Matt C. Abbott
July 30, 2008
Current Catholic controversies, part I
By Matt C. Abbott

Every so often, I'll feature a small compilation of current Catholic controversies. The following are the first few I've selected.

Conservative commentator Tom Roeser reports:

    'The Rockford, Illinois diocese will not send seminarians to St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein for training. Two upperclassmen propositioned a Rockford youth for homosexual favors. So much for the change that has been promised in archdiocesan public relations pronouncements.

    'Thus the Rockford diocese has decided it is finished with Mundelein. Thus you have the archdiocese of Chicago where layman Chancellor Jimmy Lago (believe it or not that's his baptismal name, not to be confused with his brother Timmy, his baptismal name as well)...Jimmy the best precinct captain onetime Democratic Cook county chairman now under indictment Ed Vrdolyak ever had... has been put in charge of combating sexual abuse and the same-old, same-old is happening....

    'Furthermore, don't expect the remainder of the Chicago media to inquire. And if it does and goes to the top office in the archdiocese, it will get the regular parsing that goes with every question born of the view that with two doctorates all distinctions can be blurred with requisite sophistry. An authenticist bishop in another diocese told me that the parser should be teaching in a university where administrative expertise is not required. As far as controlling events in this archdiocese, the bishop said, 'the parser can't run a two-car funeral.'

    'Kicanas.

    'The man who ran St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein when it was a hot-house of homosexual excess...and who was quoted in the 'Sun-Times' as saying he does not regret ordaining Fr. Dan McCormack, who is now serving time for child abuse...is second in command of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is Gerald Kicanas, now bishop of Tucson, having been promoted from Mundelein (as were all others who ran the dissolute institution) to auxiliary bishop of Chicago and then to Tucson. In Tucson, Kicanas led Tucson through the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to the point where he ponied up $22 million in settlement for victims of priest child abuse.

    'Last month Kicanas received an award name for...who else?.. the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin whose departure from this world was serenaded by the Gay Men's Chorus at Mass...for 'efforts in handling the sexual abuse both locally and nationally.' The Common Ground initiative formed by Bernardin which selects recipients for the honor described Kicanas as 'a champion of dialogue on contentious issues.' Kicanas received the award at Catholic University in Washington, D. C. where Tim Russert, moderator of 'Meet the Press' was supposed to be the keynote speaker at the event. Russert was unavoidably detained by death which prompted a national wailing and a funeral Mass celebrated by- (who else?) Theodore Cardinal McCarrick (ret.). Russert in his earlier incarnation as Democratic strategist convinced both Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator from New York and Mario Cuomo, governor of New York, to support pro-abortion initiatives. Because he couldn't attend the Kicanas tribute, Russert was lionized in death by the group.

    'Kicanas is slated to become the next president of the U. S. Catholic Conference of Bishops. If there is any justice at all, his automatic election should be greeted with grassroots opposition...not that it will make any difference with an organization that meets in a marble palace and has a huge roundtable with every bishop fortified with microphone based on the UN Security Council. The archbishop of Chicago is president of the USCCB who was elected on the same ticket as the former Mundelein rector Kicanas.'

Speaking of the Rockford diocese, check out the "teaser trailer" for a forthcoming documentary titled Forsaken, which features the story of a parish priest in the diocese — and for which yours truly was interviewed. (Note: It requires QuickTime to view.)



Looks like UMN won't discipline Professor Paul Z. Myers. Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin says Mr. Myers should be fired. Jeff Miller decided to "desecrate" a microscope. Margaret Cabaniss and Rod Dreher say we (assenting Catholics) should respond with love.



Certain traditionalists aren't pleased with what goes on at World Youth Day.



A priest at a Chicago-area parish preached on Humanae Vitaeand received applause for doing so! Kewl.



Reader Tonchi Weaver sent me the following (edited) e-mail:

"I find much value in your column — from insight on why Viagra is OK [within marriage], and [artificial] birth control is not, to the wonderful Web site CatholicsComeHome.org. This latest column's unedited first hand account of how a mind can change on the issue of abortion struck a chord with me. I live in South Dakota, a state where the battle lines have been drawn time and again, and the war is being waged on the ballot again this year. Two years ago, I entered the fray because I, too, was compelled by God to speak out. I had spent many years on the wrong side of the issue, but as the young man in this testimony expressed, it was time to stand up for those with no voice. Some would classify me as a sort of 'local pundit,' as I have had many essays on a variety of subjects printed gladly by our local newspaper. They were not eager, however, to publish the account of my personal epiphany. Persistence pays, and they finally did. I received many responses — not one of them negative."



By the by, I finally saw The Dark Knight, and I was quite impressed (as was Catholic film critic Steven D. Greydanus). I plan to see it again.

© Matt C. Abbott

 

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Matt C. Abbott

Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He has been interviewed on MSNBC, NPR and WLS-TV in Chicago, and has been quoted in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.

(Note: I welcome thoughtful feedback from readers. If you want our correspondence to remain confidential, please specify as such in your initial email to me... (more)

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