The Independent News Source
NCR on Kindle - NCR classifieds - YouTube - Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
Printer-friendly version
PDF versionRome notebook: Dolan's the rock star of this consistory
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 17, 2012
ROME -- Theologically all cardinals may be equal, but in terms of celebrity appeal, some are obviously more equal than others. Each consistory, when a pope inducts new members into the church’s most exclusive club, tends to have its own “rock star” – that one new cardinal who is head and shoulders above everyone else on the buzz meter.
In February 2001, when John Paul II created a whopping 42 new cardinals, that rock star was Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras, a handsome, young polyglot who seemed the new face of the church in Latin America. In March 2006, Benedict’s first consistory, it was Stanislaw Dziwisz of Poland, John Paul’s longtime personal secretary, because it felt like a celebration of the late pope’s life and legacy.
This time around, the rock star of the consistory is quite obviously Timothy Dolan of New York.
To some extent, that outcome was predetermined by a couple of external forces. One is that Dolan arrives amid a high-stakes showdown between the American bishops and the White House, meaning that Dolan’s presence alone has news value. The other is that Benedict tapped Dolan to give a spiritual reflection to all the cardinals of the world in a behind-closed-doors session today, about as obvious a sign of papal favor as one could imagine.
Further, Dolan’s charm offensive comes at a particularly good time in Rome, coinciding with a mushrooming Vatican leaks scandal and perceptions of nasty in-fighting within the halls of power.
Veteran commentator Massimo Franco had a piece in Corriere della Sera this morning, the country’s most influential paper, noting the irony that the perennially fractious secular politics of Italy have toned down under the new government of technocrat Mario Monti, while the Vatican has heated up – making the Vatican seem, as Franco put it, “More Italian than Italy, and not in the best sense of the word.”
In that context, the image of a hyper-friendly new American cardinal who almost comes off as an ambassador of “Up with People!” is, from the Vatican’s point of view, welcome relief.
Yet it’s more than just circumstance. Dolan is undeniably a force of nature, especially in a consistory in which the bulk of the other new cardinals are Vatican officials much more comfortable operating in the shadows.
While American reaction to Dolan may be conditioned by where one stands on the culture wars, enthusiasm for him in Rome and among church-watchers from other parts of the world often has little to do with the details of his political stands, of either the ecclesiastical or secular sort. Instead, it's what he seems to symbolize -- a more open, hopeful church, at ease in conversation with the wider world.
Subscribe to NCR
Want to read more about important issues in the life of the Church? A subscription to NCR will keep you up to date and informed.
Dolan’s beaming, larger-than-life image has been splashed across the Italian press this week, generally playing up the contrast between his earthy “regular guy” persona and the Italian stereotype of the stuffy ecclesiastical prince.
Panorama, a popular newsmagazine, is typical. It ran a feature on Dolan under the headline, “A cardinal faithful to the church and to baseball,” with a photo of Dolan holding a Mets jersey.
On a less frivolous note, Italian Vatican analyst Paolo Rodari told Panorama that Dolan is “one of the best interpreters of the Ratzingerian dream of a new evangelization, capable of expansion above all in the secularized West.”
You don’t need a Ph.D. in Vaticanology, however, to pick up on the buzz that surrounds Dolan. Rome is crawling with roughly 1,000 New Yorkers, scattered across four hotels in and around the Vatican. (Dolan, of course, made a point of visiting those hotels to say hello on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.) Press interest in his public events has dwarfed the draw of the other new cardinals, even when there’s virtually no promise of actual news.
Yesterday, for instance, Dolan dropped by Vatican Radio in the morning to tape his regular weekly radio program in New York, heretofore called “A Conversation with the Archbishop,” now rebranded as “A Conversation with Cardinal Dolan.” His guests were new Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, and Italian Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.
This was not a hard-hitting, “Meet the Press”-style policy debate; mostly, Dolan and his guests talked about the spiritual significance of the Masses they’re celebrating, Collins’ emphasis on lectio divina (a spiritual approach to the Bible), and so on.
Yet a bevy of journalists camped outside Vatican Radio, and some made their way upstairs to a room outside the studio, just to catch a glimpse of Dolan doing his thing.
Both before and after the show, Dolan made himself available to print reporters who wanted to ask about news of the day, and to crews from local New York stations who needed fresh soundbites. His sense of humor was, as always, on display. Asked about the speech he’s giving today, for instance, Dolan said he would “put it to bed” last night, adding: “I just hope I don’t put them to bed tomorrow.”
He said he was worried about delivering the speech in Italian, and when a TV reporter asked why, he blurted out: “Because I speak it like a first-grader.”
(For the record, Dolan’s Italian actually isn’t that bad. I caught an exchange yesterday between Dolan and a Vatican official, in which they began in Italian and switched to English. I’d give the win on points to Dolan in terms of comfort level in the other language.)
Americans, of course, are by now already accustomed to Dolan’s affability, and his endless willingness to answer questions from the media – which includes a remarkable capacity to say the same thing over and over again, yet make it sound fresh and delivered just for you each time.
For church-watchers from other parts of the world, however, this week has been a revelation.
Yesterday, I was drawn into a heated discussion among several Vatican correspondents from Italy, other European nations, and Latin America, the topic of which was: Could Dolan be pope? The consensus was that it’s an awfully long shot, but the fact of the conversation itself is telling.
A Spaniard seemed to capture the sentiment of the group, and perhaps something of the broader Roman reaction to Dolan.
“I cannot think that these cardinals are going to elect a cowboy pope,” he said – and for once, this European didn’t mean “cowboy” pejoratively, but in the sense of someone who would give the Vatican a healthy jolt.
Then he added: “But can you imagine how much fun it would be if they did?”
His "regular guy persona" is
His "regular guy persona" is a sham that he cultivates.
Ask this "regular guy" to explain the assets that he hid in Milwaukee. He also has no intention of conversing with ANYONE, who doesn't agree with him.
If you can't dazzle them with your knowledge, then baffle them with bull****. He is the master of this technique.
Oh, by the way, "rock stars" don't get elected Pope.
Dolan seems a Joke. The
Dolan seems a Joke. The previous “Rock Stars” you mention seem to have gone nowhere. Hope it is the same for Dolan.
Unfortuantely, this one
Unfortuantely, this one might.
Thanks CTC. I was searching
Thanks CTC. I was searching for the words to make my comment. Then I read yours and decided mine would simply be redundant or worse - irrelevant.
We know him personally and we
We know him personally and we so agree with your insightful analysis. That affable "hail fellow well met" persona masks an agenda that walks over anyone or anything in its path and promises to make the church far more conservative than it already is.
I believe you've hit the
I believe you've hit the proverbial nail right on the head!!
I respectfully disagree with
I respectfully disagree with your comment about Archbishop Dolan hiding assets. The lawyers hold most of them so why would they not want this fiasco to continue!
Correction: Theologically,
Correction: Theologically, cardinals have no basis for existence
Veteran commentator Massimo
Veteran commentator Massimo Franco had a piece in Corriere della Sera this morning, the country’s most influential paper, noting the irony that the perennially fractious secular politics of Italy have toned down under the new government of technocrat Mario Monti, while the Vatican has heated up – making the Vatican seem, as Franco put it, “More Italian than Italy, and not in the best sense of the word.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Mr. Allen,
I think you should explain the context: The "technocrat Mario Monti" is a Catholic; Italy is plunged in a big financial mess, created by several governments of the very corrupt and imoral Mr. Berlusconi, who had the simpathy of the Vatican: someone in the Curia said, not long time ago: What matters if he is imoral, since he makes the laws that the Church wants?; after making laws that allowed himself to escape justice, Mr. Berlusconi is now finally facing the trials, while Mr. Monti is trying to save Italy; just yesterday, Mr. Monti announced the end of tax exemptions for the COMERCIAL assets of the Church, something that will represent up to two billion in revenues; in a time when all Italians are facing great sacrifices, Mr. Monti commented that no one shoud be exempt of sharing them; the "technocrat's" governement counts with one of the most respected figures in Italy and in the world, Andrea Riccardi, head of the Community of Saint Egidio and, since November, Minister for International Cooperation without portfolio; the situatiom is so dire, that the neofascist Northern League, the former allies of Mr. Berlusconi, are now campaigning for the secession of the rich North, leaving the poor South to it's own faith; in such a dark enverinoment, the Pope calls for a support to big families, forgeting that the State has no means to help even the poorest.
manuel states:"someone in the
manuel states:"someone in the Curia said, not long time ago: What matters if he is imoral, since he makes the laws that the Church wants?"
Shock and horror! Only problem is this is simply not true. Typical of this sort of
Try to read the papers,
Try to read the papers, please:
I was quoting from memory, so I can not find the exact quote. But I was being charitable: for years, Mr. Bersluconi was the Vatican’s best ally: “Father Sciortino of Famiglia Cristiana said that the church had become disenchanted with the government more recently over its inability to deliver on a number of promises to support programs that help families. “These things haven’t happened,” he said, chiding Catholic politicians for allowing allegiance to political parties to take precedence over their religious beliefs. “They remained quiet, or worse, they justified the prime minister’s indefensible behavior,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/world/europe/italian-church-criticizes...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/aug/29/vatican-berlu...
DOLAN AS COMIC
DOLAN AS COMIC ............... John, I hope this article helps the sales of your new puff book on Dolan so that the article has at least some purpose. You missed the chance to give as a real review of Dolan's significance. His comic glibness is surely a gift; it is tragic the gift is used too often to deflect attention from addressing real challenges facing the Church.
As you spend time with your new hero/client, I hope you raise some of these issues:
(1) Why did Dolan as Milwaukee bishop really move major funds out of the diocese's reach and into a cemetary trust resulting in hundreds of abuse victims getting stiffed?
(2) Why hasn't Dolan as head of the US bishops spoken out about his former mentor, Cardinal Rigali's recent and massive cover-up of Philly pedophile priests that is being so graphically revealed in the current criminal proceedings of Rigali's top aide, Msgr. Lynn?
(3) Why hasn't Dolan spoken out about Rigali's former protege and Opus Dei member, indicted Bishop Finn of Kansas City, who may soon be implicated in Obama's Justice Department's current criminal proceeding againt the pedophile priest Finn protected?
(4) Why is Dolan acting as the pope's puppet in leading the fabricated anti-contraception crusade to replace Obama with a pliable Republican like Santorum as US prosecutor-in-chief, even if it results in women losing their hard-earned and needed health insurance coverage?
(5) Why did Dolan suggest Sr. Carol Keehan, head of the US Catholic Health Association, has been "bribed" by Obama's HHS Secretary Sibelius and does Dolan plan to punish Keehan for this?
(6) Why didn't Dolan publicly rebuke Cardinal Wuerl for his recent hatchet job on female theologian, Elizabeth Johnson, who teaches in the NY Archdiocese?
(7) How important were Dolan's above actions, and other similar actions, in his being made a Cardinal "rock star".
You might also ask Dolan for his reaction to the following two reports:
(I) today's Toronto Star article about the pope's record entitled, "Impunity
At the Top of the Church", readily accessible by clicking on at:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1132783--dimanno-impunity-at-the-top...
(II) the NCR comment, "Catholics Are Not Rabbits", readily accessible by clicking on at:
http://ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/what-about-contraception
I'm not informed enough to
I'm not informed enough to comment on most of what you say, but based on the reporting I've seen regarding the Constitution and Conscience issues in the US, I don't agree with your statement, "Why is Dolan acting as the pope's puppet in leading the fabricated anti-contraception crusade to replace Obama with a pliable Republican like Santorum as US prosecutor-in-chief, even if it results in women losing their hard-earned and needed health insurance coverage?"
I don't believe Dolan is a "puppet" - he seems to speak his mind, and seems to speak from the heart.
I don't think the "crusade" is fabricated; the issues about contraception expressed by the Pope over 50 years ago are coming to life (or death as it were). More licentiousness, higher divorce rates, greater health risks (e.g., STDs), and greater acceptance of abhorrent behavior you would have to admit is not consistent with Catholic teaching.
I don't think Dolan has ever stated he is pushing a specific candidate...have you seen anything indicating he's endorsed a specific candidate?
I agree health insurance should be more affordable and accessible - to women, men and children. Ironically reasonable solutions have been proposed by Republican lawmakers, but rejected by the Obama administration.
I applaud your enthusism and vigor; but I think you possibly misrepresent, or at a minimum provide unsubstantiated information.
I agree with you but only on
I agree with you but only on points one, two, and three. The rest are baseless.
He is a great man who could
He is a great man who could one day, by the will of the Spirit, become pope.
"He goes in as a
"He goes in as a favorite...he comes out as a Cardinal".
Bob
"He who enters conclave as
"He who enters conclave as Pope, leaves as a Cardinal", I think the saying goes... :)
This rule didn't hold with the most recent conclave, however.
I don't think the Spirit is
I don't think the Spirit is involved in the election of a pope.
Oh yes He is. It's a well
Oh yes He is. It's a well known fact that the Holy Spirit favored only Italians as popes for centuries. The Holy Spirit also dislikes Americans and even when the US Catholic population was huge and filling the Vatican's coffers, He ignored its cardinals (who, of course, He waited until the 11th century to create such a category of ultra-bishops). The Holy Spirit also moved various popes to clandestinely do everything from have mistresses and out of wedlock children, order assasinations, undermine governments, have a secret intelligence/counterintelligence service within its state department curial office, ignore and minimize the widespread sexual abuse of children and adults, the money laundering and outright thefts, and on and on and on. Oh yes, the Holy Spirit has chosen well.
We don't need rock stars in
We don't need rock stars in purple gowns. We need pastoral bishops...more Oscar Romeros and fewer Tim Dolans. The Vatican needs to ditch its illusion that it is a medieval monarchy. I don't recall Jesus appoiting any "princes"!
AMEN!!!
AMEN!!!
John, calling Dolan a rock
John, calling Dolan a rock star rings hollow. I see Bishop Dolan the symbol of what is wrong in our Church. Putting flashy Bishops in the limelight and celebrity status is not the image Jesus had or would want his followers to have.
These Bishops do not have credibility, and their attack on Obama for violating religious freedom is their latest stupidity. Our Church needs to come down to earth, and be a part of the 21st Century. The Bishop's Conference is a political far right, group of celibate males that wish to put women in their place. It is disgusting and an insult to women.
Right on, Kathy! Too bad
Right on, Kathy! Too bad you're a mere woman, as no one in the 'official' church will take you seriously. But you're singing my song. Keep the music going!
I totally agree with you
I totally agree with you Kathy.
Regretably, our opinions, the women's and those of whoever think we are right, are lost in a vacuum...
Sad reflection on our Church, which didn't need this new cultural war to be less respected than already is among many (if not all...). It is good to know that Jesus died for all.
Lord, have mercy on us.
We, as citizens and as
We, as citizens and as Catholics, face unprecedented threats to our freedoms from this imperial president. If Dolan can unite the American bishops and invigorate them, and us, let him lead us against the threats from this regime. This president has no regard for the Constitution, the faithful, nor us.
We are in a Constitutional crisis that threatens the future of this country.
I didn't realize this was the site of the national catholic Reporter. No wonder there are so many angry voices in this thread. I thought it was a more respectable publication. Sorry guys and gals.
O.K. Kathy what do you want
O.K. Kathy what do you want in a Cardinal. Someone pro choice, pro woman priest, all inclusive homosexual activist, someone who teaches that government is the answer to all our problems? Our church needs to be the consistent beacon of Christ's light. It is only in the last 50 years that internal forces have somewhat successfully moved it to be in slave of the democrat party in the U.S. If you haven't noticed the press is causing the stir, not Dolan, who knows how to handle the spoon.
Yippee. A porker with a
Yippee. A porker with a baseball cap on his head and a beer in his hand to let us (or yuppie 20-somethings) know that he's a real guy. So you're a woman who's had a couple of high risk pregnancies and a couple surgical deliveries and you want to make real decisions about your life. What's he have to say? 'Bout as much as Mick Jagger, maybe less.
Dolan is King of the Good Ole
Dolan is King of the Good Ole Boys! I see that as totally opposite of all that Jesus represented. The elevation of the likes of Dolan will simply hasten the demise of the RCC as we know it. The best news is that something good will rise from the ashes.
Most of these comments could
Most of these comments could come from a kindergraten class. Maybe the Bishop can end the fake Vatican II excuse for Catholicism that this paper represents and put you out of you misery and into the confessional. Pray and fast that you can believe. The Anglican church awaits its lost spioled brethen who won't come home to it's have it you way nanny. You people ceased being Catholics years ago so just be who you are--Anglicans.
I'll join the Anglicans when
I'll join the Anglicans when you join the Sanhedrin.
Yes -- this comment could
Yes -- this comment could have come from a kindergartener.
You have managed not only to insult your fellow Roman Catholics, but also Anglicans. You have no business insulting Anglicans any more than you have any business insulting Jews, or Muslims, or Buddhists, or Zoroastrians. You wish for the disappearance of this publication, you deride your brethren...
If you do nothing else, reserve your insults for people inside your own religion. Stop insulting others -- it is ignoble.
--Andy Jo--
The bishops insult people
The bishops insult people inside their own religion....I'm not arguing that it's right, but what's the difference?
Most of these comments could
Most of these comments could come from a kindergraten class.
Yes, they could have...if you know any kindergarteners, you'd know they are quite astute in judging people's characters...
Did I just read an article
Did I just read an article about the celebrity appeal and rock star power of a Catholic cardinal to be?
Excuse me, then. I thought I was reading the NCR Web site. Didn't realize I had wandered over the People magazine.
The Catholic Church is not
The Catholic Church is not the Church of the United States of America. I think it is a disservice to the catholic nature of our Church to paint the dialogue in terms of "American" issues. The Catholic faith is much larger than Democrat or Republican and both parties fail to embody Catholic principles. Yet, I think an American Archbishop drawing international attention is good for the
Church in America and good for America in the global Church.
If Tim Dolan acted more like
If Tim Dolan acted more like Francis George, you'd accuse him of being a dead fish. He acts like a normal guy, because he is, and you make fun of that.
I don't care for many bishops, but, folks, Tim is the real deal. Having known and worked with many of the American bishops, the 2 most impressive are Dolan and DiNardo. They're not perfect, but they're about as good as we've seen in years.
"About as good as we've seen
"About as good as we've seen in recent years" doesn't say much. The only bishops we've seen in recent years who are worthy of any respect have been put out to pasture or silenced.
"Larger-than-life image has
"Larger-than-life image has been splashed across the Italian press this week, generally playing up the contrast between his earthy 'regular guy' persona" = PHONY. And John you show your true colors pandering to a shameless man like this.
If Dolan is the best the Church has to offer today...it is in a worse state than anyone ever imagined.
Come on, people. You know
Come on, people. You know that the resident Vatican shill has to toe the party line. If not, he joins the unemployment line.
We all hope, though, he can soon come up for air and wipe the santorum off his nose.
there are bigger real
there are bigger real problems in the world and in the church, and you people in america can only relish bashing your church. i wish there were more persecutions of your church so you will know how to stand for the truth.
"In the vocabulary of the
"In the vocabulary of the church, we don't like to use words like 'promotion' or 'honor' or 'dignity' or 'prestige,'" the cardinal-designate said, "because Jesus told us not to." Dolan.
In fact, they like to be called 'Father', 'Monsignor', 'Prelate of Honor', 'Your Excellency', 'Your Grace,' Your Eminence', and 'Your Holiness.'
A lie with a smile is still a lie. And the cover-up of child abuse is still a crime.
This article on Dolan made me
This article on Dolan made me want to throw up. Is this all the Church of Jesus means to you and the rest of the RED Hats??? What happened to "Blessed are the meek.......Blessed are the Poor in Spirit and the rest of the Beatitudes??
I am just so sick to see what the Church and most of its so-called leaders have become....spend more money on mitres, red hats,lavish ceremonies etc. I wish Jesus were here to throw them all out of the "temple" they have built for themselves.
Yes, my friend Vic DeSantis,
Yes, my friend Vic DeSantis, you are right! After fifty years in the missions, living among and with the poor,I am sick with SHOWS is not for me. My wish is that those who propose to write these articles, would go first to hunger stricken Somalia, Kenya..Latin Amercia,.. Haiti; and then come back to the laptop and try to write the script. I feel so bad with this medieval system (most Cardinal Sees are the remnant of old Church States and "Princes" - now become an eternal privilege of clerical snobs who seek it by hook or by crook - and papabili; many without any previous pastoral experience with the poor and needy - who never visited any third world country - let alone livedin one of them; time will come when the adopted way of creating Cardinals so as to manipulate a next election of a pope wil end. They are elected without the least sense of of proportional world representation. Where was Africa - the fastest continent of growing number of catholics - Asia and Oceania in this last nomination of Cardinals? Would Jesus think of choosing rock stars, Curia insiders, using red hats as "pastors of poor people and ready for martrydom"? Residing at Vatican poshy Santa Marta Hotel, reserved only for "cardinals" when in Rome?
Yes, please, I kindly request to first go and live for a brief time with the poor in any of the poor continents. And only then I will believe these articles.
Jesus help me to remain faithful to you and the church you dreamt of: meek, humble, serving, poor. Give us back another John XXIII for another clean-up of your church; and please help me to accept these things I cannot understand, let alone change.Amen
No body is perfect and
No body is perfect and therefore why not appreciate more the goodness and nobility and sincere humility that we do see revealed through people like His Eminence Cardinal Dolan?
Dolan...charm? I think not.
Dolan...charm? I think not.
When he first came to our archdiocese, we had district meetings to meet & greet him. He had abolutely no idea of who I was except I had a name tag on...so with several couples standing around him he puts his arm around my shoulders...why would any cleric do that in this day and age???
I found it revolting...can't stand him to this day. Beware of what's beyond the jolly fat smiling face.
I personally do not take to
I personally do not take to people with this kind of "charm." Perhaps it's just me, but people who act like Dolan has been reported to act make me want to leave. I am not won over by that kind of thing.
I am with the others....Our
I am with the others....Our church needs a pastor not a rock star. Why doesn't the number of Catholics leaving the church or those who have left, seem to raise an episcopal eyebrow? Having a beer and doing theology on tap isn't going to cut it.
The call of Jesus is now a
The call of Jesus is now a call to celebrity. A sign of the times and a sad commentary on the functioning of what is important in the Lord's straying church today. The call of Jesus is a calling to be a "Rock Star." So much for the so-called "servant" image the hierarchy gives lip service to.
Here is a Catholic Worker
Here is a Catholic Worker comment about Dolan's elevation as a cardinal.
Cardinal Dolan is guilty of material cooperation with the objective evil of unjust war. He is a hypocrite on the issue of life, and his hypocrisy is a grave scandal that wounds the Church's witness to the importance of protecting life from the moment of conception to the time of natural death. He doesn't apply the Gospel of life to the civilian population of Afghanistan or Iraq. They after all are not white, they are not Americans, they are not for the most part Christian. So he was fine with standing by and doing nothing to protect their right to life even as they were caught in the crossfire between two factions of the Culture of Death and slaughtered. It is a measure of the problems of the Catholic Church here at home and at the Vatican that he is still a bishop, much less a cardinal. His hands drip with the blood of the innocent that he has abandoned so callously to their fates.
More from the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House at
http://www.bobwaldrop.net/?p=1018
Rock star? Thanks for the
Rock star? Thanks for the laugh. I can just see him now looking with adulation in the mirror as he spreads that rock star glitter all over his sexy body.
Obviously the "new evangelism" is really a campaign to combat birth control.
Why isn't Dolan getting those lazy, unconfident European bishops to condemns their national health plans? Those plans allow anyone to get contraceptive.
Equating abortion and contraceptives is simply over the top. But them rock stars are also over the top, aren't they, those cute little things?
There is a well know mental
There is a well know mental illness, a form of mania, that is known as Jerusalem fever. Those suffering this disease believe that God has touched them in a special way and that what they have to say is directly from God.
How come no one has documented the phenomenon of "Rome fever," the delusional state brought on its hapless victims when they toot around the Vatican too much?
I'm not surprised that Dolan
I'm not surprised that Dolan is the "rock" star. He belongs in the stone age. BADA-BING!! But, seriously, folks...
You can tell a lot about a
You can tell a lot about a person by studying the people who think he's a "rock star" -- and those who don't.
Why in Heaven's name (and I
Why in Heaven's name (and I mean that quite literally) should we pay any attention to cardinals as cardinals? Because they elect the pope? Surely there are other ways of doing this. Because they head the Vatican bureaucracy? Look at what that bureaucracy has done in recent years for (or against) the Church? Becuse their intellect is such that they blame "secularism" for all the ills of the Church? Because they wear scarlet dresses and pretty lace?
If Dolan is to address them, he could do worse than take Luke 11:39-44 as his text, although no doubt his audience firmly believes that Our Lord's criticism of the Pharisees and their behavior (seeking the seats of honor, and so forth) only applies to first century Israel, and has no relevance for religious leaders of the present day.
Really, Purcell. DiNardo is
Really, Purcell. DiNardo is a bigger joke than Dolan!
Dear John, I think that you
Dear John,
I think that you should drop the “rock star” image for Cardinal Dolan. The faithful of New York are not his fans. They are members of the local church united with their bishop.
Your book, based on conversations with the cardinal, reflects too much rock star adulation. This prevents you from asking the hard questions or following up with pointed questions. A perfectly good example is Dolan’s statement that he doesn’t understand how a “priests’ problem” became a “bishops’ problem.”
Here would be some follow up questions to his absurd claim. “Cardinal, doesn’t the documentation prove a cover-up by the bishops?” “Don’t you believe that the bishops made responsible decisions, not mistakes, in their cover-up?” Dolan responds: “Bishops were given bad advice.” “Cardinal, how much advice is needed to know that a priest who rapes a child is not fit for ministry?” “How do you feel that in all the documents no bishop considered the physical, emotional, and spiritual effect on these innocent children?”
Pat
Golly. Reading NCR comboxes
Golly. Reading NCR comboxes has to be one of the most depressing things a person can do. I think I usually venture down here in hopes that there will be substantive interactions with the column, constructive critiques and thoughts from the faithful, etc., but there is never very much substance, construction, or faith. And such vitriol! By and large, they say a great deal more about the readers than the subjects of the columns themselves.
I'm not a member of the Roman
I'm not a member of the Roman Catholic Church, but I would like to make a comment about the way your Church is being run. (1) When your Church say "the Church's believes," it does not mean the church members, but it means what the Pope and the enclave believe. (2) Progressive catholics, lay and clergy, have been rejected by the Vatican, so many of them are now absorbed by protestant seminaries. (3) Your catholic hierarchy still refuse to ordain women priests, unlike the Anglican Church and the Episcopal Church in America (4)Your church hierarchy still insist that homosexuality is sin or sexual perversion, when in fact scientists (geneticists, psychologists, medical doctors, etc) have long declared that homosexuality is not a choice, but they are born that way.(5) I applaud what the progressive men and women of your church are doing, be they lay or clergy. I hope that one day our whole church, roman and protestant, will find a consensus on these controversial issues and, consequently we can work much closer together as christians living in the 21st century. By working together, we can show the world that the Church of Jesus Christ is One in word and deed.
I do not read this website
I do not read this website very often, and I almost never read the comments.
I urge all of us to get on our knees and pray, for one another, for the Church, and for the world.
The vitriol in many of these comment is of no redeeming value.
Post new comment