Cardinal George apologizes

"The question is, 'Does respect mean that we have to change our teaching?' That's an ongoing discussion, of course. ..."

We are encouraged to sing to the Lord a new song. We are also taught that the Word of God is living and effective. This does not mean that we have to change our teachings. It just calls to us to mature in our understanding of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, Thanksgiving, our Constitution, the Pledge of Allegiance and the United Nations. We are all created in the image and likeness of God. We are catholic. We are lovable and loved. We are human; we have a mission; we have a goal.
Come, O Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth!

Paz y Bien, Rolando, SFO.

George makes an idiotic, bigoted remark, then defends it and after two weeks apologizes. This guy is supposed to be the intellectual leader of the American bishops?! That explains plenty.

I agree. Now will all of you at NCR apologize for the constant slurs against people with whom you disagree?

Regarding: "..."truly sorry for the hurt my remarks have caused.""

- No doubt this is heartfelt and indeed his apology is being graciously accepted by the many who were most offended. Though would it not be a good thing were Archbishop Francis to be known to have said "I am truly sorry for the remarks that I made." Perhaps he meant this when he apologized for the hurt his remarks caused.

- Ah well. Maybe the fraternity of bishops will recall other instances where he 'shot from the hip' and decide that enough is enough and encourage the Archbishop of Rome to retire Archbishop Francis.

there may be hope yet.

Now, when will Ratzinger apologize to Friar Boff?

It took so long because the cardinal is a very arrogant man. I'm proud of my fellow Chicagoans, clery and laity alike, who raised Cain with His Eminence. Chicago is not the kind of archdiocese that lets its leaders go uncriticized.

He didn't apologize for his stupidity, just the "hurt" that his remarks caused!

Well that little kiss will make all of the boo-boos feel better, won't it?

The long delay suggests that the Cardinal received some "encouragement" from his boss to step away from the "grave scandal" he created. The Vatican doesn't move very quickly.

Yes, the apology is a good start. Let's give the Cardinal credit, but we also wait to see if there is any effective follow-through.

The reason is took George so long to correct his tasteless remarks with an apology is that, besides being the American hierarchy's biggest crank, is that it probably took that long for his aides to finally to win the argument and convince him that he was only going to dig the hold deeper if he didn't.

If George's apology seems a bit limp, it because he doesn't believe he needs to apologize. George is so narcissistic it must offend him that anyone would have objections to his further trying to stigmatize gay and lesbian people whom he obviously detests.

Imprudent. Any parent, teacher or baby-sitter could have told him that when you give in to puerile tantrums, you may get a few moments of peace, but in the long run, you'll just get a lot more tantrums.

Out of the abundance of the heart so speaketh the mouth; so too; A wise man's heart guides his mouth.
Jewish Halikah Law say's any bastard can be a rabbi; therefore I guess any cardinal can be a fool.

Heidi,

The gay community should be apologizing for their rabid and extremist Catholic-hating fringe that is misrepresenting Cardinal George's comment. Cardinal George was sticking up for his flock's right to have the freedom to worship without being molested and assulted by the circus of the Gay Pride Parade marching past Mt. Carmel during Sunday Mass.

Cardinal George wasn't trying to hurt anyone in the gay community. Cardinal George was simply reminding us that in the past Catholics were the objects of hate and bullying by the Klu Klux Klan.

I saw and heard the comment in context. George said, "you don't want it to morph into a Klu Klux Klan kind of thing."

I think the gay community's response is inappropriate. The horrible rhetoric condeming not only Cardinal George, but also all Catholics was all over the blogs and in conversation in the neighborhood. CatholicsThe Klan marched against Catholics, as well as what were known at the time as 'negros'. The South was extremely anti-Catholic.

And, it can be argued that the Gay Pride Parade is deliberately using a route that passes Mt. Carmel. The early parades did not use that route that they are now using. In fact, the parish is about a hundred years old and it is the gay community that is giving the bare-behind to the straights and parishioners.

I see the some gays are going to protest in front of the Cathedral and disrupt Sunday mass. If that's not extremist and Catholic bashing, what is? Why should straights have their values assulted?

The Gay Pride Parade would never get away with marching in front of a mosque and government would step-in to protect the delicate sensibilities of our Islamic brethren. Why can't the gays and government give Catholics the respect they deserve when they worship.

Mt. Carmel and its Catholic congregation have been there at least 50 years before the gay community flooded the area.

I want an apology from the gay community for disrupting our right to worship God in a respectful manner. I used to live a few blocks from Mt. Carmel, during my college years, and Mt. Carmel was always kind and welcomed the influx of gays that were beginning to move into the neighborhood.

I am very disappointed the good Cardinal apologized. There was
Nothing to apologized for. What he said was absolutely true. He should have never buckled under pressure form homosexual advocacy groups.

I finally figured out Georges game.

His goal was to incense further the right winger usually right wing non-catholic christians against our gay friends and neighobors

If you see the eg Fox news comments, its full of ignorant rantings etc etc.

Also tied into the hate of our first black president by these southern evangelicals who pass the civil war from father to son ad infinitum. And of course w hose worst nightmare has come true - Pr. Obama.

George should be thrown out by the pope, naked on the streets. Like the king who had not clothes story about ego upending reality.

But fat chance with such an ultra conservative pope who has his own derriere in trouble re the moelstation cover up problem.

BTW my best analogy re the pass down racial (and religious hate against gays""

its like gasonline burning on the floor. YOu can put out the fire, until the next match is tossed.

One report quoted George as saying that his inappropriate words were the result of fear.     There seems to be a lot of fear-mongering,   both in the Church and in secular politics.     It's a politically 'useful' and cynically expedient contagion.
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Operating from a place of fear rarely,   if ever,   leads to a good outcome.     Perhaps the Cardinal and his confreres in the USCCB might learn something from this unfortunate episode.     Or perhaps they already know???     Archbishop John C. Nienstedt is back in the business of using his archdiocese as a political super-PAC targeting the LGBT community...   again.
http://ht.ly/8kCzx

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Quantum-Electric Gendering
=======================
Why is it that male-introverted hierarch’s close their minds to nature’s genetic broadband process of gendering? Probably because male clerics are so “incestuously” inculcated that their minds are closed to evolution and that they have no sense of the universal quantum-electric mechanism that enables all communication, including all biological transformation.

Fact is, sexual traits are “human” qualities, males have male/ female sexual characteristics, and females have female/ male, whether phenotypical or genotypical. Every person is differently gendered from every other.

It helps to understand that the human brain, female and male, has two sides that dialogue with each other and make it possible for non-dialogical types to overcome monologic fixation in sexist culture. http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981001466

The Cardinal already has his "red hat" so I have to wonder about his real intentions with such an attack on the GLBT community in Chicago. He certainly needed to apologize for his remarks and perhaps it will open the door a crack for some future progress on the subject of human sexuality and the Catholic Church hierarchy's contribution to homophobia. Vatican III is so needed right now. Perhaps the Holy Spirit wants to tear down the imperial model of Church which began in the Third century. The further the Church hierarchy moves to the Right, the faster the demise of the Roman Imperial model of Church will be. It's coming. There is good reason to see hope and a second radical reformation of The Church of Rome. George is probably positioning himself for a promotion of some nature, and George is one of those who has a vested interest in keeping the status quo Imperial model of Church, which as we can see by this homophobic slip, is not viewed with respect and admiration by large numbers of people who see the hypocrisy of an arrogant hierarchy which considers itself many times to be "above" the civil laws. If George has family members from who are Gay, why in the world would he make such outrageous and hurtful remarks if he wasn't trying to curry favor in Rome.

the cardinals initial words were clumsy . his point that there are gay activists who hate the church and manifest this hatred in surly and ugly ways was right on .

the cardinal as most of us has homosexually oriented close members family and friends who seem to have raised his consciousness .

i think it would be rare for those hateful gay ideologues to have among those they care deeply for catholics faithful to the church's teaching and striving for holiness among those with whom they nurture close bonds.

most faithful catholics can maintain real bonds with homosexually oriented men and women by accepting them as persons with whom they share blood ties and those formed by shared history- bonds nurtured by respect and affection.

the gay activists ( not all gay activists fall under this category ) who mock , hate and viciously attack the church by word act and drama see no place for catholics among those deserving of respect .

one can only hope that the cardinal will press his case , which is clear and strong against the gay enemies of the church with vigor.

these gays seek only that the voice of the church be stilled and its teachings ridiculed .

his sensitive and accurate words must be followed by a more careful and nuanced attack on the church's enemies in the gay community .

it takes only a few visits to gay pride and political events to see hatred of catholics and not just the institutional church expressed strongly and with remarkable viciousness .

there are powerful leaders of the gay community who simply hate us all.

those who give hostile gay leadership the benefit of the doubt owe to their integrity a few visits to gay pride events .