"The malcontents really have to make up their minds now," he said. "Are they going to accept the official teachings of the church, or continue their whining, or are they going to walk? Why stay where you're not wanted?" ("For U.S. Catholics, new pope could be polarizing," USA Today, 4/21/05) ...
Most of the distress one heard about in the aftermath of Cardinal Ratzinger's election as pope tended to be privately expressed. As such, it is more difficult to verify than a newspaper interview. But I know of no one on the Catholic left who made public statements about the new pope that would even begin to approach the level of mean-spiritedness cited above.
How about this comment on Cardinal Ratzinger's pre-conclave homily, quoted by Tom Bethell at BeliefNet?
"If Cardinal Ratzinger were really campaigning for pope, he would have given a far more conciliatory homily designed to appeal to the moderates as well as to the hardliners among the cardinals."
McBrien added: "I think this homily shows he realizes he is not going to be elected. He's too much of a polarizing figure. If he were elected, thousands upon thousands of Catholics in Europe and the United States would roll their eyes and retreat to the margins of the Church."
Our Archbishop chooses to continue to PAY for McBrien's twaddle, vitriol, and generally "1960's-avant-garde' yappaflappa in the local Catholic newspaper.
ReplyDeleteIs there a reason for this?
Our Archbishop continues to pay for the twaddle because so many sincere Catholics have fell for that crap hook, line and sinker.
ReplyDeleteIf he took away the darling of the older crowd, people would moan. Somehow Archbishop Dolan is going to have re-catechize pratically the entire archdiocese and that doesn't happen overnight.
Wish it could though...
Wishing you all the best!
ReplyDelete