SFLA will gather together to stand up for women, show the value and worth of children in the womb, and voice support for keeping Ireland abortion-free.
Event Details:
When: Monday, May 20th
8am – Prayer Vigil and Public Witness
9am – Press Conference
Where: Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA – Corner of Beacon Street and Reservoir Avenue
“The fact that Boston College is honoring the man who is pushing an abortion bill that will lead to the mass death of preborn Irish children and the harm of countless women and families is unconscionable,” said SFLA President Kristan Hawkins. “Thousands of people from across the globe have taken action on our websiteNotAtBC.com to voice their outrage over the decision and send messages of support to Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who has been under attack by pro-abortion forces for boycotting the event. It’s shameful that BC’s President, Rev. William Leahy, has not rescinded the invitation to Prime Minister Enda Kenny, despite the outcry from the public and Catholic leaders. If Boston College won’t stand for the preborn at its graduation ceremonies, we will.”PM Kenny and his governing party Fine Gael have gone against their election promises and introduced legislation that would legalize abortion in Ireland under the guise of preventing the suicide of pregnant women. As there is no gestational age limit to the measure, it would mean abortion on demand, by threat of suicide, through all nine months of pregnancy. In addition, Catholic hospitals would be forced to comply with the proposed law as it does not contain conscience clause protections for their health care workers.
The Catholic Church in Ireland has denounced the measure and called upon the Irish people to lobby their elected representatives to oppose it. Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of Ireland, said the bill, if approved, would “make the direct and intentional killing of unborn children lawful in Ireland.” In addition, Kenny has threatened to expel pro-life Catholics from his party if they refuse to vote for the measure.
NotAtBC.com is a website sponsored by a coalition of the nation’s leading pro-life organizations.
Here are more details from Boston Operation Rescue on their planned protest:
LOCATION: Beacon Street entrance to Alumni Stadium @ BC.
PARKING: It will be tight! There are meters on Beacon Street near the Alumni Stadium entrance. It is possible, however, that a parking ban may be in effect at the meters. If so, we’ll have to car pool from Cleveland Circle.
Therefore, it is best to arrive early to be able to deal with contingencies.
BY MBTA: Take the Green Line (B train) to the end, which is the Boston College stop. Walk past the front of Saint Ignatius Church, bear left and walk down St. Thomas More Road to Beacon Street (about a half-mile walk).
IF YOU NEED A RIDE from somewhere near BC to our protest site, call my cell at 774-287-0751. We’ll have someone pick you up.
MONDAY’S AGENDA
In addition to our pro-life demonstration, Students for Life of America has announced that they are sending a contingent from Virginia. They have a prayer vigil scheduled for 8:00 am and will also do a press conference. Confirmed participants in the press conference:
Kristan Hawkins, Students for Life
CJ Doyle, Catholic Action League
Kate Bryan, Live Action
Jack Falvey, Making the Numbers (and a BC alum)
Expected at the press conference are the National Catholic Register, some Irish media, and at least one Boston outlet.
RECAP
Jesuit administered Boston College will award an honorary Doctor of Laws degree to Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, who will also be the principal speaker at the BC’s 2013 commencement on May 20.
On April 30th, Kenny’s coalition government introduced legislation to legalize abortion in Ireland.
At a time when the Catholic Church and the entire pro-life movement in Ireland are opposing this man, Boston College is honoring him! This is one of the worst acts of betrayal by a Catholic institution in the history of American Catholicism!
Former state representative Martha Walz, the President and CEO of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, called Kenny an “appropriate commencement speaker.”
Catholic Action League Executive Director C. J. Doyle stated: “Everything we ever wanted to know about Enda Kenny and his unpersuasive claims that he plans no major changes in Ireland’s abortion laws, has now been explained to us by Marty Walz. As for Boston College, the only thing more threadbare than its Catholic identity is its institutional credibility.
“BC, a school built by and for Catholics, now stands with Planned Parenthood and a pro-abortion government against the Church and the pro-life movement. It is an unconscionable betrayal.”
BCI again commends Cardinal O’Malley for boycotting this event and for his public statement of criticism. We wish BC had rescinded their invitation and urge any local Catholics to join in the public protest on Monday if they are able to.
As Phase One of the new Boston pastoral plan, Disciples in Mission, is being rolled out, early indicators are that the plan is going to be anywhere from somewhat to highly problematic. This is the plan that will group Boston parishes into collaboratives staffed by a single pastor, with a shared pastoral service team (PST). For a while, BCI tried to stay neutral, if not cautiously optimistic about the plan, but each week as we see and hear more about the rollout, the more concerned we become.
BCI sees multiple problems. At a high level, they include:
Promotion of the agendas and beliefs of those who dissent from the faith, pretending it is part of the “new evangelization”
Failure to plan for former pastors who will no longer be pastors
Unnecessary reductions in Mass schedules and availability of the sacraments
Unresponsiveness to the concerns of faithful Catholics by Cardinal O’Malley, Vicar General Bishop Deeley, and Assistant to the VG Fr. Bryan Parrish
Lack of understanding of the key success factors for evangelization (as exemplified by the meeting in Braintree this past Saturday)
It will take many posts for us to go into all of these. We will start with just a preview of the first two areas today.
As seen here, the pastors for all of the Phase One collaboratives were announced recently:
Pastors of the Phase One Collaboratives
As of last week, all of the Pastors for the Phase One Collaboratives have been named. Each one has responded generously and willingly to implement the Pastoral Plan as Pastor of one of the Collaboratives. We promise them our prayers and support in the days and months ahead. These new Pastors are:
1. Saint Luke and Saint Joseph, Belmont ~ Fr. Thomas Mahoney
2. Saint Mary, Saint Margaret and Saint John, Beverly ~ Fr. Mark Mahoney
3. Saint Mary, Saint Theresa, and Saint Andrew, Billerica ~ Fr. Shawn Allen
4. Saint Mary, Brookline ~ Fr. Brian Clary
5. Saint Mary of the Angels, Saint Thomas Aquinas and Our Lady of Lourdes,
Jamaica Plain ~ Fr. Carlos Flor
6. Saint Mary and Sacred Heart, Lynn ~ Fr. Brian Flynn
7. Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint Maria Goretti, Lynnfield ~ Fr. Paul Ritt
8. Saint Lucy and Saint Monica, Methuen ~ Msgr. William Fay
9. Saints Martha and Mary, Lakeville and Sacred Heart, Middleboro/Rochester
~ Fr. John Sheridan
10. Sacred Heart and Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton ~ Fr. John Sassani
11. Saint James, Saint John, Immaculate Conception and Sainte Anne, Salem,
~ Fr. Daniel Riley
12. Saint Jerome and Immaculate Conception, Weymouth ~ Fr. Joseph Rossi
About 3/4 of the present group of pastors are new to their collaborative. Apparently Fr. Paul Soper, Director of Pastoral Planning, (who had a Voice of the Faithful group at his most recent parish for several years), is driving this and is largely getting his way with the pastoral appointments. BCI is told they want hand-picked “chosen” ones in collaboratives, so in some cases the normal pastoral appointment process is bypassed and politics kick in.
BCI is going to share brief comments on just one appointment to exemplify our point about promotion of dissident agendas and beliefs–Fr. John Sassani. He offers yoga in his parish, despite the known objections of the Vatican and risk to the spiritual health of participants. His history of allowing promotion of agendas that dissent from the Catholic faith is well documented in his parish bulletins. Just take a look at the books his parishioners are encouraged to read in their book club, and see this comment from Newton church-hopper:
BCI you should look closer at Our Ladys. Besides glass vessels for the blood of Christ, look at the kinds of faith formation programs they have.
Our Ladys Book Club was reading “sister” Joan Chittister’s “In Search of Belief” last fall. http://www.ourladys.com/3communications/12_OLbulletin1117.pdf
Chittister is a dissident nun, 60′s leftist and new-ager, supports women’s ordination, speaks at Call to Action conferences.
There are many other examples we will have to cover in a future post. Readers tell BCI that Our Lady’s is very much a “new age” type parish–far from orthodox in liturgies and ministries. They are now paired with a parish that had been led by a very orthodox pastor. All in the Boston Archdiocese should ask why a pastor who allows and encourages his parishioners to read this garbage would now be made pastor of a collaborative. Is this an early indicator for future collaboratives?
Then there is the new problem created–we have too many priests for the available pastor slots, so a number of former pastors are now sitting on the sidelines. 50 priests were forced to resign their roles this spring to make way for Phase 2 collaboratives. (Normally, maybe 10 pastors change at this time of year, so 50 is a big number). There were 12 open roles for pastors of collaboratives, plus some additional openings not formally a part of the collaborative effort. Because a lot more pastors were forced to resign from parishes than there are available pastor roles, a number of former pastors now have no place to go. The reasons are varied–some parishes cannot afford a second or third priest, some of the new pastors do not want certain of the former pastors as parochial vicars, some former pastors do not want to now be a parochial vicar, and there are issues and agendas on both sides (whether real or perceived).
To deal with this new problem, sources tell BCI that the office of Clergy Personnel has hired a new psychiatrist to coordinate the treatment of priests’ issues, including those associated with displacement and moving assignments. We are not kidding.
BCI has been praying for the success of the pastoral planning effort in Boston, and still hopes it is successful. But we are beginning to have very serious concerns about execution of the new pastoral plan, and the implications for the typical Boston parish. Readers are invited to share their initial reactions to what they are seeing of the implementation so far.
The Cathedral of the Holy Cross is hosting an interfaith prayer service on Thursday at 11am in memory of the victims of Monday’s horrific Boston Marathon bombing. President Obama is headlining the event. Gov. Deval Patrick, and Boston Mayor Tom Menino will be there, along with Cardinal O’Malley.
We absolutely need to pray for the victims of this evil act. Within hours after the blast, Cardinal O’Malley issued a statement, “The Archdiocese of Boston joins all people of good will in expressing deep sorrow following the senseless acts of violence perpetrated at the Boston Marathon today.” The 8-year-old boy who died in the blast was identified as Martin Richard, whose family belongs to St. Ann Catholic Parish in Dorchester. His mother and sister were seriously injured.
It also makes sense to promote a message of hope in response to the tragedy to those who are both Catholic and of other faiths. Cardinal O’Malley also said in his statement, “We stand in solidarity with our ecumenical and interfaith colleagues in the commitment to witness the greater power of good in our society and to work together for healing.” Hopefully, people across the country are praying in their own places of worship and according to their respective faiths.
It also is understandable that President Obama, Gov. Patrick, Mayor Menino, and Cardinal O’Malley would make public appearances in support of the victims, their families and all who are affected by the horror of what happened on Monday.
But this headline news is troubling: “Obama to Lead Interfaith Service in South End on Thursday.” Despite the good intentions, an “interfaith prayer service” headlined by President Obama at the Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Cross just feels bad for a number of reasons–practical, political and spiritual.
On a practical basis, one obvious concern as stated at The Tenth Crusade is that instead of looking for the murderer, police power and resources now shift to a Presidential appearance.
Politically, although it is appropriate for the President of the United States to make an appearance in Boston to offer condolences and support, the effect will likely be a political boost to his popularity. And he is doing so in a Catholic Church and the Mother Church of the Boston Archdiocese with the permission, support and imprimatur of Cardinal O’Malley.
We have Obama as no doubt the most anti-Catholic President in history–he is pro-abortion and favors the killing of children in the womb, and his HHS mandate threatens religious freedom for the Catholic Church, Catholic organizations, and any business or organization that operates with Catholic values. Under Obama, the U.S. Army Reserves recently published a training brief on “Extremism & Extremist Organization,” (covering militias, neo-Nazis, Islamic extremism, terrorism and gangs) which listed Catholicism and evangelical Christianity as examples of religious extremism, along with groups including al Qaeda, Hamas and the Ku Klux Klan. His actions–and those of his administration–give the very clear message that he hates the Catholic Church and opposes our teachings and moral values. Despite this, on Thursday, we will have the most pro-abortion anti-Catholic president in history, appearing with one of the most pro-abortion governors in the country and the pro-abortion Mayor of Boston, complemented nicely for photo opps by the chair of the USCCB pro-life committee, Cardinal O’Malley, all talking about the senseless loss of life. What message does this give? When it is the senseless murder of adults it is wrong, but we will forget about the senseless murder of the unborn for today’s photo opp?
More important than the practical and political concerns are the spiritual ones of such an interfaith gathering. As we all know, our church teaches us that outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation, because salvation is the Church. This is the dogma of extra ecclesiam nulla salus, which literally means, “outside the church there is no salvation.” This dogma and its infallibility have been reaffirmed on many occasions. Pope Pius IX said in 1854: “We must hold as of the faith, that out of the Apostolic Roman Church there is no salvation; that she is the only ark of safety, and whosoever is not in her perishes in the deluge.”
Given that reality, how it that Cardinal O’Malley can be comfortable with any “common language for us to pray together” representing the breadth of religious traditions in the city that those organizing the service hope to find–and that happening in the Mother Church of the archdiocese ? Those involved as of now include the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, and clergy from First Church Cambridge, Old South Church, Trinity Church, Arlington Street Church and First Church Boston.
How can there be a “common language” for prayer amongst Catholicism, Judaism, Islam, Protestantism and other faiths?
Is it at any time appropriate for there to be an “interfaith service” in a Catholic Church, let alone the Cathedral? Will the Body of Christ still be reserved in the Sanctuary too?
In this interfaith service, will there be any mention that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Our Lord, and it is necessary to be in it for eternal salvation?
Will there be any mention that the Protestants and people of other faiths in attendance are in error, which could condemn their souls to Hell?
One could argue that gathering people together of all faiths to mourn and pray together is a good thing, and that in this time of tragedy, non-Catholics would not take well to being evangelized by the Catholic Church. Both are valid points and reasons to criticize BCI for this post. But those arguments ignore the fundamental error of the interfaith gathering in a Catholic Church.
To not oppose error, and not instruct people in a charitable and pastorally kind way that they are in error would be to support that error and/or be an accessory to that error. For Catholics who participate, it also risks giving the appearance we are okay with polytheism.
People of all faiths should pray for the victims of the Monday tragedy and for the conversion of the soul of the murderer. If folks want an interfaith gathering to pray for the victims of the horrible tragedy of Monday, that should simply not be in a Catholic Church. And since dialogue with Obama (ie. Notre Dame commencement, the Al Smith Dinner, private negotiations over the HHS mandate) has not moderated his anti-Catholic positions, BCI believes we should not create scandal by having him speak as a featured guest and publicly-acknowledged “leader” of the interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross with the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Boston.
Today, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has set up a committee of eight cardinals from around the world to advise him on how to reform the Roman Curia. Cardinal Sean O’Malley is one of the eight. Here is the Vatican statement:
The Holy Father Francis, taking up a suggestion that emerged during the General Congregations preceding the Conclave, has established a group of cardinals to advise him in the government of the universal Church and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, ‘Pastor Bonus’.
The group consists of:
- Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Governorate of Vatican City State;
- Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, archbishop emeritus of Santiago de Chile, Chile;
- Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India;
- Cardinal Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising, Germany;
- Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo;
- Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley O.F.M. Cap., archbishop of Boston, USA;
- Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia;
- Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in the role of coordinator; and
- Bishop Marcello Semeraro of Albano, Italy, in the role of secretary.
The group’s first meeting has been scheduled for 1-3 October 2013. His Holiness is, however, currently in contact with the aforementioned cardinals.
News reports say that the committee will advise Pope Francis on how to reform the Catholic Church’s “troubled central administration.” Reports say, “The basic failings of the Curia were aired, sometimes passionately, at closed-door meetings of cardinals before they retired into the conclave that elected Francis.”
BCI finds it ironic that Cardinal O’Malley has been appointed to a committee to reform the Roman Curia, when his own central administration is troubled and he has failed to effectively govern and reform it for the past decade. Someone just suggested to BCI that Cardinal O’Malley serving on a committee to help reform the Roman Curia would be kind of like Hillary Clinton serving on a committee to help reform international embassy security.
In Boston, for nearly 3 years we have been documenting the ongoing problems of:
Nearly $4M annually in excessive six-figure salaries paid to lay executives
Moving around of funds from originally designated purposes to someplace else
Skyrocketing administrative expenses
Cronyism in hiring
Deception in communications and in policy making
Retention of Finance Council members and key advisers to the Cardinal who work against Catholic Church teachings
Routine violations of the archdiocesan Code of Conduct
Incompetence by high paid cabinet members
Draining of capital reserves to pay operating expenses
$140M in unpaid debt, with no plan to be able to repay the debt
34% decline in Mass attendance between 2000 and 2012
40-50% of parishes operating in the red
Abdication of leadership by Cardinal O’Malley and a failure by him to teach through his actions and words.
Other than those minor matters, everything is just great in Boston. Just a few of these problems are described in this recent blog post.
As Cardinal O’Malley embarks on this new assignment, we humbly put forward the Gospel of Matthew 7:3-5:
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite,remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.
We hope and pray that Cardinal O’Malley takes time during the next 5-6 months before the Vatican committee meets to first clean up the house in Boston and remove some of the largest wooden beams here.
The Boston Archdiocese is looking for an Evangelization Trainer in the Office of the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization. A lot is going on around parish pastoral planning and grouping the Boston Archdiocese into multi-parish collaboratives. If this is an important role, we are glad to help promote the position.
That said, first one might question why this role is needed. That is a discussion in and of itself. Then, if it is indeed important, we wonder why the job descriptions from the Boston Archdiocese so often sound like the archdiocese does not care if they actually hire Catholics for these jobs. And job qualifications like, “Willingness to support the mission of the Catholic Church” make it sound like the diocese is embarrassed to be Catholic and desperate for anyone who would put themselves out and be “willing” to support the mission of the Catholic Church for the sake of a paycheck.
Here is the job description:
SUMMARY: The Evangelization Trainer, working closely with the other members of the EVNE team and in collaboration with the other offices involved in the implementation of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan, Disciples in Mission, is responsible for the development and implementation of the training and support necessary in assisting parish collaboratives in becoming centers for the New Evangelization.
Other responsibilities may include involvement in other initiatives associated with supporting parishes in learning about and engaging in the mission of the New Evangelization.
The Evangelization Trainer reports to the Senior Associate to the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: • Assist in developing the curriculum for the various stages of training for the pastoral plan.
• Facilitate stages of training.
• Engage pastors, pastoral service teams, pastoral and finance councils, and school boards in consultative service.
• Research and help parishes implement best practices for the New Evangelization that are relevant to their current needs and demographics.
• Other duties as may be assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS: • Bachelor’s degree in Theology, Religious Studies or a related field. Master’s degree preferred
• Minimum 3-5 years of experience in a diocesan, parish, school, apostolate or similar setting.
• Must have experience and knowledge of the Catholic faith and the Church’s mission for the New Evangelization and a demonstrated ability to lead others to embrace this mission in their own lives.
• Knowledge of Church documents, teachings and writings on evangelization, new evangelization and catechesis.
• Ability to articulate authentic Catholic teaching, advise on pastoral needs and program responses.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office as well as social networking tools.
• Experience working with the public and handling issues/complaints in a diplomatic manner.
• Ability to anticipate needs, establish priorities, maintain confidentiality, demonstrate discretion, project a positive attitude and exercise a high level of professionalism.
• Strong skills in organizing, multi-tasking and following through in a busy, changing environment.
• Excellent relationship-building skills with a focus on service to others. A high level of energy, creativity and humor. Ability to establish trust and work collaboratively.
• Ability to communicate effectively through e-mail and/or telephone.
• Must possess strong communication skills (both oral and written).
• Strong interpersonal, leadership and presentation skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel throughout the Archdiocese of Boston.
• Willingness to support the mission of the Catholic Church.
We have said it before and will say it again. This archdiocese already has had experience with people like the current Exec. Director of Benefits (and former Director of HR), a proud ex-Catholic, who introduced yoga classes to the Pastoral Center last year among other concerns BCI has documented in the past. We have Jack Connors, Jr, supposedly supporting Catholic Schools while he works against the Catholic Church by raising money for pro-abortion, anti-Catholic politicians who want to take away our religious freedoms. Why is it not possible for the Boston Archdiocese to explicitly require that the person in this job be a practicing Catholic who believes what the Catholic Church believes and wants to advance the saving ministry of Jesus Christ?
Were we to ask so-called “practicing Catholics ” such as Jack Connors, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John Kerry, and VP Joe Biden, about whether they have “experience and knowledge” of the Catholic faith, they would likely say “yes.” In public comments, they claim to be “practicing Catholics.” But do they accept and agree with the teachings of the Catholic Church as handed down by the Magisterium of the Church, and actually embrace, accept, and believe them?
A reasonable person should first ask why this role is necessary at all. Are there not other ways to train people in evangelization? Then one might ask why a layer of bureaucracy is needed such that it reports to the “Senior Associate to the Episcopal Vicar for the New Evangelization.” Lastly, it seems to BCI that the job requirements for a role like this should say explicitly that a candidate must be a practicing Catholic in good standing who enthusiastically accepts and embraces authentic Catholic doctrine as entrusted and handed down by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Think of it like a version of a mandatum for key diocesan executives or employees, where the candidate is asked to affirm that they agree with and will not dissent from Church teachings on the Holy Trinity, sin, salvation, celibate male priesthood, non-negotiable moral issues (eg. abortion, homosexual acts, marriage, euthanasia), role of the Pope as head of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Immaculate Conception. Candidates for the job should agree to refrain from representing in actions or words as Catholic teaching anything that is contrary to the Magisterium of the Church, and they should also agree to not give their support (e.g. jobs, hiring, endorsements, donations) to any individuals or organizations that advance positions contrary to the Magisterium of the Church.
Our prayer for Cardinal O’Malley, Vicar General Bishop Deeley, and Bishop Kennedy is that if the position is filled, the final hire be a practicing Catholic who enthusiastically embraces authentic Catholic doctrine as entrusted and handed down by the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The pastoral planning effort will be a difficult one in the years ahead, and it would be a tremendous grace for the whole archdiocese to have faithful Catholics in that office who believe what the Catholic Church believes and want to evangelize the truths of our Catholic faith. Is that too much to ask?
Here at BCI you often read about either of two types of corruption in the Boston Archdiocese–governance-related or moral. (We wish there was neither). Today, we feel obliged to expose a situation of moral and spiritual corruption at St. Cecilia Church in Boston.
Many people may be familiar with St. Cecilia for their pastor and “Rainbow Ministry” having planned a scandalous “Gay Pride” Mass back in the summer of 2011. The original Mass to mark Gay Pride month was cancelled after an outcry by faithful Catholics, then rescheduled to several weeks later. About a year ago, BCI wrote about how St. Cecilia removed a publicly viewable statue of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross during their $18-20M renovation and never replaced it. Now, we see that the parish just ran a “Lenten Speaker” series where the first topic was, “On Being Liked: LGBT Catholics.” And their “Rainbow Ministry,” which had no public signs of being active for nearly two years, was involved with the talk and now appears publicly active again.
For faithful Christians, Lent is a time of prayer, penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial. As we know, Jesus prayed, fasted, and overcame temptation in the desert, and “By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” (CCC). Catholic Encyclopedia says, “The purpose of Lent is to provide that purification by weaning men from sin and selfishness through self-denial and prayer, by creating in them the desire to do God’s will and to make His kingdom come by making it come first of all in their hearts.”
Given that, and what you are about to read, we find it difficult to understand how this program is even remotely “Catholic” or how it relates to the purpose of Lent. In one word, the program is BAD.
Here it a link to the bulletin listing for the “Lenten Speaker” series:
The parish’s annual Lenten Speaker Series will begin on Wednesday evening, March 13 at seven o’clock. The theme of this year’s series is “All Who Love, Live in God.” Our first speaker is Fr. George Piggford, CSC. Fr. Piggford was born, raised, and educated in Pennsylvania until he moved to Montreal to pursue his doctorate in English literature and French theory at the University of Montreal. He spent two years teaching at Tufts before entering formation for the Congregation of Holy Cross, which included theological study at the University of Notre Dame and led to his ordination in 2005. In 2004,he joined the English faculty of Stonehill College. His research and teaching interests include modernism and post-modernism, gender, and questions of transcendence in literature. Father Piggford directs the Moreau Honors Program and is involved in the “It Needs to Get Better” movement at Stonehill. His topic on March 13 will be “On Being Liked: LGBT Catholics.” The Saint Cecilia Rainbow Ministry will host a reception after the event.
Problem 1: “modernism”
Problem 2: the speaker
Just Google George Piggford and here is a sample of what you will find.
Edited book “Queer Forster“, described as a “radical revision of gay criticism.”
Attended and supported recent talk at Stonehill College co-sponsored by the campus PRIDE group, where the speaker was Vatican-censured nun, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry. (New Ways Ministry does not support Catholic Church teachings on chastity). As recently reported by the Cardinal Newman Society, Gramick was censured by the Vatican for her heretical ministry and ordered to not speak publicly about homosexuality due to “grave doctrinal errors” in her work. Yet in this New Ways Ministry report on the February 12 event, Fr. Piggford was quoted as saying, ““I think that Sister Jeannine Gramick’s witness and her ministry is incredibly powerful…I have a great deal of respect for her willingness to live according to her conscience…”. [Note: Stonehill College is in the Diocese of Fall River].
Taught course at Tufts “Queer Theory” before becoming a priest. A reader brought this 1999 course listing to our attention in comments: ENGLISH 192B QUEER THEORY
“Queer”: strange, odd, perverse, eccentric, bent, spinsterly, deviant. This course will trace the rise of queer studies from two principal disciplines: feminism and lesbian and gay studies. Read more here, but be forewarned it’s not good. PROFESSOR: PIGGFORD
All VERY BAD.
Across the archdiocese, pastors and parishes have been offering Catholic Lenten programs including weekly Stations of the Cross, a discussion group about the writings of St. Therese of Lisieux, a seminar on “Living the Moral Life Today,” talks on penance, repentance, worshiping God in the Eucharist and Holy Mass and many other programs appropriate for Lent.
Why could St. Cecilia’s not offer something similar in Lent that would call their parishioners to penance, repentance, almsgiving, and self-denial? What is wrong with the pastoral leadership at St. Cecilia in Boston? What is wrong that the Archdiocese allows this to continue?
When the “Gay Pride” Mass flap hit local and national news in 2011, Cardinal O’Malley responded saying, ““[T]he Church exists to announce the Gospel and invite people to conversion, to greater discipline in their lives as they seek to follow Christ’s teachings, which apply to everyone.” That is the message that needs to be delivered at St. Cecilia.
To ensure the salvation of souls, it seems clear that Cardinal O’Malley and Vicar General Bishop Deeley need to intervene at St. Cecilia and teach the message of repentance from sin and conversion. Pray for Cardinal O’Malley and Bishop Deeley that they have the courage to take action, and forward a copy of this blog post to vicar_general@rcab.org. Also pray for the protection of marriage, as arguments are made today before the U.S. Supreme Court on California’s Prop 8. We pray that the court will uphold California’s ban on “gay marriage.” Here is part of the USCCB prayer in defense of marriage:
God our Father, we give you thanks
for the gift of marriage: the bond of life and love,
and the font of the family.
May your Holy Spirit enlighten our society
to treasure the heroic love of husband and wife,
and guide our leaders to sustain and protect
the singular place of mothers and fathers
in the lives of their children.
Father, we ask that our prayers
be joined to those of the Virgin Mary,
that your Word may transform our service
so as to safeguard the incomparable splendor of marriage.
We ask all these things through Christ our Lord,
Amen.
At the rate the Boston Archdiocese is paying salaries, giving pay increases to the already overpaid execs and running up debt, we are well on the path to being poor–but for reasons much different than Pope Francis apparently intends. The excessive salaries inhibit the ability of the Boston Archdiocese to carry out her mission–namely, salvation of souls and continuing the saving ministry of Jesus Christ.
Here is the Herald article. The biggest thing to note after you read the article is the explanation for how the Boston Archdiocese is dealing with this situation. [Hint: to address a problem of excessive salaries, the solution should be to reduce them.] Read on:
Nearly one-third of the Archdiocese of Boston’s top execs ranked among the highest paid people in their field, according to a compensation study that prompted church officials to take a hard look at many of their six-figure salaries — and withhold some merit-based raises.
The study, performed by a third-party firm at the archdiocese’s request and released with its 2012 financial report, is the first in the archdiocese’s history, according to church officials, examining how their pay stacks up to nine comparable archdioceses, other Catholic organizations and a mixture of nonprofit and for-profit groups.
It found that five of the 16 lay executives making more than $150,000 are paid above the 75th percentile when compared to those in similar jobs, while six more make between the 50th and 75th percentiles.
The five remaining have “attributes that are unique to our archdiocese,” officials wrote in their financial report, adding that they are “paid comparably” to those with similar levels of responsibility.
The committee’s goal, officials said, is to have “most” of the top-earning executives be paid around the 50th percentile, though John Straub, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer and chancellor, acknowledged that can’t happen “overnight.” He declined to release additional details, including exactly where the executives fell in comparison or which ones outpaced their peers.
“I wouldn’t say anyone was surprised … about it,” Straub said. “It gave (the compensation committee) a clear path to make the recommendations they wanted to make.”
The findings, Straub said, have already prompted changes. No senior lay executive at or above median pay got a performance-based raise this fiscal year. Meanwhile, two new hires and one promoted employee — Straub — are being paid at the 50th percentile.
It still didn’t quiet critics, including Peter Borre, chairman of Boston-based Council of Parishes, who called the salaries “appalling, without getting into percentiles.” The archdiocese’s general counsel, for example, made more than $340,000 in 2011, its secretary of education more than $360,000 and eight others topped $200,000.
“In absolute terms, an institution that is downsizing itself with church attendances down … shouldn’t be lavishing money to this extent,” Borre said.
Readers probably know by now that it took years of public complaints in order for them to finally do this study. They then claim they are capping merit increases for people who are overpaid, meanwhile, they had just given a number of people salary increases before they decided to cap the excessive salaries.
Did they think that no one would notice how some of the bloated salaries have increased in the past year? Of the “senior lay executives,” some have salaries that have increased at a rapid pace. The committee writes about its “philosophy” in the annual report, and they claim the first step in dealing with excessive salaries is to withhold merit increases. But how does that explain the following?:
Mary Grassa O’Neill, schools superintendent, getting her pay increased from her $325,000 original salary now up to $343,705?
Beirne Lovely, general counsel, getting his pay raised from his original $300,000 now up to $311,219?
Carol Gustavson, exec director of benefits reported at $169.200, who was previously paid $149K, meaning her raise was at least 12.8%.
Terry Donilon, communications secretary. having his salary jump 13.4% from 2010 to 2011 ($162.5K to $184.4K)
As we wrote in “Fleecing the Flock,” Mass attendance continues to drop in Boston, Central Operations is running a $6M annual deficit, the diocese has almost a $140M debt, the financial situation in parishes continues to get worse with 40-50% unable to pay their bills, and Catholic schools are being closed. Yet, the salaries remain excessive and some are increasing.
Michael Voris explained the situation well in this recent video:
The right solution is to start reducing the salaries of the people. At 10% every three months, it will not take too long to get them all down to the right level. But that will not happen at the rate we are going.
Furthermore, it is clear that the Boston Archdiocese is violating the Motu Proprio from Pope Benedict XVI that says salaries and operational expenses are to be in “due proportion” to the analogous expenses of the diocesan Curia. The Boston Archdiocese says they want to be responsible stewards of donor funds, but overpaying lay execs would directly contradict that ideal. It is also clear that no one at the Pastoral Center, including Cardinal O’Malley or Vicar General Bishop Deeley, is going to take meaningful action.
For today and generations to come in the future, it is important that the Catholic Church have the financial resources to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and continue the ministry of Jesus Christ to save souls and help people grow in holiness, become saints and get to heaven. What can faithful Catholics do? Take a moment to forward this blog post to the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano <nuntiususa@nuntiususa.org> and ask him to intervene to address this breach of fiduciary responsibility and squandering of precious donor funds. Also, pray for Cardinal O’Malley and the diocesan leadership.
The hot news is mostly still about the conclave from this past week. BCI will share several news highlights for you today, among them, the question of whether certain cardinals openly violated the conclave oath of secrecy. Then we will be back to local Boston Archdiocese fiscal governance issues in our next post.
Comments from Cardinal O’Malley and Others After the Election
This Boston Globe article has a photo of Cardinal O’Malley taking the oath of secrecy before the election. The oath says:
“In a particular way, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and regarding what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly related to the results of the voting; we promise and swear not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new Pontiff.”
VATICAN CITY — Three rounds of ballots had been cast with no winner, but it was becoming clear which way this conclave was headed.
When the cardinals broke for lunch, Sean Cardinal O’Malley of Boston sat down next to his Argentine friend, Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio.
“He seemed very weighed down by what was happening,” O’Malley said.
Hours later, the Buenos Aires archbishop would step before the frenzied masses packed into St. Peter’s Square as Francis, the first pope from the Americas.
Cardinals take an oath of secrecy when they enter a conclave, promising never to reveal what goes on inside.
“The conclave is a very prayerful experience,” O’Malley said. “It’s like a retreat.” Each man wrote a few words in Latin on a piece of paper: “I elect as supreme pontiff…” followed by a name.
One by one, they held the paper aloft, placed it on a gold-and-silver saucer at the front of the room, and tipped it into an urn.
“When you walk up with the ballot in your hand and stand before the image of the Last Judgment, that is a great responsibility,” O’Malley said.
And then the tallying began, with three cardinals — known as scrutineers — reading out the name on each slip.
When they finished counting, it was clear the field remained wide open, said Sean Cardinal Brady, leader of the church in Ireland. “There were a number of candidates,” he said.
A cardinal threaded the ballots together and put them in a stove.
Outside in St. Peter’s Square, as black smoke billowed from the chimney, the cheering crowd fell silent and began to thin.
***
On Wednesday morning, the cardinals filed in again and repeated the ritual of voting. There were two votes before lunch, and the field was narrowing. But the smoke was black again, and the crowd was again disappointed.
***
At lunch, O’Malley sat down besides Bergoglio.
“He is very approachable, very friendly,” he said. “He has a good sense of humor, he is very quick and a joy to be with.”
But with the vote going his way, Bergoglio was uncharacteristically somber.
***
The cardinals were getting close to a decision. They started over, and the scrutineers read out the names.
And it began to dawn on the men that their work was done.
In the Globe article, Cardinal O’Malley is quoted as saying that after the election, Francis seemed to be at peace.
Does it not occur to these Cardinals that they were sworn to secrecy regarding “everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff”?
Beyond this, we then see a comment from Cardinal O’Malley in the Globe about why he is glad he was not elected pope: “He’s a prisoner in a museum,’’ O’Malley said of the pope, drawing laughter from Boston area reporters. “It’s not a wonderful life.’’
This response feels like yet another lost teaching moment and opportunity for Cardinal O’Malley. Last we checked, the role of the Holy Father was to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. He is the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church. If you read Matthew 16:17-19, we see Jesus promised that He would build His Church on Peter and He gave the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter alone. “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give youthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
The immensely important role of the successor to Peter is to ensure that the benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven can be attained by the faithful, as exemplified by the instruction “feed my lambs”, “feed my sheep.” The Holy Father continues the role St. Peter instituted after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who instructed Peter in establishing His Church on earth. Peter then handed down this authority from Pope to Pope until the present day.
To BCI, it seems that to publicly characterize the Vicar of Christ on earth as a “prisoner in a museum” who does not have a “wonderful life” is to misrepresent and diminish the nature of the role.
Boston Catholic Media and PR/Communications at the Conclave
This article in the Boston Herald discusses the presence of the Boston Catholic Media team at the conclave:
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley’s moment in the papal sun in Rome this past week was beamed back to Boston thanks to a team of plugged-in assistants.
“My purpose in coming on this trip was to let Boston Catholics and other Catholics from the area experience the buildup for the announcement and the announcement itself,” said Scot Landry, secretary for Catholic Media.
Landry said cardinals from the U.S. tended to be much more open with the press than did their colleagues from the rest of the world.
“I would say there was a clash of cultures in terms of the way the church engages the media, particularly the secular media” he said. “When we first arrived, the American cardinals were going to press conferences and doing interviews every day. In a way, they felt honored that so many were there to cover them and through their coverage bring it home to Catholics around the world.”
Thanks for thinking of us back here, but for future reference, we were actually doing just fine by reading the hundreds of articles available to us in the regular news media.
As for the media briefings, it seemed to many people that the U.S. cardinals doing the briefings forgot that the main purpose of the pre-conclave meetings was for the cardinals to prayerfully consider the needs of the universal Catholic Church and the attributes for the next Supreme Pontiff, so they would each be prepared for the crucial vote. If we understand Landry correctly, the U.S. cardinals felt honored that the media was giving them attention? In other words, their egos were stoked by the media attention, so they addressed that situation by engaging in the press briefings and interviews (which would have the effect of further stoking their egos) to “bring it home” for us? Thanks again.
Even if it were the case that the cardinals arrived in Rome and suddenly discovered the media wanted stories, and the selfless cardinals could help us poor saps starving for news, how does that explain Terry Donilon and the Boston Archdiocesan PR team starting their media campaign weeks before Cardinal O’Malley travelled to Rome, and continuing with Terry live in Rome?
And how does that explain this shameless self-promotion of Terry Donilon in the Washington Post, suggesting that Terry Donilon could become a key aide to a new Holy Father if Cardinal O’Malley were elected pope, while Donilon’s brother was National Security Advisor to Obama?:
One Donilon brother “working for the most powerful man on the planet and the other one could work for the most powerful religious leader on the planet?” mused Terry.
We have one word for the above. Pathetic.
Another American Pope Candidate Embraces the Far Left
A top aide [Fr. Bryan Hehir] to a left-wing American Catholic Cardinal [Cardinal O'Malley], reportedly in the running for the job of pope, taught a course called “Matthew, Marx, Luke, and John” at a pro-Marxist think tank in Washington, D.C. The course included a discussion of “the future of the Christian alliance with Marxism” and the “theology of the oppressed.”
This last one will have to be the subject of a future blog post.
The international buzz about Cardinal Sean O’Malley has a few facts correct and a lot of them missing or wrong.
A lot of people are confusing style with substance. In this post, we try to lay out everything as best we can, so you, the reader, can separate fact from fiction. By the end of the post, you will have a summary of the experiences in Boston over the recent years of Cardinal O’Malley’s tenure.
We start with a discussion about what folks are reporting the Cardinals are looking for in the next Pope, then the positive references cited about Cardinal O’Malley, then the facts, results, and wrong or missing information about his track record in Boston in the areas of teaching and governing.
Attributes Cardinals Say We Need in Next Pope
The key attributes we keep hearing repeatedly quoted in the press as desirable for the next pope are the following:
Great governance, leadership and managerial skills: to shake-up and overhaul a Vatican curia tainted by internal political infighting and the “Vatileaks” scandal, restore financial transparency to the Catholic Church’s operations and assemble a solid team of people around him to support his teaching and apostolic ministry
Great teaching skills—someone who can proclaim the Gospel and truths of our faith to all people, in-season and out-of-season, and who teaches not just by his words but also by his actions.
Great communication and evangelization skills: somebody with the charisma and communication skills to attract new members to the flock, inspire young people, and communicate the truths of the faith and joy of living their faith.
Holiness—a man who has lived a life of holiness, and who has deep faith and a deep prayer life and who can lead others to holiness
Multi-lingual and multicultural skills: someone who can relate well to the universal church and is sensitive to the transition of Christianity from a primarily European and North American faith experience to one that has spread across Africa, South America (40% of the world’s Catholics now live in Latin America) and the Pacific rim
Track record of effectively dealing with the problem of clergy sexual abuse, and putting in-place strong policies to deal with the problem
Positives Cited About Cardinal O’Malley
Humility: member of Capuchin order, an offshoot of the Franciscans known for service to the poor; has calm, pastoral manner; wears brown Franciscan robe and sandals; sold Cardinal’s residence after arriving in Boston to pay off debts, seems uninterested in the trappings of high religious office
Reputation for being strong dealing with clergy sexual abuse: came into difficult situation in Boston; seen as good at fixing this problem in multiple dioceses, one of the first bishops to introduce a “zero tolerance” policy towards priests who sexually abused children
Technology-savvy with communications: regarded as representing a more modern face of the church, largely because he maintains his own blog (www.cardinalseansblog.org) and Tweets
Multi-lingual and multi-cultural: has a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature, speaks English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Creole; founded the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, DC where he ministered to Latinos, an organization which helps immigrants to the United States.
Committed to the Pro-life cause: preaches against abortion, viewed by many as theologically orthodox
The Facts About Cardinal O’Malley’s Record in Boston
We focus in this blog post just on a few of the attributes that Cardinals are quoted as looking for in the next Pope—strong governance/management and teaching. We will reference specific examples as we go, and focus on the actual results of what has happened in Boston on the ground, rather than the PR spin and what the Boston Archdiocese spin-meisters would have people believe.
At the beginning of Archbishop Sean O’Malley’s tenure in Boston (starting July 30, 2003) and through the initial 2-3 years, most people were excited and optimistic. He inspired with his first homily and initial comments about how St. Francis was called to “rebuild my church.” He decided to not live in the previous Cardinal’s residence, opting for smaller quarters at the Cathedral rectory. The large number of sexual abuse claims were settled. Much needed reforms at St. Johns Seminary progressed under the leadership of then-Rector Fr. John Farren. He preached against abortion and publicly campaigned against “same-sex marriage.”
Then several things happened. A diocesan-wide parish reconfiguration effort was undertaken which resulted in 62 parishes closing or merging. And Cardinal O’Malley brought in a new team of advisors and lay senior exec cabinet secretaries. Most were paid on the order of tens of thousands of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars more annually than their predecessors (and than their peers earn in other dioceses), and many had records of publicly opposing Catholic Church teachings in various ways or not even being Catholic. If anyone thinks Cardinal O’Malley is the right person to shake-up a corrupt and politicized Roman curia and get the Roman Catholic Church globally in better shape, they should think again and look more closely at the Boston results on the ground.
1) Mass Attendance is Down Dramatically
One of the errors propagated in the press is that Mass attendance is up in Boston under Cardinal O’Malley. This article in Lastampa implied that by saying, “faithful are returning to Church.” That is false. The reality is that Mass attendance dropped by 23% between 2000 to 2009. Between 2000 and 2012, it dropped by 34%, from 376,000 to 245,000.
“Statistics from the archdiocese indicate that 40 percent of its parishes are barely meeting their financial needs or operating at a loss, while the number of active diocesan priests is expected to diminish by nearly half – from around 400, to only 180 – by 2021. Mass attendance in Boston dropped by 23 percent between 2000 and 2009.”
“In the Boston Archdiocese, weekly Mass attendance has plunged from 376,383 in 2000 to 286,951 in 2009, according to the church’s annual count.”
Today fewer than 16 percent of Boston’s 1.8 million Catholics attend Mass weekly.According to other statistics published by the Boston Archdiocese in the Boston Catholic Directory, between 2006 and 2012, Mass attendance dropped from 280,000 to 245,000–a 12.5% drop in just the past 5-6 years.
2) Fiscal Management: Debt
The Boston Archdiocese is nearly $140M in debt, with no way in sight or in the plans of repaying the debts to St. Johns Seminary and the Clergy Funds. They ran an $11M operating deficit over the past 2 years.
3) Fiscal Management: Deception over “Balanced Budget” vs Operational Deficit
Some publications opining favorably on Cardinal O’Malley’s track record in Boston think that Boston has had a balanced budget in recent years. It is true that the Boston Archdiocese announced they had a “balanced budget” in 2011 and 2012, but unfortunately, that was a flat out lie.
Here are press pickups of the announcements for the 2010 and 2011 years. We hear Cardinal O’Malley said, “The Archdiocese of Boston has greatly benefited by the financial management of recent years that has achieved and sustained a balanced budget.”
The problem is, that statement was false. Look at the financial reports by following the links referenced here for the 2012 fiscal year, and here for the 2011 fiscal year:
Despite a “balanced budget” announced for the 2011 fiscal year, the recently released 2012 financial statements show (page 24, and page 73–Column 2) that the Central Operations of the archdiocese had an operating loss of $6.8 million in 2012 and $6.3M in 2011 (page 24). BCI pointed out the deception last year, and at least this year, they did not say they achieved a balanced budget–they just said they had a goal of having one.
4) Fiscal Management: Excessive Compensation and Poor Stewardship of Donor Funds
The top 16 lay executives are paid an outrageous $3.7M in salaries and benefits in the past year. This was covered in the mainstream media last year in “Up in Alms Over Salaries.” Just two late-career executives are paid a combined $700K in salary and benefits a year. The Superintendent of Schools is paid $341K alone in salary and benefits. The number of lay executives paid more than $150K/year today (16) is more than 5X the number in 2006, when just 3 execs were paid more than $150K. The amount paid to folks making $150K+ a year ballooned by 6X from 2006 to 2012. The Archdiocese acknowledges many are overpaid, and to add insult to injury, they even gave raises to many overpaid execs last year. The diocese is in clear violation of the Motu Proprio signed on November 11, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI and officially in effect December 10, 2012, that says salaries need to be in due proportion to analogous expenses of the diocesan curia.
5) Financial Health of Boston parishes
40-50% of parishes are in the red and cannot pay their bills.
6) Financial Management: Capital Reserves
How are capital reserves? They have been drained in the past six years. Parish Reconfiguration funds have been tapped out by spending $12.3M in recent years to subsidize Pastoral Center departments normally funded by the Central Fund. And during the past six years, insurance reserves that were $15M in 2006 have been depleted to zero or near zero (see this 2010 BCI blog post and p. 16 of the 2012 Annual Report). If the model of over-paying lay executives and deficit spending were to carry over to the Vatican and global Catholic Church, what would the impact be?
7) Deception over Catholic Schools Policy to Admit Children of Homosexual Parents
The basis for a 2011 Boston Catholic Schools policy to formally admit children of homosexual parents was a massive deception.
“The archdiocese does not prohibit children of same-sex parents from attending Catholic schools,” said Mary Grassa O’Neill, the archdiocese’s secretary for education and superintendent of Catholic schools. “We will work in the coming weeks to develop a policy to eliminate any misunderstandings in the future.”
The Archdiocese of Denver, then under Archbishop Chaput, had a policy which, for the good of the child, did NOT allow children of homosexual parents in Catholic schools, and Boston was supposed to have studied the Denver policy as part of forming their new policy. That never happened. Months later, the archdiocese released their policy with the first words being a blatant lie.
“In creating this policy we are guided by the words of the Holy Father, by Canon Law and by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops”
The problem is they were guided by their OWN INTERNAL decision to admit children of homosexual parents, not at all by the words of the Holy Father. At the September 2010 Presbyteral Council meeting with Cardinal O’Malley, Schools Superintendent Mary Grassa O’Neill told clergy that her committee had looked at the choices–either they “would discriminate” in admission policy for Catholic Schools against children of homosexual parents or they “would not discriminate”–and they simply chose “we would not discriminate.” Then they went and found citations that would give the appearance of supporting their conclusion. In reality, the words they cited –and were supposedly inspired by–were wildly out of context and could not possibly have provided inspiration if read in context. The policy cited this:
“No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.” Address of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Catholic Educators in Washington DC. April 17, 2008.
The context by the Holy Father was an exhortation to get people to contribute generously to the financial needs of Catholic schools so Catholic school education would available to students of all financial means. He had spoken about the sacrifices of so many that set the foundation for a network of Catholic Schools. He said:
“Countless dedicated Religious Sisters, Brothers, and Priests together with selfless parents have, through Catholic schools, helped generations of immigrants to rise from poverty and take their place in mainstream society. This sacrifice continues today. It is an outstanding apostolate of hope, seeking to address the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of over three million children and students. It also provides a highly commendable opportunity for the entire Catholic community to contribute generously to the financial needs of our institutions. Their long-term sustainability must be assured. Indeed, everything possible must be done, in cooperation with the wider community, to ensure that they are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.”
This deception undermines the ability for faithful Catholics to trust both the Cardinal and his Superintendent of Schools.
8) The People Cardinal O’Malley Surrounds Himself With
In his most recent Boston Globe interview, Cardinal O’Malley said that governance of the Vatican, is also an issue. “We want the Holy Father to have a good team of people around him in a way that will support his ministry and allow him to focus on his teaching office, which we see as so important,” he said.
How has he, himself done in this area? Not well at all. He has created a bureaucratic diocesan hierarchy and organization where internal politics rule far above anything having to do with the saving mission of the Catholic Church. He has surrounded himself by people he has brought in himself whose actions in many cases show they have distanced themselves from the faith or care little about the Catholic faith. When people have complained about the bad eggs in the cabinet and problems with some of his senior cabinet officials, in all but one case, he has ignored them and kept supporting the problematic officials. To his credit, he brought in a new Vicar General, who moved out the former Chancellor. That is the only one of many needed changes he has allowed.
Consider just two of his many appointees:
Fr. Bryan Hehir, Secretary for Social Services This piece, The Eminence Grise, explains many of the problems. Fr. Hehir has had his fingers in nearly every public scandal or fiasco since he returned to Boston to work for Cardinal O’Malley in 2004:
Honoring the pro-abortion Mayor Thomas Menino at a 2005 Catholic Charities fundraiser
Inserting himself into decisions on parish reconfiguration of 2004 and mucking-up that process, including keeping some parishes open slated to be closed and insisting that parish vigils not be broken up–thus costing millions of dollars to maintain and heat the occupied properties
Hiring a lobbyist to head the Mass Catholic Conference who had given donations to pro-abortion politicians
Advising Cardinal O’Malley to attend the Ted Kennedy coronation funeral
Engaging and keeping as an advisor, Jack Connors, despite his involvement raising tens of millions of dollars for pro-abortion Democratic politicians
Being involved in the initial Caritas/Centene deal that would have had Caritas profiting from referrals to abortion services
and the list goes on.
As written in The Eminence Grise, “At a moment when the Church is striving to launch a “new evangelization” in this Year of Faith, the Archdiocese of Boston under Fr. Hehir’s leadership is more concerned with conforming to the secular culture, appeasing a hostile liberal media, and protecting renegade pro-abortion Catholic politicians and their apologists in the Catholic community. Hehir calls this “rebuilding trust” with civil society, but that is a ruse for enabling dissent, as Fr. Hehir’s record over 40 years illustrates. Here are other examples:
Father J. Bryan Hehir, who in 1983 delivered a series of lectures at the far-left Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) entitled, “Matthew, Marx, Luke, and John” illustrates the continuing left-wing drift of the Catholic Church…The Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive-socialist-Marxist think tank based in Washington, D.C…spawned or established alliances with other Marxist groups. When assembled together in a vast Left-wing network, these progressive-socialist-Marxist “shining stars,” as the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) calls them, present an all-encompassing solar system of radical organizations. With ties to communist regimes in Havana and Hanoi, the IPS has been at the center of this network for many years…
This presentation from Religious Left Exposed gives more details, as does this blog post. Hehir’s course on “Matthew, Marx, Luke, and John: Theology of the Oppressed” taught attendees about liberation theologies and discussed “ancient and medieval precedents of peasant insurgency and rebellion, along with topics such as “the future of the Christian alliance with Marxism.” Another speaker in the 1983 series was the radical lesbian feminist theologian, Mary Hunt. Hehir also spoke with her on a panel in a 2002 program at Regis College, where he said, “in 20th century Catholicism, teachings on sexuality have been “a chronically afflicted area.” You can read more about that program and Mary Hunt here.
Yet despite many people telling Cardinal O’Malley he should remove Hehir, he remains, with more power and influence than the Vicar General, Bishop Deeley. Hehir helps consolidate power in the Terry Donilon/Rasky Baerlein/Jack Connors coalition, does his best to thwart efforts around spreading the truths of the Catholic faith, and ensures the continued inefficacy of the Mass Catholic Conference and or any efforts to communicate Catholic moral views in the public square and political process.
Jack Connors
Cardinal O’Malley is closely allied with this multi-millionaire businessman who, while sitting on the Archdiocesan Finance Council responsible for fund-raising, is working against the Catholic Church by raising tens of millions of dollars for anti-Catholic pro-abortion politicians like Obama and by actively supporting medical centers that perform abortions (Partners Healthcare, where he was chairman) or training medical personnel to perform abortions. To read all of our pieces that mention the scandalous association with Jack Connors, click here. Meanwhile, the Boston Archdiocese has a “Code of Conduct” that says, “Church Personnel will continually and objectively examine and evaluate their own actions and intentions to ensure that their behavior promotes the welfare of the Archdiocese and each applicable Archdiocesan Affiliated Organization and exemplifies the moral traditions of the Church.”How does raising money for Obama and giving personal funds to support abortion-on-demand promote the welfare of the Archdiocese and exemplify the moral traditions of the Church. If Cardinal O’Malley feels OK keeping him around as a key advisor despite the scandal, then who would he bring in to advise him in the Vatican?
Add to the above, the sham searches and hiring of people like Terry Donilon, former Chancellor Jim McDonough, overpaid Exec. Director of Benefits and ex-Catholic Carol Gustavson ($166K), overpaid Schools Superintendent Mary Grassa O’Neill ($341K/year), overpaid General Counsel Beirne Lovely ($300K+/year), Obama and Joe-Biden supporting PR firm Rasky Baerlein and it is no surprise we have the mess we do. It is said in Latin, qui cum canibus concumbunt cum pulicibus surgent. (“He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas”).
9) Scandalous Ted Kennedy Funeral, Failure to Teach through Actions and Words
The participation of Cardinal O’Malley in the Kennedy coronation-style funeral with its celebrity eulogies and politicized prayers of the faithful created grave scandal and gave pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians massive air-cover and justification to believe they can oppose Church teachings and still be a considered a “good Catholic.” His subsequent blog post where he gushed over the funeral ceremony, praised Kennedy, criticized pro-life Catholics, failed to acknowledge the problems with the funeral liturgy he presided over and failed to teach the truth about Kennedy’s sinful support for abortion created additional scandal. It showed Cardinal O’Malley clearly failing to teach through both actions and words. Read the comments on this January 2013 National Catholic Register article or watch this Vortex.
Is this sort of failed and confused teaching what we can afford in the next Pontiff?
10) Deception Around Maintaining Catholic Identity at Caritas Christi Healthcare after Sale to Cerberus
When Caritas Christi was sold to Cerberus, the premise and promise in the stewardship agreement that set out conditions of the sale was to preserve the Catholic identity of the hospitals forever.
Christopher Murphy, a spokesman for the network, said the stewardship agreement would be designed to permanently maintain the hospital’s Catholic identity….“The main point is that it’s designed to last forever,” he said. “That’s the prevailing hope of everyone involved, that . . . the Catholic tradition of Caritas Christi stays in place forever.” (Boston Globe, April 28, 2010)
“The Stewardship Agreement memorializes Steward’s commitment to maintain the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi Healthcare system and its fidelity to the mission of the Church’s healthcare ministry.” (Fr. Richard Erikson, Vicar General, The Boston Pilot, May 14, 2010)
“We announced yesterday that an agreement has been reached with Cerberus that ensures the Catholic identity of the Caritas Christi hospitals… this stewardship agreement was a key component for us because it will preserve the Catholic identity of Caritas.” (Cardinal Seans blog, May 7, 2010)
“As long as I have breath in me, I will do everything in my power to care for the thousands of people who have given their lives in the service of the Church,” the cardinal said in a March 30 statement to The Pilot.
The problem is, in the 2 years since then, the Cardinal still has breath in him for his press briefings and Vatican media campaign, yet his team have done nothing to follow through on his promise. Nothing has been done to re-fund the 70-some million-dollar pension plan obligation they backed out of, and the amount owed to the beneficiaries is nowhere even on the books as a debt to be repaid.
12) Energy, Motivation and Intestinal Fortitude for the Job
How does Cardinal O’Malley handle the load of his existing role? Not well. When Parish Reconfiguration was underway in 2004-2005–an initiative where he had a committee doing everything and never met with closing parishes or even celebrated Masses at closing parishes–we all know how he wrote this 2004 letter to Boston Catholics in which he said, “At times I ask God to call me home and let someone else finish this job, but I keep waking up in the morning to face another day of reconfiguration.” If he was sufficiently depressed and uninspired to handle the challenges of his job in Boston, is he really up to the job of being Pope?
There is much more we could cover but we will pause for now. The bottom line is that a lot of journalists and pundits are opining on the papability of Cardinal O’Malley without all of the facts. Cardinal O’Malley and his team and colleagues may actually believe he would make a good pope. We hope and pray that all involved consider both the good about Cardinal O’Malley and the shortcomings.
If the biggest tasks at hand for the new Holy Father require great skills in governance/leadership/management to shake-up and overhaul the Vatican curia, and great teaching skills to clearly proclaim the Gospel and truths of our faith to all people, in-season and out-of-season with both words and actions, it should be clear that Cardinal Sean O’Malley is not the right man for the job.
We pray that the Holy Spirit guide the Cardinal electors to choose a next Pope who is truly a Vicar of Christ who will lead and guide the Church to achieve her mission of salvation.
In our last post we talked about Cardinal O’Malley’s Vatican PR campaign, and how his communications secretary was looking for stories so he could feed the press. Cardinal O’Malley also said he was reading the National Catholic Reporter as an “interesting” source of information in preparation for the upcoming conclave. Today we update you with several new developments.
First, we ask the question, why is there a big international media campaign around Cardinal O’Malley? Cardinal O’Malley has apparently brought a few members of his media and communications team to Rome.We know the editor of the Pilot was on the plane to Rome with the Cardinal, and Communications Secretary, Terry Donilon, is in Rome to coordinate the campaign. We called his office to volunteer BCI to brief reporters looking for Boston-related stories on our ministry and got his voicemail saying he is in Rome. No return date is indicated on the voicemail. Why the big international media campaign, with no apparent bound on how long Donilon will stay? Beyond that, why are thousands of dollars in Catholic Appeal donor funds being squandered to pay travel and expenses for the Boston media guys to be in Rome?
Secondly, couldn’t the Cardinal’s time be used better to prepare for the critical vote than in press briefings? In an interview with the Boston Globe, published Wednesday, we heard the following:
O’Malley also seemed to ache for a little down time. He had just finished a long press conference and had more reporters to speak with before a dinner with cardinals. He said he had not been able to spend much time going out to dinner or otherwise enjoying the city. “If I didn’t have all these interviews,” he said with a laugh, “I could be in a bookstore right now.”
In a briefing Tuesday, Cardinal O’Malley said they should not rush to schedule the start of the conclave, and then joked, “And it is hard to get a bad meal in Rome.”
At a time when Cardinals are to be prayerfully considering the needs of the universal Catholic Church, along with the qualities needed in the next Pope, two things seem odd and raise further questions. Why does Cardinal O’Malley “have all these interviews” and have to spend so much time in interviews and briefings? Also, if he was not spending the time in interviews, are we to understand that he would instead be in a bookstore, going out to nice dinners or otherwise enjoying the city? Dinners with other cardinals are a way to assess the field of candidates, but are interviews, bookstore browsing and enjoying the city the best use of his time in advance of electing the next Pope?
As of late yesterday, the kibosh has been put on press briefings. “”The College (of Cardinals) as a whole has decided to maintain a line of an increasing degree of reserve,” said Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi. Some say it was because of the daily briefings by the American cardinals and some say it was leaks to the Italian publication, La Stampa.
But one other interesting comment by Cardinal O’Malley merits additional discussion. In “O’Malley: Church must discipline bishops,” he said the Catholic Church needs global standards for disciplining bishops–referring to the need for a uniform policy to deal with bishops who failed to move against abusive priests. We agree. But we wonder if this same principle should extend to bishops who fail to move against priests who are openly gay, are part of a gay network of priests, or who commit a form of spiritual abuse by publicly blessing “gay marriages” and lead souls away from salvation.
In response to our post last week, “Does Boston Archdiocese have a “gay network” of clergy too?“, a number of readers pointed us to a book by a writer of gay pornography that helps answer the question which was the title of our post. The book includes commentary from interviews with diocesan and religious priests who acknowledge they are gay. One priest admits he has come out to other priests, and has attended and blessed four “gay unions.” Two diocesan priests tell how they were not supportive of the effort several years ago to gather signatures for a constitutional amendment banning “gay marriage.” The book by Scott Pomfret is called “Since My Last Confession: A Gay Catholic Memoir.” The real names of many priests are listed in the book. A simple google search on passages from the book reveals rather clearly who one of the key pseudonymous characters is in real life. Here is an excerpt from the chapter that talks about “Fr. Butterballino” and his blessing of the gay unions (3rd page of the chapter preview):
He admitted, “I’ve been to four civil weddings of gay people…After the rite is over, I do some kind of prayer or blessing. If I’m called on it, I can say I was there and I performed a prayer. I didn’t perform a wedding.”
This priest is still a pastor today, as are other priests known to have performed blessings on gay unions. These situations mislead the faithful, lead souls away from salvation and scandalize the faithful. Sources indicate Cardinal O’Malley has been made aware of this information, and BCI has also sent an email to the archdiocese about the situation with an excerpt from this blog post.
Why did diocesan priests agree to be interviewed for a book by a known writer of gay pornography? Why is that not a problem for the Boston Archdiocese?
Given there was a shake-up with Cardinal O’Malley’s Franciscan brothers at St. Anthony Shrine right after the book was published–with the Franciscans having acted on the information in the book by removing the author as lector–and since local and national media reported that the book suggested some local clergy, given fictional names, are sexually active, what was done at the time of publication to investigate and address the revelations in the book?
Why is Cardinal O’Malley apparently not so troubled by pastors blessing “gay marriages” that he has not removed these priests from pastoral leadership roles and/or corrected their false teachings?
If bishops should be disciplined for failing to move against sexually abusive priests (which BCI agrees with), what should happen to bishops for failing to move against “out” gay priests or those in a “gay network” whose public actions can lead the faithful to sin (and to think those sins are permissible and worthy of public blessing)–and lead souls away from salvation? Is that not a form of spiritual abuse that needs to be disciplined and corrected?
If there are any more interviews with Cardinal O’Malley, we invite the reporters to ask these questions of His Eminence and to publish the responses. We invite all to pray for the discernment of Cardinal O’Malley and all of the cardinals on the election of the next Pope.
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