Cardinal Timothy Dolan Lost Final Appeal In New York

Quoted from Church Militant, without hyperlink [1]:

New York's highest court is rejecting Cdl. Timothy Dolan's bid to keep the body of Abp. Fulton Sheen in New York.

On Thursday, [June 7, 2019,] the state high court denied the archdiocese's motion to appeal: "Motion for leave to appeal denied with one hundred dollars costs and necessary reproduction disbursements."

With this final ruling, the archdiocese has exhaused [sic] all available appeals in the New York court system.

A summary of litigation history, quoted from The Catholic Post [2]:

In 2016, Mrs. Cunningham filed a legal complaint seeking to have her uncle’s remains moved to the cathedral in Peoria, a factor the Diocese of Peoria has maintained is critical for a hoped-for future beatification. Twice, the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled in her favor and twice the New York Archdiocese appealed, halting the transfer. After an evidentiary hearing last year clarifying what Archbishop Sheen’s wishes would have been, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arlene Bluth again agreed with Mrs. Cunningham’s request.

It is about time Timothy Dolan learns his lesson in humility, a lesson that was paid out in court costs and legal fees.  He ought to get a regular job and pay that money back to the Church, or maybe he can just diet and replenish the Church's coffers the amount he would have spent on pre-diet food, drinks and snacks.

The seemingly jovial Dolan was probably not laughing when he read that the Archdiocese of New York had lost the Fulton Sheen case.



[1] https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/ny-archdiocese-loses-final-appeal-in-sheen-case
[2] https://thecatholicpost.com/2019/06/09/17799/

Pentecost - The Descent Of The Holy Spirit Upon The Apostles

Yesterday, June 9, 2019, was the day of the Pentecost.  There is no modern day equivalent of what took place over two millennia ago when the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit; yet, in one's imagination it still could happen but not this blogger's.  Therefore, he has to select quotes from Francis I's homily given at St Peter's Square, Sunday, 9 June 2019 [1]:

1.  It is the Spirit who makes Jesus live within us; he raises us up from within. That is why when Jesus appears to his disciples, he repeats the words, “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19.21), and bestows the Spirit.  That is what peace really is, the peace bestowed on the Apostles.  That peace does not have to do with resolving outward problems – God does not spare his disciples from tribulation and persecution.  Rather, it has to do with receiving the Holy Spirit.  The peace bestowed on the apostles, the peace that does not bring freedom from  problems but in  problems, is offered to each of us. [Emphasis  original.]

2.  The Spirit is peace in the midst of restlessness, confidence in the midst of discouragement, joy in sadness, youth in aging, courage in the hour of trial.  Amid the stormy currents of life, he lowers the anchor of hope.

3.  Repaying evil for evil, passing from victims to aggressors, is no way to go through life.  Those who live by the Spirit, however, bring peace where there is discord, concord where there is conflict.  Those who are spiritual repay evil with good.  They respond to arrogance with meekness, to malice with goodness, to shouting with silence, to gossip with prayer, to defeatism with encouragement.

The last paragraph quoted above was composed eloquently except that Bergoglio has neither brought peace where there has been discord nor concord where there has been conflict.

Furthermore, there is no lie that can be camouflaged as goodness, or be hidden by silence, or be prayed away.  Contrast Bergoglio's unrealistic eloquence to another voice that belongs to Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, saying that "'it is immensely sad' that the pope is 'blatantly lying to the whole world to cover up his wicked deeds.'" These words came from e-mail correspondences between Viganò and "The Washington Post over two months, writing 8,000 words in response to nearly 40 questions." [2]



[1] http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2019/documents/papa-francesco_20190609_omelia-pentecoste.html
[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/this-archbishop-called-on-the-pope-to-resign-now-hes-in-an-undisclosed-location/2019/06/09/bb69c346-71b5-11e9-9331-30bc5836f48e_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1f254a1a5956

Improper Use Of Funds By A Catholic Bishop And Excessive Consumption Of Alcohol

Quoted from a June 6, 2019, article entitled Detailed report shows financial, sexual misconduct by retired West Virginia bishop  published by CatholicCulture.org [1]:

In a detailed report to the faithful of the Diocese of Charleston-Wheeling, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore has revealed that an investigation into the leadership of Bishop Michael Bransfield uncovered some clear evidence of sexual impropriety, along with a pattern of lavish spending for the bishop’s personal benefit.

Bishop Bransfield offered his retirement last September, upon reaching his 75th birthday. The Vatican quickly accepted his resignation, and appointed Archbishop Lori to lead an investigation into charges of corruption.

That investigation found a pattern of unchecked spending by Bishop Bransfield, including enormous outlays for travel ($2.4 million) and renovations on the bishop’s residence ($4.6 million). Archbishop Lori’s report included regular spending items such as about $1,000 monthly for alcohol served in the bishop’s residence and $100 daily for flowers delivered to the chancery.

Bishop Bransfield also used his considerable fundraising prowess to lavish cash gifts on other prelates. His gifts to the apostolic nuncios serving in Washington totaled $38,000.

The investigation did not find conclusive evidence that Bishop Bransfield had been guilty of sexual abuse of minors, but did report “a consistent pattern of sexual innuendo, and overt suggestions and actions toward those over whom the former bishop exercised authority.”

Why not make excessive alcohol consumption a grave mortal sin even when it occurs at home?  Catechism of the Catholic Church  section 2290 (on alcohol) and 2291 (on drugs) respectively states as follows, quoted without underscore/hyperlink [2]:

2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others' safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.

2291 The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.

Why should there be a difference in the wording between the abuse of alcohol and the abuse of drugs, in partucular the first two sentences? 



[1] https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=42102
[2] http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_P80.HTM

Improper Use Of Funds By The Catholic Church

A post dated May 29, 2019, cited an article by Market Watch  entitled Pope Francis is no fan of ‘builders of walls,’ donates $500,000 to migrants. [1]

Yesterday, June 4, CNN  published an article entitled The US Catholic Church spent more than $300 million on abuse-related costs in 12 months.  Quoted below is the first paragraph [2]:  

Between June 2017 and June 2018 the Catholic Church in the United States spent a whopping $301.6 million on costs related to clergy sexual abuse, including nearly $200 million in legal settlements, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The amount is sixty times (60x) more than the relative paltry $500,000 one-time donation Bergoglio gave to the migrants.  In comparison, the $301.6 million was used up in just in one fiscal year in the United States alone.  What about the amount spent in previous years, and the years to follow, in the United States and elsewhere around the world?

Collections are supposed to pay for the costs of upkeep of churches and to help the poor who are unable to afford food, shelter and health care, not to pay legal fees and out-of-court settlements for clergy sexual abuse.  Such use of church funds by clerics is improper and ought to be classified as a mortal sin.  It ought to be a sin so grave that unless the clerics repent, they could be subject to eternal damnation.

In the future, the monies needed to pay for expenses related to sexual abuse should first be taken from the clerics' living expenses until they all become mendicants like Saint Francis of Assisi.

Only then will they truly experience what they had set out to do, to live out the vow of poverty, and to be like Christ.  Otherwise, they are just like some bureaucrats who get paid with benefits and who do not do much work.  Some even take drugs and engage in sex with each other, with other gay men, gay male escorts, seminarians and with boys, violating their vow of chastity.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/pope-francis-no-fan-of-builders-of-walls-donates-500000-to-migrants-2019-04-28?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/04/us/catholic-church-300-million-abuse-claims/index.html

Tweeting About Catholic faith and morals

Quoted below is Bishop Thomas Tobin's tweet that has led to a lot of reactions and news reports [1]:

@ThomasJTobin1
 Jun 1 

A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ “Pride Month” events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.

This blogger was not going to comment on this because he agrees with both sides, but because it seems to be the talk of the day, he is putting in his two-cents worth of drivel.

The best retort to the tweet above was that children are safer at a gay pride event than in a Catholic church, a not so subtle reminder of the pedophile clerics who abused children.

As this blogger sees it, if Catholics are advised to "not support or attend LGBTQ" pride events, then Catholics should also be advised not to attend Catholic church services since the Catholic church was at one point most certainly proud of their gay and promiscuous Theodore McCarrick (and others who are yet to be identified) who had been given all kinds of perks and responsibilities even after knowing that he (and they) had molested boys and/or slept with seminarians.  The Catholic church just has a different way of celebrating one's gay sexual orientation: instead of openly, it is done secretly.

Regarding pride events, this blogger's opinion is that they are not necessary any more since same-sex attracted people are gradually having rights equal to opposite-sex attracted people except in some countries.  Nowadays, such events are to draw crowds and for vendors and the local government to make money.  It has become a tourist attraction.

As far as pride events and activities being contrary to Catholic faith and morals are concerned, they are not the only events that take place that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals.  Building weapons of destruction is also an event that is contrary to Catholic faith and morals, as are bombings of places and people and manufacturing genetically modified organisms, as well as living extravagantly, being mindlessly entertained, worshipping sports and movie stars, taking drugs and abusing alcohol, not adhering to the vows of poverty and chastity by those who have taken them, and on and on.  The list is nearly endless.

So where and when should one begin to stop participating in events contrary to Catholic faith and morals?  Pride events are easily identifiable by their locations around the world at certain times of year.  What about the other events that take place year-round everywhere?  How often should such a reminder go out on Twitter?  Who is in a position to remind who?  Who can speak without any taint of hypocrisy and self-righteousness?



[1] https://twitter.com/ThomasJTobin1?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Hong Kong Catholics Mixing Politics & Religion

This blogger cannot believe that he would today side with China in its quest to close down Catholic churches under certain conditions.  There are many conditions to be considered.  For example, sex abuses by the clergy, raising of funds for political purposes and the improper use of the Catholic Church as a tool for political activism.

UCA News  published an article on May 22, 2019, entitled Hong Kong Catholics mark Tiananmen anniversary.  Quoted below without hyperlinks are excerpts from the article [1]:

Catholics in Hong Kong have begun conducting a special exhibition to commemorate the crackdown by China's communist regime on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

...

Catholic organizers of a May 18-26 exhibition in Hong Kong wanted to show that the Church supported the pro-democracy movement.

...

"Once I stepped out from home to join the protest, my life changed," she [Biddy Kwok] said, adding that other Catholic parishioners came onto the streets.

What she said could have been true for her but in this blogger's opinion, Ms. Kwok's life might not have changed for the better or have become holier because she decided to join the protest.  Protests by activist Catholics do not bode well for non-activist Catholics who pray in silence, who want to be able to attend church, who do not underestimate the power of prayer, who live in humility and who rely on God for assistance.  Ms. Kowk acted as if she and her cohort activists had the power to overcome the authoritarian regime in China.  Their civil disobedience only angers the Chinese officials, giving them an excuse to close down all Catholic churches in order to stop insurrections that threaten the state's political system and stability.

If Ms. Kwok and her cohorts do not have peace living under an authoritarian regime, this blogger recommends that they move out of China-owned Hong Kong to take up residence in India to become part of an ethnic (Chinese) minority in the world's most populous democracy.  Perhaps they will find what they are looking for, interior peace, plenty of joy and lots of laughs!

Or perhaps, rather than protesting, they can find fulfillment by making a trip to two a year to India to help out the brothers of the Missionaries Of The Poor in Andhra Pradesh [2] and in Orissa [3].

Even a priest, Father Louis Ha, took part in mixing politics and religion.  Continuing with quoting from the article cited [4]:

Father Ha said there were then Catholic Church events such as prayer meetings and Masses to support the democracy movement.

Father Ha was then the Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office director and he offered space to journalists returning from Beijing to compile reports and edit film footage. That included editing a film record of the massacre that occurred on June 4, 1989.

The priest added that because of such assistance being given, Hong Kong citizens knew that the Church was working for justice and peace.

Father Ha also recalled that Cardinal Joseph Wu, the former bishop of Hong Kong, regarded the student movement as peacefully and rationally seeking democratic reforms as well as an end to corruption.

These clerics must be thinking that democracy will lead to justice and peace and end corruption.  They just need to look at the the democracies around the world to realize that it is a fantasy.  Which democratic government in the world has justice, peace and a total absence of corruption?

The Chinese Catholics who think that democracy is a path to God have not lived in a democracy.  Democracy is noisy because every one can express an opinion and every opinion counts.  How often do people share the same opinion and agree on everything?  Those who are in the minority who have no power may not find peace within a democracy.  Some may not even think there is justice, and they would be correct because wherever there is a lack of justice, there is corruption and corruption is an integral part of every kind of government.  Even the Catholic Church cannot escape politics and corruption, and with all the sex scandals being revealed, peace has been elusive.

It appears that Fr. Ha and Cardinal Wu, Ms. Kwok and her cohorts are not at peace but want peace, the kind of peace they believe democracy will bring.  Can they possibly be in error?

Christ said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives." [5]  Perhaps they should all try to seek the peace that Christ gives by practicing humility and by setting aside their hunger for recognition fueled by their pride and vanity, the roots of all politics.

[1] https://www.ucanews.com/news/hong-kong-catholics-mark-tiananmen-anniversary/85244

[2] https://missionariesofthepoor.org/our-missions/india-andhra-pradesh/

[3] https://missionariesofthepoor.org/our-missions/india-orissa/

[4] https://www.ucanews.com/news/hong-kong-catholics-mark-tiananmen-anniversary/85244

[5] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+14%3A27&version=NIV

Learning About Ascension Thursday

Jennifer Gregory Miller wrote an article that was published by CatholicCulture.org  entitled The Solemnity of the Ascension: The Feast Who Was Thursday.  It is very detailed.  Quoted below are selected portions from two of the paragraphs that give a brief overview of the Lord's ascension [1]:

This [past] week was often referred to as Rogation Week before the revision of the calendar in 1969, and the Solemnity of the Ascension is traditionally celebrated on Thursday. But much of that has changed, or varies depending on where one lives.

...

Originally the early Church celebrated the fifty (50) days of Easter to Pentecost as a whole. It wasn’t until the fourth century that the fortieth (40th) day was marked by the feast of the Ascension, and then the fiftieth (50th) marked by Pentecost to close the Easter season.

[1] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/blog/index.cfm?id=134