Posted on 04/08/2006 11:45:03 AM PDT by petkus
When Roger Mahony was about 12, law officers raided his father's poultry processing plant in the San Fernando Valley. They were searching for illegal aliens. "I will never forget them bursting through the doors," he recently told the Washington Post. "I was terrified by it. And I thought, 'These poor people; they're here making a living supporting their families."'
Now, as Cardinal Mahony, leader of the 5 million Catholics (75 percent Latino) in the Los Angeles archdiocese, he is mounting a crusade on behalf of illegal immigrants, and is asking Catholics to express solidarity with them through prayer and fasting.
This is to his credit. I would certainly welcome his prayers and intervention were I one of those immigrants. As the Cardinal himself said at the beginning of Lent, Catholics "are called to attend to the last, littlest, lowest and least in society and in the church."
The cynic within me wonders how long it took Mahony's speech writer or prayer writer to fashion that alliterative chain of L words?
More seriously, and despite true respect for the immigrants' struggle, some of us have become inclined to think of victims of predatory priests as the "last, littlest, lowest and least" members of the church.
Emulating the cops
(Excerpt) Read more at presstelegram.com ...
Doesn't Cardinal Mahony remind you of Al Sharpton and Tawaney Brawley??????????????
=================
Good Cardinal calls on us to side with illegal immigrants.
Bad Cardinal, having denied the L.A. District Attorney's Office access to records of as many as 100 priests, calls on us to disregard impending laws of Congress if they are not to his liking.
Good Cardinal speaks for the last, littlest, lowest and least. Bad Cardinal, and his lawyers, would have us believe the L people do not include children whose innocence was stolen by men once entrusted as their spiritual shepherds.
Good Cardinal urges tolerance.
Bad Cardinal has given his tolerance to predatory priests; forgiving their sins and transferring them hither and yon, thus continuing to put children in harm's way.
Ancient history?
Mahony told the Post the abuse issue is a thing of the past. For him, it may be. But it is not a thing of the past for those who were molested, who still are shackled psychologically, whose lives were ruined.
Perhaps Mahony senses what his critics feel; that his cover of leadership has been blown, and that, to regain the upper hand, he must steer his life back to his more storied, more moral days as a champion of down-trodden immigrants. Or perhaps the lure of bringing more Catholics into the archdiocese from across the border is simply too compelling to resist.
Ray Boucher, attorney for molestation victims, has noted that in Boston, Orange County and other places, the church has turned over thousands of sensitive documents to the authorities. The atmosphere in those places has been refreshed, if not totally cleansed.
Mahony needs to join them. Until he does, his moral pronouncements will have a hollow ring. His archdiocese will be, as Boucher has said, an enclave "filled with evidence of a conscious disregard for the safety of children."
And his leadership will remain suspect.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
Absolutely!
Cardinal Mahony, in my mind, has lost any moral ground to challenge or lecture fellow Americans on any issue due to his unwillingness to accept responsibility for priest pedophilia.
I like Mahony in some ways to Ted Kennedy, another figure who should never lecture anyone on their shortcomings or lack of compassion.
Let me guess, it was "seared, SEARED, into his memory". Sheesh, that's right up there with Clinton waxing nostalgic about church burnings.
He reminds me of every liberal that comes "this close" to a microphone.
Ping for more of Roger the dodger.
A lot of Catholics would like to see Phony Mahony doing the perp walk in an orange jump suit and wearing matching wrist and ankle bracelets and chains.
Cardinal Mahoney needs to consider the teachings of St. Fu.
That is good!! One I will have to remember for use from time to time.
And I must confess it's not the first time I've used it. Sadly, lots of threads on news of this type. To see the Church acting so cravenly in its own self-interest and dressing it up as the gospel of Jesus . . . I had hoped those days were over.
Yeah, you heard me: Catholic Dangus calls Catholic Archbishop Roger Mahony a scumbag, who deserves to be put in the prison cells with all the warped sexualities of the men who as boys were raped by Mahony's men.
>> leader of the 5 million Catholics (75 percent Latino) in the Los Angeles archdiocese <<
I bet if you surveyed the LA diocese's parishes on a Sunday, you'd probably find 1 in 3 parishioners was Hispanic... and half of them would consider Mahony to be betraying them...
Yeah... his father was a two-bit slaverunner... and he hates the government for trying to do something about it. I know I'm supposed to be charitable, but I find it awfully hard not to hope he, his father, and the nuncio who picked them all roast in hell.
I see a class action to recover Social Security benefits for those folks. Maybe other violantions of labor law, too. Had he paid their unemployment premiums?
I will support any Mexican or Immigrant who is Spanish speaking that came into this country legally and went to work. The illegals can go back where they came from and take their employers with them.
Guess where I've been.
Agreed!
And tear down the Taj Mahony too...
In the penalty box!!
'atta girl!
*sigh* there is a gulf between "deserves to be" and "should be," however...
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