Jeffrey Miller

When NY1 News reporter Roma Torre asked whether a pro-abortion Catholic should be invited to a “Catholic event” such as the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Dolan’s response was unequivocal.

“Actually, Roma, I don’t think we should invite anybody that would take a stance [in favor of] abortion, because this is not a Catholic issue,” he replied.

The archbishop later clarified that his answer pertained to giving public honors to such persons.

“In our mind, being opposed to abortion, is a civil rights issue, it’s a natural law issue, it’s not a Catholic issue,” Dolan continued. “We’d be uncomfortable in anybody that would, say, promote a stand that would be for bigotry, or against civil rights, because that’s contrary not only to the teaching of the Church but to what we would call civil rights and the natural law.”

The archbishop said that a pro-abortion Catholic such as New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would be “welcome” to a Catholic event – but “there’s a difference between everybody being welcome, and providing somebody who is dramatically, radically, publically at odds with the Church on a particularly given issue to have a place of prominence and to receive an award.”

Exactly, there is a big difference. You often hear the term about a church being “open” when they actually mean that the church openly sees some sin as acceptable. You also hear so much that Jesus ate with sinners as a justification for accepting sin. The Catholic Church is truth open in that it is truly open to everyone and certainly wants all to go to Mass. Even those who receive the medicinal penalty of excommunication are still able to go to Mass, but just can’t participate in the sacraments until they have repented and gone to sacramental confession. Those that are pro-abortion or who are pro-homosexual acts also are invited to Mass, they just can’t participate in the sacramental aspects of the Church until they also repent. Yes, Jesus ate with sinners and the sinners he attracted were the one who admitted their sins and were on the road of conversion. Less frequently mentioned is that Jesus also ate with Pharisees who he would rebuke. Fellowship with others does not mean that sin must be ignored – it is a spiritual act of mercy to rebuke the sinner – just make sure you have deforested the logs in your own eyes.

“It’s not like I sit down and say: How can I grab some headlines, how can I really cause a splash,” Dolan said.  “You just try to do your work, and sometimes things get attention. …

“If people ask me, I feel obliged as a teacher, as the official teacher of the Archdiocese of New York, to try my best to give the Church’s wisdom here.”

Dolan noted that he was “grateful” that the New York legislature struck down a same-sex “marriage” bill last year.  He also affirmed that the St. Patrick’s Day Parade should continue disallowing a gay pride banner, which would conflict with the parade’s “strong Christian identity.”

Well said. It seems to me that many other bishops are more worried about being seen as “headline grabbers” or being perceived as acting politically instead of being a teacher – a true shepherd. Jesus called truth a sword and one that divides. Preaching the truth must be in season and out of season.

But, he said, it would be a mistake to understand the Church’s stance against such matters as mere naysaying.

Instead, he said: “the Church in a way is one big yes: one big yes to human life, one big yes to anything that advances, lifts up, enlightens, liberates legitimate human identity. We’re in the ‘yes’ business, not the ‘no’ business.

“So I get frustrated sometimes, when that’s interpreted as being ‘anti-gay,’ that’s where we kinda cringe,” he continued, “because believe it or not, we get attacked from the other extreme for defending the rights of gays and for the strong Church teaching that every single human being … is a child of God, deserving of dignity and respect.”

Dolan called the late John Cardinal O’Connor of New York, who was outspokenly pro-life, his “hero” – and acknowledged that his office calls for a “prophetic” voice, although he prefers using a persuasive tone when possible.

“There’s always a little bit of tension between those two,” said Dolan. “But occasions might call that I’ll have to be prophetic. I’m sure there’s gonna be times … that I’m gonna have to be a bit of a pitbull. In general, I like to be an Irish Setter.[reference]“

Archbishop Dolan has that nice personality balance the evicts a cheerful orthodoxy. He is able to declare the truth without seeming mean-spirited. Though his critics will often see otherwise. But again the Archbishop makes great points. The Church says yes to all of the great truths. It is the secular culture that says no constantly to the truth and yes to sin.

In the Name of Diversity

Catholics in England might like someone of Cardinal Martino’s caliber at the moment.

This week, the U.K. parliament voted to pass an amendment to a bill that, according to the government and an agency of the Catholic Church, will allow faith schools to teach sex education according to their religious ethos.

But pro-life organizations and many orthodox-thinking Catholics say the amendment is deceptive and misleading, as it will still require all schools, including Catholic schools, to give information about contraception, abortion, and homosexual partnerships in the name of equality and diversity. The government’s education minister, Ed Balls, seemed to admit as much on a BBC radio program on the day of the vote.

“They can explain the views of their faith,” he said, “but what they can’t do is say that they are not going to teach children about contraception, how to access contraception, or how to use contraception.” He added that what the bill changes is that for the first time “these schools cannot just ignore these issues or teach only one side of the argument.”

Teachers in faith schools, he said, will have to teach “different views on homosexuality, they cannot teach homophobia, they must explain civil partnership and must give a balanced view on abortion. They must explain both sides of the argument and how to access an abortion. The same is true on contraception as well.”

Faith schools will, therefore, now be obliged to instruct young girls on where to kill a child in their womb, say pro-life organizations[reference].

This of course is not surprising in any way. You are allowed to believe whatever you want just as long as you also do what the government tells you to do.

But the Catholic Education Service, the agency which has worked with the government on the bill and which is governed by the bishops of England and Wales, supports the legislation. It insists that the teaching of all aspects of the curriculum in Catholic schools “reflects their religious ethos,” and that sex education “will be rooted in the Catholic Church’s teaching of the profound respect for the dignity of all human persons.”

Unfortunately this also is not surprising. You might have wondered historically how King Henry VIII managed to have his way with all but one bishop as he went into schism and brought the other bishops along. Again the Episcopacy seems to be largely silent over a massive offense against religious freedom and the ability to teach the full truth. You can pretty much just cue the crickets. Though at least one voice, Scottish Cardinal O’Brien mentioned the government’s “systematic and unrelenting attack on family values.  The whole thing is kind of like watching the Reformation all over again except the power grab does not happen under the banner of religion.

Here in the United States recently  the Archdiocese of Washington announced that it is shutting down its foster care and public adoption program because of the new same-sex marriage law.  Like in the case of Massachusetts and San Francisco where adoption services were also shut down, there was no religious conscience clauses allowed.  So once again tolerance in the name of same-sex marriage results in the shutting down of a Catholic Charities adoption service.  Previously:

The Archdiocese told the Washington Post on Wednesday that failing to broaden conscience protections for religious groups and individuals would force them to cancel its social services contracts with the city. That in turn would affect the tens of thousands of people seeking help with adoption, homeless shelters, and health services.

The idea they might have to shut down all contracts with the city seems to have gone by the wayside. The Archdioces now puts a positive light on shutting down some services by saying “Continues 82 other programs” – so that religious freedom has been violated in such an extreme way didn’t manage even a news release by the diocese about this specifically. Maybe they are too busy with Carbon fasts.  The USCCB has also not managed a statement on the fact that now three Adoption services have been shut down.  Pope Benedict XVI spoke out against British “equality laws” and for them creating “limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs.”  The same thing is happening here with very little outcry where we just seem to go along.  Our freedom to practice religion is being taken away from us and our consciences violated by the state – oh well, move along.