Archbishop Dolan Is Effusive In His Praise For The Social Justice Inherent In The Ryan Budget Bill

A photo op of Archbishop Dolan as a cheesehead.  A Caesar salad can't be far behind

 

 

Just warms my little heart to find out that Archbishop Timothy Dolan finds the Paul Ryan budget worthy of his attention.  According to the following article, taken from POLITICO, Dolan especially likes Ryan's attention to social justice issues.

 

Paul Ryan gets boost from Catholic bishops

 

By JENNIFER HABERKORN | 5/19/11 6:02 PM EDT-  POLITICO

The Catholic Church is weighing in on the contentious House budget debate.
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan a letter yesterday commending his "continued attention" to Catholic social justice “in the current delicate budget considerations in Congress.”

The budget is not just about numbers,” Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan wrote in the letter. “It reflects the very values of our nation. As many religious leaders have commented, budgets are moral statements."

Last month, Ryan (R-Wis.) sent a letter to Dolan outlining how the church’s social teaching informed his budget.  (Probably not as much as Ayn Rand's teachings did.)

In the two-page letter, Dolan did not come out and expressly endorse the budget, insisting that he’s a pastor, “not a politician.”  (He's also terribly funny...Oh wait does he want me to take this statement seriously?)

But he praised Ryan’s attention to fiscal responsibility, the role of the family, the dignity of the person and human life and attention to the poor.

The letter also clearly disputes one of the chief rallying cries against the budget: That it would hurt the poor to benefit the rich.  (I guess you could say this, because in truth it kills the middle class to benefit the rich.  It's good for the poor in that it makes more of them.)

“In any transition that seeks to bring new proposals to current problems in order to build a better future, care must be taken that those currently in need not be left to suffer,” Dolan wrote. “I appreciate your assurance that your budget would be attentive to such considerations and would protect those at risk in the processes and programs of such a transition. While appreciating these assurances, our duty as pastors will motivate our close attention to the manner in which they become a reality.” (Hmmm,, seems Dolan is already assuring us Ryan's budget will become a reality.)

Ryan said in a statement that his budget “upholds the dignity of the human person and is especially attentive to the long-term concerns of the poor.” (As in you will be poor till you have the grace to die.)

“I hope Americans of every faith and political background will continue in constructive dialogue to address these great challenges in their economic and moral dimensions."

Dolan is the head of the U.S. Catholic Church and the archbishop of New York. Until 2009, Dolan served as archbishop of Milwaukee, near Ryan's Wisconsin district.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55349.html#ixzz1MtsVK1f5

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Glad to know the USCCB, courtesy of it's President, seem to think the Ryan bill is not only a paragon of Catholic justice values, but that it's also a done deal.  Such a done deal that they want to assure us they will keep their eagle eyes on 'the manner in which they become a reality'.  I'm sure more than one bishop will be paid handsomely to do so.  I doubt we'll see too many august Episcopal bodies at food pantries.  Unless it's for a photo op.

Budgets are not just a hypothetical moral statement.  They quickly become our living reality.  The last ten years have been quite the living reality.  We've gotten to the point where if one wants to remain in the middle class one also has to opt for becoming part of the military class.  The last statistic I saw said just under 25% of the American populace derived their main source of their income from the Military Industrial Complex.  I doubt there is any better statistic to illustrate what our budget priorities have done to our culture.  For some reason though, we are never allowed to view tax money to the MIC as a form of government subsidy.  I wonder why that is?  If this continues Americans will have two main avenues of employment, the MIC and Walmart.

But what really punched my buttons was Dolan insisting he was all about being pastoral and not political.  Puhllleassse.  I wish the USCCB would stop treating the flock like illiterate morons.  Obviously our bishops think being pastoral necessitates being political.  I just wish they would stop the lies  about this and get honest. I wish they would cite the passages in the Gospels where Jesus tells his leaders to become agents for one political party in Caesar's government, because I sure as shit can't find any.  Then again I have to remember that Constantine couldn't find any either, but it didn't make any difference.  Too many of our bishops of the last 1700 years or so have been for sale to the agents of Caesar.  Apparently it's one of  Roman Catholicism's unchanging traditions.


Now I'm waiting for the letter from the USCCB which informs us all that we will be returning to the glorious days of no meat on Fridays as their Irish and British brethren have done.  I can surely see this happening because our fast food joints have suddenly gotten off the red meat kick and would probably like the increased sales for their fish fillets and Caesar salads.  Since we've been treated to photos of Dolan eating everything else, perhaps we'll get a photo op of Dolan eating a Caesar salad.  How appropriate would that be?