Bishop: None of your business (Hubbard rejects Catholic expert's criticism of Gov. Cuomo) [Catholic]

Times Union ^ | February 24, 2011 | Casey Seiler State Editor

[NYer]

FILE - This Jan. 2, 2011 file photo shows New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, with his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, and Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy, center, in front of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, in Albany, N.Y., after attending Sunday services. The father, the son and the question of whether to grant communion to Catholics who openly flout canon law has once again reared up in New York where a Vatican consultant is calling to deny the host to Gov. Cuomo while he is living with his girlfriend. More than 25 years ago, Cuomo's father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, ran afoul of the church for his support of abortion rights.

ALBANY -- Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard says it is "unfair and imprudent" to conclude that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, shouldn't receive Communion simply because they're living together.

Hubbard was responding to opinions expressed by Catholic canon law expert Edward Peters, who last month on his blog stated that the couple was engaging in what church law defines as "public concubinage" by sharing Lee's Westchester County home.

Peters wrote last month about Hubbard's warm welcome to the couple at Mass at Albany's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Jan. 2, the day after Cuomo's inauguration. He claimed that Hubbard had committed a "dereliction of pastoral duty."

Without referring to Peters, Hubbard responded Wednesday by telling any critics to, in effect, mind their own business.

"There are norms of the church governing the sacraments which Catholics are expected to observe," Hubbard wrote in a brief statement. "However, it is unfair and imprudent to make a pastoral judgment about a particular situation without knowing all the facts.

"As a matter of pastoral practice we would not comment publicly on anything which should be addressed privately, regardless if the person is a public figure or a private citizen," Hubbard wrote in conclusion.

John Dwyer, a former Jesuit who taught theology at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, said Hubbard's statement was "the perfect response, really solid."

Dwyer, who lives outside of Tannersville in the Catskills, said modern religious thought has come to the conclusion that Communion should be denied only to those living in mortal sin -- a state that requires "a serious, grievous matter," sufficient reflection by the sinner, and the "full consent" of his will.

"Cuomo comes from a day and age when living with your girlfriend isn't a serious, grievous matter ... or something that's seen as a serious violation of God's will," Dwyer said.

Peters, who teaches at Detroit's Sacred Heart Major Seminary, serves as a consultant to the highest Vatican court, the Apostolic Signatura. His opinions were picked up by a conservative news service and reported around the state on Wednesday.

The back-and-forth over Cuomo's good standing as a Catholic is the latest in a long series of conflicts between church and state. Numerous Catholic politicians who support abortion rights -- including Vice President Joe Biden and the late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy -- have been criticized for taking Communion despite their advocacy for a practice viewed as anathema by the Vatican. Indeed, Peters' initial blog post on Cuomo's appearance at Hubbard's Mass noted the governor's pro-choice stance as an additional affront to church law.

After an appearance Wednesday morning on Long Island, Cuomo commented on the matter in a style similar to Hubbard's.

"My religion is a private matter," he told reporters, "and it's not something I discuss in the political arena."

[NYer]

John Dwyer, a former Jesuit who taught theology at St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, said Hubbard's statement was "the perfect response, really solid."

St. Bernard's Institute is in a former seminary. It is overseen by both Bishops Hubbard (Albany) and Clark (Rochester), two of the most progressive US bishops. It is a hot bed of ultra liberal philosophy and theology.

Hubbard should meet with Cuomo and educate him in his faith. That is the proper course of action.

[NYer]

Ping!

[Uri’el-2012]

Hypocrisy !

Beware False Shepherds.

shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach

[Huck]

Helps to have a bishop on the payroll, I guess.

[ArrogantBustard]

Hubbard should meet with Cuomo and educate him in his faith.

Shouldn't both of them meet with an actual Christian and be educated in the Faith handed down from the Apostles?

[Alex Murphy]

Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard says it is "unfair and imprudent" to conclude that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his girlfriend, Sandra Lee, shouldn't receive Communion simply because they're living together.

Ping for later. Thread says [Catholic] not [Catholic Caucus].

[Notwithstanding]

The faux Catholic Dwyer is expanding the scandal even further by his idiotic and absolutely false statements, including this one:

“Cuomo comes from a day and age when living with your girlfriend isn’t a serious, grievous matter ... or something that’s seen as a serious violation of God’s will,” Dwyer said.

[OpusatFR]

“The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of unfaithful bishops”

*St. John Chrysostom

[Dr. Sivana]

"However, it is unfair and imprudent to make a pastoral judgment about a particular situation without knowing all the facts.

"Cuomo comes from a day and age when living with your girlfriend isn't a serious, grievous matter ... or something that's seen as a serious violation of God's will," Dwyer said.

I am sure that Canon lawyer Peters was being neither unfair nor imprudent, since he comes from a day when pastoral judgment about a particular situation without knowing all the facts of a public official is not something that's seen as a serious violation of God's Will.

Once you let the relativism genie out of the bottle, your eminence, you can't put it back.

[The Great RJ]

The Church has long had a double standard when it comes to liberal politicians. Look at Teddy Kennedy ..he should have been excommunicated for his open support of abortion and his numerous divorces should have cut him off from the Church altogether. Yet Teddy was given a full Catholic funeral with as I recall a Bishop presiding.

[Notwithstanding]

When a very public figure is very publicly “living in sin”, then there is scandal in that fact alone.

Society does accept “living in sin” and the Church will not try to impose its will in that regard.

The Church and the public rightly presume that non-married couples who live together as if they were married are unchaste. It is a rebuttable presumption, but for public figures who flaunt the relationship, a public announcement and evidence that they are living chastely is absolutely necessary to rebut the presumption of unchastity.

And the bishop adds to the scandal by acting as if the couple has repented and stopped “living in sin”, when there has been nothing to indicate that sinful behavior has ended.

Bishop Hubbard is one of those whose skull seems poised to pave the road to hell.

[Notwithstanding]

In his concubine’s vernacular, Cuomo is semi-married, semi-Catholic, and semi-repentant. He’s also half-baked.

And something tells me we will soon hear that the bishop’s goose is fully cooked.

[Gerish]

I agree with you, Hubbard should meet with him and instruct on the ways of salvation. It seems to me Mr. Cuomo is at a crossroads with the choice to be made between his will and the Will of God. As of right now he seems to be choosing against God. When a person is in this state he runs a great risk. When he starts to love sin, if he loves to lie, commit adultery, cheat, or kill, his ability to love has turned toward himself and away from God. He will not tolerate anyone who accomplishes God's Will because it interferes with his own. God becomes a threat to his way of life. An enemy. A competitor.

Much work needs to be done Bishop Hubbard!

[Sergio]

As a Catholic, I can understand how situations like this make people turn to the Protestant faiths. What is it about higher positions that turns some very good priests into sniveling, political, hacks.

As our priest said last Sunday, “It is not morality that must adjust itself to contemporary culture, but contemporary culture that must adjust itself to morality.”

[EDINVA]

It’s the bishop who needs to be instructed, perhaps by Peters, before he can instruct Cuomo. I wasn’t aware the Church followed popular culture. Silly me, I thought the Church had its principles, and followed them in spite of changes in what is socially acceptable. How did a clown like this get to be bishop?

[lastchance]

Hubbard needs to be told to take retirement now.

[tioga]

Huh, your boy is busy! Too bad he doesn’t have the final say.....he will have to answer to the Big Guy for this little fiasco.

[tioga]

I am counting the days till we shed ourselves of Clark. Can’t happen soon enough.

[lastchance]

“John Dwyer, a former Jesuit who taught theology at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, said Hubbard’s statement was “the perfect response, really solid.”

Dwyer, who lives outside of Tannersville in the Catskills, said modern religious thought has come to the conclusion that Communion should be denied only to those living in mortal sin — a state that requires “a serious, grievous matter,” sufficient reflection by the sinner, and the “full consent” of his will.

“Cuomo comes from a day and age when living with your girlfriend isn’t a serious, grievous matter ... or something that’s seen as a serious violation of God’s will,” Dwyer said.”

For him alone I think is reason enough to start a “CINO Jackass of The Day” award.