Furthermore.....On Dolan's "Anti-Catholicism"

By way of reinforcement.....From the National Catholic Reporter:

Thank you, Tom Roberts, for your angry, but accurate, view:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/anti-catholic-cry-cheap-easy-accusation

and thank you, Joe Ferullo, for your clarifying perspective:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/why-do-media-go-after-church

and from Clark Hoyt of the New York Times, the official response to Dolan:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08pubed.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

Clearly, I am not alone, as a Catholic, in my annoyance at Dolan's unwarranted attack on Maureen Dowd and the New York Times......and my continuing disappointment in the American Catholic hierarchy!

New York's Dolan: Archbishop of Paranoia ?

Last week , Maureen Dowd wrote a marvelous commentary on the plight of American Catholic nuns:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/opinion/25dowd.html?_r=1

which precipitated an outrageous response from Timothy Dolan, the new archbishop of New York:

http://www.archny.org/news-events/columns-and-blogs/blog---the-gospel-in-the-digital-age/index.cfm?i=14042

Why is it that the American Catholic bishops seem to interpret every questioning or unfavorable comment about some aspect of the church as "anti-Catholic"? When will we of the American Catholic laity finally understand that no questions, no challenges of the Church are allowed? The bishops want us to forget about the priests' sexual abuse of children around the world and their widespread homosexuality and violations of the vows of celibacy. They are incensed that we do not blind ourselves to the continuing lies and deceit of the hierarchy. After all, they are the spiritual authorities, the so-called "magisterium"; they claim to know what is best for us, the mere laity, the "sheep"! How often must the bishops remind us that our duty is to "pay, pray and obey"?

Dolan's essay on anti-Catholicism is nonsense. It is disturbing that, as evidenced by so many comments following his diatribe, among the laity, there are still so many dumb sheep. Fortunately, Laurie Goodstein's thoughtful rebuttal stands out among the comments as fair and quietly, but justifiably, indignant.

Dolan missed the point of Maureen Dowd's column. Those of us who grew up with dedicated nuns as teachers and benefited from their sacrifices understand and applaud Ms. Dowd. Clerical misogynistic mandarins, like Dolan, view the women of the Catholic Church solely as servants. Their profound ignorance of women, presumably as a result of clerical celibacy and homosexuality, persists to the detriment of us all. This serves as one more example of the bishops, in their unChrist-like way, continuing their crusade to destroy the outcome of the Second Vatican Council and to subjugate the laity, once again, to spiritual serfdom, while driving the Catholic Church back to the Middle Ages.

Zero-Based Bishoping

Let's face it. There are too many Catholic Bishops in America. The Notre Dame 2009 Commencement episode demonstrated their malevolent oafishness: intellectually (if possible) bumping into one another and, repeatedly, getting in the way of informed laity. Let's initiate zero-based bishoping in the United States (and elsewhere, if it works): Eliminate all current bishops' positions and start, again, from zero; the laity to choose only the best, the most talented, sincerely pastoral and Christ-like of the men and women available (some hurdles to be overcome here, but keep the faith!).

By the way: Let's be realistic: many women religious would make far better administrators than many of the self-serving dolts now imposed on the laity. And, anyway, it's their turn!

We could easily get rid of eighty percent of the dioceses in the United States. Look at all the parishes that are being eliminated. Think of the savings in financial overhead! Think of how much the quality of Catholic pastoral leadership would improve. Zero-based budgeting, when managed well in industry, can be very effective. When it comes to the elimination of bishops, it could do wonders for the American Catholic Church. It's up to the laity to make it happen. Remember the old economic adage: You vote with your dollars!

The Intruders

As is well-known, much controversy surrounded the invitation to President Obama to the 2009 Commencement at Notre Dame in early June. Among the ill-mannered intruders on the normally serene psychological atmosphere of the graduation were many Catholic bishops. One of these was Archbishop Chaput of Denver, who, in writng in the Denver Catholic rag, insulted the President of the University, Father Jenkins. Kaput, as I chose to refer to him, is one of those bishops who still thinks of himself as a shepherd and the laity as his sheep. He is one of many clerics dragging the Catholic Church back into the 19th century or earlier.

The Catholic hierarchy showed their true colors to the laity in the child abuse crisis. Let us not forget it! Many bishops and priests went unpunished. The abuses continue. Reference: Ireland. Much of what the Catholic hierarchy have done since the crisis has been to attempt to distract the laity from the clerical sexual abuse and to strive to regain power over the minds of the laity. Their intrusion on the 2009 Commencement at Notre Dame was another grievous attempt at control of the laity. The Catholic hierarchy, both in America and abroad, through their un-Christ-like and, frequently, evil behavior, have demonstrated themselves to be unworthy of contemporary Catholic laity.