Yes, it is worrisome. But none of the details suggest that he is weak on any of the basic orthodox matters. Not that that proves he isn’t. But I think we need to wait and see.
Chicago is a very tough diocese to run. Cardinal George was a good man, but he certainly had his work cut out for him. you are dealing with Mafia City, and with a lot of bad stuff inherited from earlier times. A lot of questionable priests, and if you fired them all, you wouldn’t have enough left to man the parishes. Same problem as Boston.
Plus Chicagoland is Obamaland.
The Lavender Mafia/Officious Church Lady parish leadership model is O'Malley's vision for Boston.
A perusal of the priests O'Malley puts in positions of authority under his new collaborative model, along with the parishes he visits and praises and his sidelining of conservative priests shows clearly where his values lie. They are very much in line with the liberal reforms that Francis is putting forward. Consider that O'Malley, Dolan and Wuerl, three of the most liberal cardinals in America, are the Pope's trusted advisors and are selecting new bishops and making recommendations for new cardinals. What is happening in Boston and New York will be spreading all over the country.
Cardinal George admitted to Robert Royal, his biographer, that he had soft-pedaled abortion, because he needs to raise $100 million a year from rich pro-aborts to support the Catholic schools.