EXAMINE YOUR SOUL': IS [CARDINAL] EGAN BLAMING THE VICTIMS? [LETTERS]

New York Post ^ | 5 October 2001 | Various

[aculeus]

October 5, 2001 -- I am a Roman Catholic who was appalled by the insensitivity of the remarks made by Edward Cardinal Egan ("Examine your soul, America, Egan says," Oct. 2). No sane person wants war, but the actions we are about to undertake are a necessity. This is about the survival of America.

[DLfromthedesert]

What exactly were his comments?

[Dirk McQuickly]

Egan was screaming for justice against the terrorists from the moment it happened. His comments are being blown way out of proportion. Even President Bush said we need to re-examine our "culture". It's not about blaming the U.S. for the attack, it's about recognizing how precious and short life is, how much evil is in the world, and fixing those areas where we are falling short ourselves. This is usually when those things happen (e.g. Pearl Harbor), when people start re-prioritizing and repenting for their own misdeeds. Cardinal Egan is not blaming Americans, he is calling on us to reflect on how we can refrain from contributing to evil in our country (as people are still getting murdered, mugged, and abused on your block).

[aculeus]

What exactly were his comments?

What am I, your secretary?

[SlickWillard]

Cardinal Egan Tells America: Examine your Soul

[kassie]

I don't understand what has offended you.

[aculeus]

His comments are being blown way out of proportion,

Screw him! You had a**hole Drinan and that a**hole bishop (Gunderson?) joining the backstabbing Blame America crowd and now the Cardinal of NYC the home of the WTC and hundreds of (mostly Catholic) dead fireman and cops with thousands of children and he talks about examing our behavior.

Get with your country, "Cardinal Maher"!

(aculeus is an ex-altar boy.)

[Hidy]

The press has an obligation to hold Cardinal Egan's feet to the fire and to get some answers as to precisely what he meant by his comments.

His comments were very clear. Maybe what you mean is that we ought to use the press to hound Egan mercilessly and either force him to recant or get him impeached, or defrocked, or whatever it is.

Certainly, someone should rid the president of this meddlesome priest. This is no damn time for people to betray their country by exercising their freedom of religion or free speech. Not even supposedly "godly" men like Cardinal Egan. He needs to be watched.

[aculeus]

I don't understand what has offended you.

Oh, precious you, asking what 'offends' me.

Why did all those people write to the NY Post?

How many other letters did they not print?

When are you going to get with the program?

[Cap'n Crunch]

I was reading one of my Hilaire Belloc books last night, I think it was titled "the crisis of civilization." If your unfamiliar with Belloc, hes a catholic writer, lived from about 1890 to 1953. Anyway he has a great chapter related to "Nationalism", when I read the chapter it sure fit todays mood..."country uber alles"

I believe the Cardinals words are very appropriate, and very misunderstood by our pagan society.

[sinkspur]

You're just being your usual smart-aleck self.

All these comments coming from clergy asking Americans to "examine their own behavior" comes across, at best, as hideously arrogant.

Not everything that could be said SHOULD be said. And men of the cloth rarely restrain themselves when in role.

[Aquinasfan]

About 25,000 unborn babies were butchered in America in the same week that 5,000 people were butchered in the attack on the World Trade Center.

And 25,000 unborn babies have been butchered in every week since.

You can draw your own conclusions.

[DLfromthedesert]

Thanks for the link.

[DLfromthedesert]

What a snot you are!!! SlickWillard posted the link. You could have done that!!

[Cap'n Crunch]

Arent we a funny lot, we complain when the priest doesnt talk about topics and gives us watered down homilies, yet when something happens and the priest does say something we want him to shut up.

[Patriotic Bostonian]

I was also upset by Cardinal Egan's remarks. I was also brought up as Roman Catholic. I find Cardinal Egan's comments to be no different than Jerry Farwell's comments.

[ThomasMore]

Screw him! You had a**hole Drinan and that a**hole bishop (Gunderson?) joining

I don't like these guys either; and there are a few more on my list. But you need to check your hate-meter man. It's way off the scale. God calls all men to repentance. This statement has nothing to do with what happened in the WTC. It has to do with what could happen with unchecked revenge and hate.

[kassie]

First of all I did not ask you a question. Secondly, I simply stated a fact. And last of all, what program do I need to "get with"? Bashing the Cardinal?

[DLfromthedesert]

When asked a direct question, his answer was that our foreign policy shared in the responsibility for this attack, and to me, these remarks on foreign soil are traitorous at this juncture.

[ThomasMore]

his answer was that our foreign policy shared in the responsibility for this attack

In this he definitely overstepped his bounds.