Two hundred and fifty Catholics, not much of crowd, assembled on the first day of "Fortnight for Freedom" at St. Patrick's Cathedral to hear New York's top priest, Timothy Dolan, celebrate Mass and reflect on religious liberty. "Fortnight for Freedom" is a two-week period designated by the USCCB (United States Conference for Catholic Bishops) as a time for prayer and reflection on religious freedom. What "Fortnight for Freedom" really is, is a, now scaled-down, effort to mobilize Catholics to vote for Mitt Romney in November.
It's likely Dolan's public relations nosedive has necessitated a few alterations in the plan. So far "Fortnight for Freedom" hasn't gotten much support in New York, but Catholics made a better showing in Baltimore, where Archbishop William Lori's Mass to kick off "Fortnight for Freedom" was well-attended. Perhaps they're a little softer on systematic child-sexual abuse in the birthplace of American Catholicism, for it was standing room only at the basilica on Friday.
At the June 24 Roman Catholic Mass I attended in New York, no mention of "Fortnight for Freedom" was made, and the two announcements following the Mass were invitations to parishioners to join in the New York City LGBT "Gay Pride" parade and a request for volunteers to work a few shifts in a an overnight respite program for homeless men.
It would seem "Fortnight for Freedom" has, thus far, been a dud in New York City.
The bishops draped "Fortnight for Freedom" in "old Glory" becasue they know that right-wing Protestant fundamentalists like the stars and stripes a lot more than they like Roman Catholics. While the USCCB has no substantive objection to a black president, the bishops recognize that in Obama, they and white, American racist (so-called) "Christians" share a common enemy. The enemies of the bishops' enemies are the bishops' friends. The red-neck-friendly patriotism packaging bridges the right wing Catholic-fundamentalist Christian gap.
On the other hand, the USCCB must be careful not to overdo the redneck angle. They may find a certain comfort in joining the "bring your gun to church" "Christians" -- but the bishops are ever mindful that many U.S. Catholics are black and brown. While the bishops know most black and Latino Catholics will probably vote for Obama, they also recognize that a small percentage of black and Latino Catholic locksteppers are the kind of undiscerning Catholics who will simply vote as the bishops tell them to vote.
The great black hope of lockstep Catholics "of color" might explain why William E. Lori and Timothy Dolan et al took the chance of trotting out "Letter of Birmingham Jail" two weeks ago, which they cannibalized quite erroneously for their lecture on the importance of conscience, "Why Conscience is Important," which they disseminated via weekly paper bulletins throughout every diocese in the United State on June 10. (This document disappeared, curiously, from some of the websites on which I'd found it earlier. You can read it on Indie Theology.)
The Latino vote is of special concern to the bishops at present because both the bishops themselves and Obama favor progressive immigration policies. Hence, the need for the "Why Conscience is Important," a sophomoric and cringe-inducing missive in which the bishops make liberal use of the lyrical, logical prose of a courageous black American patriot and man of the cloth, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in order to make a case for what they fallaciously dub "religious freedom." This morally tone-deaf lecture on conscience was composed and delivered by a conference of bishops whose president was -- at the very time the insert was being disseminated to U.S. dioceses -- remaining silent in the face of serious allegations of indirect complicity in the sexual abuse of children.
The lecture on conscience, coming as it did from a group led by a man who unfortunately appears to many to lack one, was a slap in the face to every decent Catholic who read it. (Read more about this document on Indie Theology.) One amusing aspect of "Why Conscience is Important" is that its author missed the point of "Birmingham Jail" entirely, while offering any Catholic with reasonable reading comprehension skill the ideal argument in favor of disregarding the pontiff and Magisterium when informed conscience demands it.
The thesis of both the composition from the bishops, and from "Letter From Birmingham Jail" from which it disingenuously borrows, is that unjust laws (those that prohibit contraception or same-sex marriage, for example) are made to be broken. "Why Conscience Matters," in other words, reiterates the argument advanced by Joseph Ratzinger in his commentary on the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution,Gaudiem et spes: "Over the pope as the expression of the binding claim of ecclesiastical authority, there still stands one's own conscience, which must be obeyed before all else, even if necessary against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority..."
Read the rest of "Fortnight for Freedom in New York CIty: A Dud?" on Indie Theology.
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"Those women priests are excommunicated." So you say.
As you know, most Catholics in the pews in the US and Europe are self-excommunicants, a few of the saints were excommunicated, and leaders of your esteemed schismatics are currently excommunicated.
Excommunication in the church has lost its sting. To a majority of Catholics, it means nothing.
I don't doubt there' a schism (It's hardly silent.) but I DO doubt that you are, as you say, "afraid" that "we" (in this case the majority of Roman Catholics) will be "jettisoned." It's more likely that you, who do not accept the primacy of conscience doctrine, actually wish to see gay Catholics, women priests, divorced Catholics, gay priests, and couples who use artificial contraception "jettisoned." But we've already beaten the pontiff to the jettisoning.
Blindly allegiant Magisterium adherents often fail to miss that most Catholics believe, as Joseph Ratzinger himself has taught, that being an obedient servant to Christ sometimes demands the rejection man-made codes that fail to reflect Christ. It's called "discernment."
Your exhortation to confess amuses me. The male priest to whom I DO confess happens not to think my essays are sinful. To the contrary.
I suppose I should have to find one of those confessors who'd follow the Borgia pope into hell -- or one who imagines, as you do, that he knows the mind of God and feels thus qualified to commend others to eternal damnation.
MMS
Please speak for yourself on the "self-excommunication" aspect. If a Catholic has a struggle with sinfullness (i.e. all that is against the Catechism of the Church) and does not publicly blame it on the Magesterium as you have, it makes them sinners, not excommunicants.
Excommunication has lost it's sting because like you, "some" Catholics are simply ticket punchers.
Non-practicing gay Catholics are welcome into the fold. Women priests have been forbidden since ever since (I told you about Malchezedek right?), and divorced Catholics must have their anullment fulfilled. I explained this to a Hells Angel on a flight from South Carolina last night.
Adherence to Vatican II, which was pastoral not doctrinal, was following the primacy of conscience and the Tridentine Mass was always welcome in the Orthodox Rite, as is married priests if you do your homework - ALL in Communion with Rome.
The male priests to whom you confess do so because they perhaps know you, and even thought the confession may be valid, your continuance of your literary attacks on the Huffington Post against the clergy is malicious.
Perhaps you cannot take a little constructive criticism. I did once when I left the Church for 3 years to combat personal lifestyle problems, and returned via the advice of a Presbyterian minister and friend. I have certainly taken wise advice from a heretic.
You should perhaps heed wise advice from me, a humble sinner.
One who presumes to know the mind of God can hardly claim to be "a humble sinner." "Sinner" yes? "Humble?" Not so much.
Many Roman Catholics (you appear to be one.) are unaware that many lesser "sins" --sep. "heresy" which includes under its definition "rejection of doctrine" result in self-excommunication if they, by which I mean the sins "sins," are ongoing while the RC offender continues to receive thesacraments. That's how a majority of RCs in US and Europe wind up "latae sentiae" excommunicated.
Some ultra-conservative RCs even view reading essays like this & my most recent one-- "Can 'Liberal' Christianity Be Saved?...” a sin (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-somerville/can-liberal-christianity-be-saved-it-already-is_b_1680187.html?utm_hp_ref=tw) which, if it is ongoing, could land the RC reader in excommunication territory!
I'm glad that orthodox RC has helped you to overcome your personal problems, and I thank you for commenting on my essay.
MMS
I am always astonished and a bit amused by how some Catholics claim to have the authority to divine from afar just how Catholic their fellow RCs are ! A quick perusal of the history of our saints reveals that being "Catholic under protest" is no transgression; more often it is something our faith demands.
I do celebrate the Jewish Sabbath with Jewish family members (I also capitalize the initial consonant in the word “Jewish” -- out of respect.) However, I have never taken part in Wicca observance.
MMS
Being an involved and dedicated mother of three children who attend school 185 days a year in NYC where we live, I don’t have as much opportunity as I'd like to travel throughout the US. However, within the past three years I have worshiped in RC churches in six states other than my own, as well as ones in Europe. Furthermore, writing about religion offers me the chance to correspond regularly with dozens of Catholics of varying degrees of orthodoxy, many of them clergy, who live in the US, Australia, UK and Ireland. My eyes, in other words, are quite open.
It’s easy to criticize a writer for what she doesn’t write about, and easy, also, to make lazy erroneous assumptions about people (in this case, New Yorkers) based on where they live.
Thanks for the comment.
MMS
"I have three children and live in NYC, and since I've been to 6 out of 50 states and have been to 3 different countries to get my passport stamped and you haven't, I am better than you because you are lazy"
Some of the bishops in the USCCB strongly support the Affordable Health Care Act and many bishops throughout the US do as well. Many pastors throughout the US, driven by their feeling that providing affordable health care for the poor will save lives, just said "no" to their ordinaries when it came to pressure to promote "Fortnight." The scandal involving USCCB's president who was supposed to be the charismatic captain of the "fortnight" crusade further crippled the effort.
Thanks.
MMS
Thanks for the comment.
This is what happens when the leadership is not in touch with the practical aspects of how it is normal people live their lives.