[Notwithstanding]

Here it is - I agree.

[Ken522]

BTTT

[EternalHope]

Anti-Catholicism is as American as apple pie a la mode, chocolate malts, Diet Pepsi and silly nostalgia at the beginning of the baseball season.

SOME Protestants are anti-Catholic, just as SOME Catholics are anti-Protestant. But America is not anti-Catholic per se.

A more accurate way to put it would be: A lot of Americans, particularly in the major media, are anti-Christian.

[Notwithstanding]

a surprise from Fr. Greeley - ping

[Cicero]

Well, well, well. I never thought I would hear Fr. Greeley say anything like this. And speaking out in the middle of a media feeding-frenzy, at that. I still don't trust the man, because he has done major damage to the Church over the years with a variety of liberal "Catholic" statements in the liberal press. But it took real courage for him to speak out now and show up the liberal media attack on the Church for exactly what it is. By doing so, he is biting the hand that has been feeding him, and risking his own future as one of the few favored "Catholic" spokesmen whom the liberal media are willing to quote. He was right up there with Curran and McBrien, if never so clearly heterodox as they are.

As a spokesmen for the liberals within the Church, I always assumed that Greeley supported the dissenting movements favoring married priests and women priests. This column is a real eye-opener. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this marked a moment of real change for Fr. Greeley? Never underestimate the power of divine grace.

[McGavin999]

I don't think the media is anti-Catholic, I think it's anti-Christian. I still say that this coming out now is important. There seems to be a general spring cleaning going on here on earth. Perhaps it's because so many of us turned to God on 9-11 and asked His help.

Look at what's been happening. All this coming out about the church is NOT a bad thing, it's a good thing. Once evil is exposed it can be attacked and removed.

[Arthur McGowan]

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

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

And as deadly as Diet Pepsi.

Going to Mass now is an honor. The fact that some bigots may be getting their jollies with each sordid revelation only takes them further away from true faith. What we believe has not changed, even though some of our nominal leaders have not lived up to standards one would normally expect. Most Catholics have remained faithful and despise these perverse crimes as well as the coverups making the headlines. Catholicism proper has nothing to do with the homosexual agenda which made these terrible things happen.

[nicollo]

Just a general comment for you.

When you're next in Washington, D.C. go look at the Washington Monument. After you have thanked God for George Washington, and, I would suggest, walked up to the Cathedral to him, stood at its base with your palms against the cold stone, and looked up -- it's a great view, then step back and take it in as a whole.

You will note the color of the stone changes about 1/3rd teh way up. If you ask the Park Service, you will be told that this is so because construction stopped just before the Civil War, and when the work was recommenced, the quarry had been excavated to a different stratum, so although the stone is the same, the color is different from that point up.

If you press for more, perhaps, but unlikely, perhaps the Ranger will allow that the construction stoppage was not caused by the Civil War, but by lack of funds and disagreement by the committee that was running the monument. I doubt you will learn anything more from any of the Rangers there.

Actually, what happened is that the Pope sent a stone to be placed in the building in honor of George Washington. It was from the Vatican and was engraved, "Republicae Americanae" (or something like that, my Latin don't work).

That the Pope would have any place in the momument to the great George Washington was greivous and serious to members of a certain political group, the American Party, aka "the Know Nothings." In the middle of the night, around 1854, they raided the construction site, tied up the watchman, nabbed the Pope's stone, broke it into pieces and threw it in the Potomac River.

They next effectively took over the committee and in shock at what had been done to accept the Vatican's gift, shut it down. Those outraged by their acts also shut down support for the project, and so the building remanied a stump for 20+ years.

So when you gaze upon that marvelous building and see the difference in color, remember that built into the monument to the nation's founder is also a monument to the great struggle he championed, the equality and rights of man, and the freedom of religion.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[SkyPilot]

I didn't read anything (did I miss it?) about hime denouncing Homosexuals in the ranks of the priesthood.

Homosexuality is a disorder. Despite what the AMA now says. (I believe they caved to pressure, and took it off their "disorder" list in 1973--what a great year for Liberals).

The church should purge Homosexuals from their ranks. In the Boston Herald, they referred to them as the LAVENDER MAFIA

. On Meet the Press two Sundays ago, a panel of 5 priests discussed this, and 4 agreed with the statement that 30-50% of priests are homosexual men. Until he says that the church must get rid of these perverts--it is just words, words, words, yada, yada, yada.

[kstewskis]

Moreover, the mode which the media use to report the reaction of Catholics to the abuse and the cover-up--''faithful shaken by abuse charges''--is also anti-Catholic. It assumes, as do most Americans, that Catholics are clinging weakly to a faith and a heritage and a church that can barely survive one more crisis.

It also assumes that a Catholic's faith is dependent on the hierarchy, not The Holy Spirit. Another "swing and a miss" by the anti-Catholic losers.

Thank you for posting a great article.

[Torie]

Greeley has this need to include himself as a victim of bigotry. His case that there is an anti Catholic sentiment bubbling below the surface in American culture is weak. It is based on the outcry that there is something dysfunctional in the way priests are chosen, and some concern that the celibacy requirement may be filtering out a lot of more suitable candidates. I do not consider that a bigoted statement. Most Catholics that post at this site don't seem to think so either. And if anti Catholic bigotry is so pervasive a "problem," just why have so few Catholics experienced it personally, as Greeley admits? The dots don't connect.

I consider Greeley to be an intellectual lightweight. I thought that when he was a professor of mine, and I think that now. He is a nice man though. I liked him personally.

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

Ted Turner Insults Catholics

[Lady In Blue]

Moreover, the mode which the media use to report the reaction of Catholics to the abuse and the cover-up--''faithful shaken by abuse charges''--is also anti-Catholic. It assumes, as do most Americans, that Catholics are clinging weakly to a faith and a heritage and a church that can barely survive one more crisis. In fact, Catholics remain Catholic because they like being Catholic. They like their heritage, their communalism, their sacraments, their sense of God's presence in the world, their stories, their images, their rain forest of metaphors. They should give that up because their clergy fail to be what they should be and because some of their leaders are idiots? Gimme a break! Do the bigots really think that Catholics were in the churches on Easter because of the priests? Yet, that is the paradigm that permeates American society and the only one the media seem capable of using.

This is SO GOOD! Thank you for posting it,and thank you,Fr Greeley.It must be the End Times for me to approve anything that Fr Greeley writes! hehehe!