Notes on a Scandal
These are not good times for the Catholic Church, especially in Boston. Just yesterday, Cardinal Sean O’Malley suggested that Dorchester’s Caritas Carney Hospital may be in trouble, and, of course, Pope Benedict XVI will not be coming to Boston.
Regardless of how you feel about the pope’s snub, the logical conclusion one can draw is that Benedict wanted no part of dealing with the priest sex scandal. Which brings us to the word, “scandal,” and to Cardinal O’Malley’s unfortunate choice of words.
In a front-page, above the fold story in today’s Globe, O’Malley takes Democrats to task for their stance on abortion and suggests that Catholics supporting Democratic candidates “borders on a scandal.”
Thanks to the Catholic Church’s insensitive response to the priest sex abuse case here—which didn’t just “border” on criminal—it’s difficult to hear a high-ranking member of the Church employ the word “scandal” with no hint of irony. It’s offensive, too. To Catholics (which I am) and non-Catholics alike.
The Church certainly has a right to stake out political positions, and it certainly has a right to claim abortion as its key issue — even over, say, a war, which the Cardinal did not mention at all. But, as usual, the Church tries to have it both ways.
The document declares that “as Catholics we are not single-issue voters,” but says, “a candidate’s position on a single issue that involves an intrinsic evil, such as support for legal abortion or the promotion of racism, may legitimately lead a voter to disqualify a candidate from receiving support.”
Intrinsically evil? Makes us wonder how exactly the Church defines those words.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Intrinsically evil? I also read this statement and said to myself, “Oh my god, do they really have any human beings left on this earth who considers these guys valid?”
Intrinsically evil? I am guessing that all of those children who were sexually abused by Priests, Bishops, Nuns, Brothers, etc. would consider the definition of intrinsically evil= Cardinals and Bishops who dismiss themselves as intrinsically evil and impose those words onto ondinary people who are trying to live their lives with integrity.
Intrinsically evil= Catholic church hierarchy.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
O’Malley is in a state of denial. After the Pope declared his plans, O’Malley said he didn’t think the abuse was a “major factor” in the decision. If O’Malley wishes to be relevant, instead of a laughingstock, he needs to start taking care of his priests and his parishioners without worrying about where the Pope is going and what the politicians are doing.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
When will lay catholics realize that Bishops like O’Malley are intrinsically EVIL!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Poor Cardinal O’Malley, he can nothing right. Everything around here comes back to the pedophile scandal. There is apparently nothing he can say or do, he is to be forever scorned for what happened while he was nowhere near Boston. Has O’Malley tried to sweep it under the rug? Has he ignored it? Has he taken steps to make sure it won’t happen again? No, no, and yes. No matter to angry Bostonians, it’s O’Malley who’s evil.
It’s the teaching of the Catholic Church that abortion is wrong. It’s O’Malley’s job to promote the teachings of the Catholic Church. Only in Boston would what he said be above the fold/ front page news.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I don’t really care where the pope goes in the US. But it is sad that the church is trying to tell people for whom they are allowed to vote. I think the bishops and cardinals cannot see around the beam in their own eyes to remove the splinter in others. Clean up your own house, O’Malley. Then just maybe you can comment on government.
November 15th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
From the article in todays Globe -
“The direct and intentional destruction of innocent human life is always wrong and is not just one issue among many,” the bishops declared in the document, called Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.
That is an odd statement from a group that spends a lot of hours and money lobbying not to eliminate the statutes of limitation, both criminally and civilly, for sexual abuse of children.
November 15th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Put a cork in it Sean! No one is listening, thanks to your predecesor. Rebuild the credibility of the office of the archbishop of Boston - which used to be higher than God, which was part of the problem! I’m pro life/ anti abortion Democrat and I’ll be damned ( literally ! ) if I’ll vote for a Republican. Yopu’re already a cardinal, stop kissing Rome’s ass, you’re not gooing to be pope, and just be the Seanyou once were long ago in Washington.
November 15th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
What are you people complaining about? Boston is the birthplace of bottom-up self-government. The Catholic Church is the world’s largest and oldest example of top-down, monolithic micromanagement. And we’re surprised at what keeps happening? It’s like buying a cow and being surprised you don’t get eggs. Let it go and move on.
November 17th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I’m questioning what is said here about O’Malley and these people having “rights to stake out political positions”etc.
Is it legal, right or ethical for representatives of another nation to be advising or urging American citizens on how to vote and even adding some veiled threats? Another article says: “The real sinners are the “Catholic citizens who vote.”
Vatican City is an independent nation in itself, Granted that status in 1929 by their good buddy, Mussolini. Why is is still referred to as “Rome?”—that is the capital city of Italy—an entirely different nation. Vatican City is not a democracy. Don’t see how they could know much about free-will since they are ruled by an infallible godfather. It has stronger interests in politics than in religion.
I think they are playing the ends against the middle. It’s an ole ploy that Paul used when facing the Sadduccees and Pharisees. Get them fighting with themselves and they forget about you. But people won’t forget the atrocities against children and God.
As others have already said—these people are really not fit to advise anyone on morality. Besides the sex scandals, they are guilty as “sin” of other immoral acts—”fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” They’ve created a hell on earth for many people.