NPR is worried that Archbishop Dolan is “overtly conservative,” and Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times is fretting about his “confrontational approach.” Dissident Catholics are upset as well: New Ways Ministry says the vote “sends an ominous message”; Call to Action also sees his election as “ominous”; Sr. Maureen Fiedler says “we now have our very own Catholic version of the ‘Tea Party’ movement”; DignityUSA concludes that Dolan’s election means the hierarchy is “out of step” with Catholics. Similarly, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay secular group, says the vote means the hierarchy is “out of step.” Not to be outdone, the website of the Tucson Citizen accused Dolan of evincing an “arrogant” attitude in winning (it is true that he was caught smiling).
SNAP, the professional victims’ group, opines that Dolan’s “winning personality obscures his terrible track record on abuse.” Marian Ronan of Religion Dispatches says his election is “not a good sign,” and her colleague, Sarah Posner, concludes—and this really is ominous—that “the bishops are targeting families with loved ones who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.” The Internet site Lez Get Real calls Dolan “the Vatican’s spin-doctor,” and the website of Time has a headline which reads, “More Bad News for Obama 2012: Catholics Elect Dolan.” Edgeboston.com picked up the AP piece, but chose to give it a new headline: “Catholic Bishops’ Vote to Mean Harder Church Stance Against Gay Families.” And atheist Susan Jacoby is sweating over the fact that Dolan will be treated by the media “as if he is the voice of all American Catholics.” She needs to get used to it. --Catholic League, quoted by FrZ
Weeping and gnashing of teeth...
ReplyDeleteHm. Color me unsurprised.
ReplyDeleteWell, let me summarize here…
ReplyDeleteUnhappy with Dolan we have: NPR, Dissident Catholics, Dignity USA, Human Rights Campaign, SNAP, Religion Dispatches, Time, EdgeBoston and atheist Susan Jacoby (why should an ‘atheist’ be concerned anyway…?).
Now all we need are Fr.Richard McBrien, Fr. Tom Reese, Call to Action, We Are Church plus assorted Milwaukee archdiocesan clergy and it will be unanimous.
I would say that’s a ringing endorsement of Ab. Dolan!
I understand the jury is out but Tim is very p.r. savvy and he could have brought the whip down the day he came to the Cousins Center. I think he's reasonably smart not to do something stupid. Yes, he's more conservative than some would like, but he's basically tolerable. I don't look for major changes. Bear in mind, this is the conference of US bishops, not the College of Cardinals and Uncle Ben.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it has all these lefties are up in arms is enough to rejoice at Archbishop Dolan's election.
ReplyDeleteWhat actually will happen remains to be seen.
Just saw this (http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1004736.htm) and was wondering what your take might be.
ReplyDeleteNo problem.
ReplyDeleteFirst graf:
...it was the moral responsibility of nations to guarantee access to health care for all of their citizens, regardless of social and economic status or their ability to pay.
Which, of course, the US already has.
... ipso facto, corpus delicti, Dad29 can't think of anything wrong with the system, especially if it helps the shareholders and managing directors, and of course the greatest danger would be any government efforts to guarantee access to health care. Reduce the price? Change regulation and oversight? Why, that's communism! Buy more ammo, as it leads to better stock prices for health care companies!
ReplyDelete