Scandal Brings Out the Bigots [Liberal Fr. Greeley Gets it Right!]

Chicago Sun Times ^ | 4-12-2002 | Fr. Andrew Greeley

[Salman]

Phelps refers to the Catholic Church as a "fag" church

He says the same or similar about most Protestant fundamentalists. He is, in short, a "fag" obsessed screwball with no followers outside his immedaite family.

He is perhaps interesting as an example of a pathology, but he's not part of any anti-Catholic trend. For that, look at liberals in major cities.

[Eva]

I am still waiting for the media to make the comparison between gays in the Catholic Church and gay Scout leaders. They can't have it both ways. The left hoped to destroy the BSA by forcing Gays into positions where they could possibly "influence" young boys, but they attack the church for having allowed Gays to "influence" young boys.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Yes. I am definitely praying more and with deeper and more focused concentration. This crisis should also clarify for Catholics that what we believe are eternal, spiritual verities against which neither the gates of Hell, the liberal media, nor some errant clergymen shall prevail. While some nominal leaders may fall short of our deepest values or betray them entirely, all the more should we strive for them. Nothing in "the faith" has changed. We believe the same creed, the same articles of faith, that we believed before any of these current scandals made headlines. We believe in the same Christ who suffered and died on the Cross and rose on the third day. The Church has survived Roman persecution, pagan barbarian invasions, multiple heresy crazes, assaults from Islam, anti-popes, the systematic destruction of monasteries under Henry VIII, and the homicidal madness of the French Revolution and modern totalitarianism. We have been living through an aggressive, anti-Christian cultural revolution - a "culture of death" - for about thirty years. If the Church must be purified through public scandal, when perhaps some bishops would not address problems with heresy, dissent, and homosexual corruption, we accept God's will. Let's hope better leaders emerge from this crisis.

[sobieski]

I didn't realize how deep Bernardin's roots were until I read about it the Roman Catholics for the Faith's website

[uncbob]

If there has been a new outburst of anti-Catholicism that the country has not seen since the John F. Kennedy election, one must admit candidly that the leadership of the Church has provided much raw material for the Catholic-haters.

Only problem was if you were a Catholic you were expected to vote for Kennedy because he was one
However non catholics wern't not supposed to vote against him because he was one


Ironic thing but JFK and his brothers were not exactly poster boys for Catholicism . The old man was even worse

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Blame Harvard. They didn't have "Catholic" educations.

[Renatus]

Do Americans really want to do away completely with men like Father Damian or M. Vincent or Father Kino or Joe Bernardin because the self-serving diatribes of a few resigned priests fit so neatly our culture's anti-Catholicism?

I almost fainted when I read that Fr. Greeley wrote this. Then he blew his credibility with that statement about "Joe Bernardin". Still don't trust him.

Posting this article has helped this thread and others to see the anti-catholicism that is present here and in the press. It's not always easy to counter when some posters lack even a basic understanding of Catholicism and particularly the importance of the Sacred Priesthood and the Eucharist even on the part of some Catholics. I wonder how many have studied PASTORES DABO VOBIS? Guess we'll just have to keep on trying. Thanks for posting it.

[WOSG]

Great story ... Bump .... folks read the reply I am replying to. Tells us about US anti-Catholicism you wont read much about in history books or media.

[uncbob]

Only wish Fr Greeley would have commented on how many young boys lives were ruined .

And he said nothing about the coverup or the sending of these abusers on their merry way to continue their deeds.
Or the fact that CRIMES were comitted

And indeed as posted by others the media is not anti catholic it is anti christian . The fundamentalists take just as much if not more abuse but at least their leaders aren't a bunch of wimpy socialists

[nickcarraway]

Exactly what I thought.

[Aliska]

I think many protestants have deep visceral fear of catholics gaining too much power because of what happened in Europe and they don't want that to ever happen here. Nor do I. In these times, many catholics are a leaven in this country because they have retained true moral teachings. For that we must be grateful.

[syriacus]

I almost fainted when I read that Fr. Greeley wrote this. Then he blew his credibility with that statement about "Joe Bernardin". Still don't trust him.

It is nice that he used his literary talent to comment on this problem. When I've seen him on TV (Donahue, etc) I've usually felt he was pretty anti-Catholic for a Catholic priest.

[FormerLib]

In recent years, with the advent of cable television and a change in the culture of movie making, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of anti-Catholic imagery and rhetoric in popular media.

Of all things, the television show The X-Files actually drew some attention to this in one episode. The episode in question had Hollywood making a movie about the exploits of the shows heros, Special Agents Mulder and Scully. Through the show's history, our intrepid FBI agents frequently ran into trouble due to the shadowy schemes of a chain-smoking government agent. In the "Hollywood version," the government agent, since liberals love those guys, was transformed into a chain-smoking Roman Catholic Cardinal, since liberals hate those guys.

I really got a laugh out of The X-Files scewering Hollywood on that poing.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Were they killing unborn babies in pre-modern Europe?

[BlessedBeGod]

Wouldn't it be wonderful if this marked a moment of real change for Fr. Greeley?

I understand that he has become upset with church wreckovations, too. I would have thought he would have been for them.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

They play around with a lot of imagery, symbolism, and cultural iconography on The X-Files.
Sometimes it is amusing. Sometimes it is banal or just campy. At least, the notion that there is
good and evil appears at all.

[BlessedBeGod]

Brilliant commentary marred by silly inclusion of "Joe Bernardin," who was part of the problem.

Yes, I defintely agree, as I am in the Archdiocese of Chicago and am witness to the problems he left.

[syriacus]

Catholics are the ones who discovered this country.

Pere Marquette did a lot of exploration (with Jolliet).

[Aliska]

Were they killing unborn babies in pre-modern Europe?

No they weren't but they were killing Huguenots and anybody else they didn't like.

If you read what I said carefully, you will note that I said some of them were leaven, meaning the ones who try to save babies. For those I am thankful. In other respects, many of them are more immoral than my protestant ancestors; i.e., Kennedy who couldn't keep his vows.

There are a lot of bad catholics in this society and they are excused because of poverty. Catholics talk the talk but many don't want to walk the walk (referring to sexual morality, refraining from drugs, alcohol abuse, and the like.

That is not to say that descendants of some of those honorable (I know some had secret sins) protestants are going to h*** in a handbasket.

I've defended catholics on newsgroups from real hatemongering fundamentalists. Still there is a smugness in this newsgroups where catholics think they have it all and look down on protestants. They think they are better than "public school rabble".

[irishjuggler]

Most American Catholics rarely encounter it in their daily lives, hence they do not take it seriously.

Greeley is 100% right about this. I remember when I was a senior at a Catholic high school, a priest who taught one of my classes concluded the school year with some advice. One of the things he mentioned was that a large segment of American society was very anti-Catholic and had a very low opinion of the Catholic faith and the people who practice it. He expressed regret that the school probably hadn't done a very good job of preparing us for this unpleasant reality. At the time, I didn't fully appreciate the wisdom of his words. There's a lot of insularity at Catholic schools and parishes. It's relatively easy to cling to a naive belief that most people like us.
I have to admit that I've read very little of what Fr. Greeley has written in the past. His comments here are quite insightful, though.