Two respond to Archbishop Dolan's anti-Catholic charge

There are those who think that any criticism is "anti" and always unfair. That any criticism of The Catholic Church is "anti-Catholic". While acknowledging that there is some anti-Cahtholic attitues, it is not in the NYTimes or the NCR. I think claiming that is unfair and can be dangerous. Clearly, The Church wants its voice to be heard. Well, part of the deal with promoting your views is having your views criticized. This tendency to try and dismiss anyone who takes a critical position towards The Church as being anti-Catholic can be, at best, whining and, at worst, cowardly or a minmic of the defensiveness of a cult.

I think it would best serve The Church if the archbishop would state and build his position on the issues and stop this tactic of diversion. I think we, as Catholics, deserve more form our leaders.

Much of the critism of the Church is deserved. The hypocrisy is so blatant, the fraud so entrenched, that it should come as no surprise.
This is due to false teaching, not only clerical corruption. One must question Papal infallibity, for one thing, if one is to be a Catholic in good conscience.
The heirarchy sometimes looks lie a criminal conspiracy. Sometimes, one feels that the whole church is evil. Then, one can remember the Saints. But what is a saint, but someone who can still believe in spite of the corruption around him, or her?
Too be a good Catholic is to be a questioning Catholic. To be a good Catholic one must doubt superstition, reject religious fundamentalism, and have the courage to deny fear-based theologies and manipulative legalisms.
To quote a byumper sticker: IF YOU ARE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION.
I believe in democracy. This means that others may disagree with me as to what a good Catholic believes, or choose to say I am not Catholic at all. I wish to avoid sounding like the very thing I criticize-"Would the power, the giftie gie us, to see oursels as others see us." (Robert Burns)

Is that archbishop Timothy Dolan trying to outdo Catholic League president William Donahue in dishonesty and regressiveness? Not to add misogyny and homophobia?
Has he not read what the Wall Street Journal wrote about bishops of his ilk turning into Congressmen or savage lobbyists to turn Obama's health care bill into an anti-abortion bill?
When will their tax-paying exemption be pulled as it has been clear for decades that these men of the cloth indulge in dirty politics directly and savagely?

It's just an effort to muzzle the media, or shoot the messenger.

Hmm I guess it must just be a happy coincidence that the same organization who pushed for transparancy by Catholic leaders after the abuse crisis, who pushed for lawsuits and changes in statutes of limitations, who made sure any news story that made the Church look bad was on the cover just happens to put stories of public school teachers accused of abuse in the back somewhere, does not call for an investigation into the schools (teachers union money keeps them silent). When a scandal among Orthodox Jews broke that was largely the same as the one among Catholics, and probably proportionally worse because of the smaller size of the community, not only did the Times not make it front page news but in fact said that it should be handled internally within the community! I guess Dolan must just be lying about all that.

I cannot even begin to fathom how one could not read Archbishop's Timothy Dolan's article and sympathize with his reasonable concern. It is not outlandish or way out in "left field" to keep with the whole baseball metaphor to claim that the media has a proclivity to paint the Church in the worst light possible (sometimes going way out of their way to hit a home run, sadly they often do). And if I remember correctly (I do), I'm fairly certain that Archbishop Timothy Dolan said the Church is not above criticism--going so far as to say, there is nothing wrong with offering criticism. However, to pick and choose, which the media obviously does, is sadly discriminative. Is it too much to ask the liberals to use a wee bit of common sense?

I have known His Grace, Archbishop Dolan, for nearly 17 years, since he was a professor of mine at St. Louis University. I know that His Grace is not some type of hysteric nor does he fly off the handle easily. His Grace is a kind, gentle shepherd with an outstanding sense of humor and a tendency to see the humor in a situation easily. The fact that His Grace published this blog means that the Times must have really gone off the deep-end in its criticism about the Church. Given the fact that Maureen Dowd wrote the article in question, one has no doubt that the Times overstated its case. Dowd is little more than a hack who is as crude publicly as she is in her writing (and I know this first-hand). Were she a man, or a conservative, she would be lucky to be employed by the National Enquirer.

His Grace is correct in defending the Church from outrageous attacks and I am grateful that he is willing and ready to do so, with his usual wit and good humor. Would that more Catholics would have the courage to stand up and defend their Church from the attacks of those who hate everything for which she stands.

His Grace is wrong Clint. The media does not go after the church. They go after the leaders of the church Clint. For example . The sexual abuse scandal was not about the church Clint, it was about the bishops and priests . Millions stolen from the Sunday collections was not about the church Clint it was about the people that are have stolen and still stealing from the church. The billions of dollars that the bishops have used to protect the pedophiles and themselves Clint, is not about the church. It is about the bishops. And lastly Clint, the bishops,and archbishops do not need you to defend them, they are spending millions of church money for that purpose. By the way, do you have an abusive priest living next door to you. Our bishops failed to see that the abusive priests were made to register as sex offenders. Was your archbishop one of them?