monday, July 21, AD 2014 7:51am

Isaiah 29:13-14

13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;
14 therefore, behold, I will again
do marvelous things with this people,
wonderful and marvelous;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid.”

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, July 21, AD 2014 8:05am

O’Malley himself may be out of town. The Holy See have him on this and that commission and advisory board. The man’s also elderly and has had over 22 years a series of disagreeable postings compelled to clean up someone else’s mess; he may just be burned out. However, there should be someone in the chancery monitoring this sort of thing. (The cdl.’s participation in the Kennedy funeral was a failure of witness to say the least).

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