Cardinal Dolan Is Off To Ireland To Celebrate The Eucharist-----Oh Really?

Cardinal Dolan looks right to find some inspiration for his latest exercise in blaming the victims--and no one's laughing anymore.

I'm not a really big fan of Andrew Sullivan, but this time I am in total agreement.  I posted a couple of days ago that Cardinal Dolan was not going to be able to laugh his way out of his bribery scheme for laicizing priests, and he isn't even trying.  Instead he is attacking the NY Times, casting doubt on the veracity of his old Archdiocese and blaming SNAP.  Sorry, this is not going to fly with any Catholics other than those whose faith can't accept the truth of our Bishops.  The following is Sullivan's take on the response Dolan gave to questions asked after his noon Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral yesterday.  It's sad to me that a man who just ate and drank the body and blood of his Lord could attack the very people Jesus taught us to find Him in.  This is a millstone of Dolan's own making because Jesus never said the millstones He spoke about would be material.

Dolan: Is He A Republican Pol Or A Cardinal?

 Andrew Sullivan - Daily Dish - 6/4/2012
Here is how the Cardinal has responded to his previous archdiocese's spokesman's revelations that he authorized payments of $20,000 to pedophile priests to expedite their removal from the ministry:

"The New York Times does not have a reputation for fair and accurate reporting when it comes to this issue. So, to respond to charges like that — that are groundless and scurrilous — in my book it’s useless and counterproductive."

Does he regard his former archdiocese, whence the NYT's proof came, as equally fallacious?
And then you get the real Dolan, the man who puts ecclesiastical power before the protection of children or compassion for the abused:

The cardinal also lashed out at an advocacy group — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — that has called the payments 'secret deals' and 'incentives.' But Dolan fumed, “SNAP has no credibility whatsoever.”

You heard that right. A cardinal from a church revealed to have operated a global child rape cover-up for decades says the chief group for the victims "has no credibility whatsoever." After this outburst, Dolan took a week off in Ireland.

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The  last American Cardinal to blame the media for the abuse crisis was Bernie Law.  He was given sanctuary in Rome just before the Boston Police came for him with subpoenas.  Not surprising then that Cardinal Dolan is taking off for Ireland.  The performance of American Cardinals and Archbishops with the sexual abuse crisis is nothing short of abysmal, only matched by most of the Irish version.  No wonder Cardinal Dolan is headed for Ireland where he will take in the Eucharistic Congress.  Given his performance after yesterday's Mass one can only pray he gets more out of the Eucharistic congress than he got out of the religious theater he himself starred in on Sunday.

To be honest, I have really serious doubts these men actually believe in what they purport to enact at the Consecration because in their day to day life it seems to have zero effect.  I wonder how many of them are nothing more than actors in expensive costumes on spectacular stages. That is a very dangerous kind of speculation  for lay Catholics to engage in as far as the hierarchy is concerned.  At least with the LCWR sisters I have met, I never questioned that they believed in Jesus Christ.  Nor did I ever believe they were engaged in some sort of charade.  I may not have agreed with the Jesus they believed in, but never once did I doubt that personal relationship with Jesus was the core that fueled their mission.  Not once.

In the last twenty or so years, but especially the last ten, I have developed very serious doubts about the men who supposedly lead us. I absolutely do not understand how they can express the things they express if they had any real understanding of life in Christ.  Cardinal Dolan is an absolute disgrace as a Christian man, but we Catholics are to believe he is an exemplar of a Catholic.  Which says what,  Catholic Cardinals are not to be confused with followers of Christ?  Something tells me about right now, Pope Benedict is wondering the same thing, and if in truth he is wondering, he should look in a mirror for the reason.

I no longer give a blank belief check to any bishop, archbishop, or cardinal.  They have to prove to me they can walk their talk.  Readers of this blog know there aren't very many I actually think walk the talk or believe in the efficacy of the rites they perform.  I also don't think I am alone.  There will come a time when more and more Catholics admit to themselves they have the same doubts, and when a critical mass is reached there will be enormous change in Catholicism.  It may turn out that 2012/2013 is the time frame in which that critical mass is reached.

In an NCR posting today, Robert McClory posts an article from former Maryknoll provincial John Sivalon.  Sivalon writes the Vatican assault on the LCWR and other Catholic progressives is just a prelude to what's coming in October when Benedict opens the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith, the first alleluia salvo for the Year of the Faith.  I don't have any reason to disagree with this assessment and a number of reasons to believe it's true. I also find the designation 'Year of the Faith' a prophetic designation, especially if the Benedict Vatican is out to wage all out war for their view of the faith.  Since they are utterly distracted waging their own internal war, the forces for retrenchment may find out they are up against more than they bargained for and with field generals like Cardinal Dolan they will have only themselves to blame when critical mass is reached and they find they have lost.