Mahony to nuns: Move on, sisters

There are presently over 2500 male and female religious. There are an additional 1200 priests in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. And you are telling all of us that 3 sisters need a call from the cardinal-archbishop before the archdiocese sells a building that they are using.

I condemned the settlement that this sale will provide funds. If anything, I could stand for holy pictures over this. Do you think money grows on trees?

Mahony is a creep, but this is a common observation. The prosecutor in LA has threatened to bring him to law, and I hope he follows through.

Who will have these three old women, and the blessings they bring with them? I'm tempted myself.

MZF, please clarify your post. The diocese of LA is owned by these old women?

Got it, MZF.

Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

Mahony is always the boogeyman because of his handling of the case and because he remains popular because of his progressive beliefs. That drives conservative Catholics crazy since they would hate Mahony scandal or not.

Daniel--if he were a Cardinal Law they would have run his ass out or town. That's what infuriates conservative Catholics--given the L.A. Times's treatment of him with kit gloves because he is one of their own, is that the coverage oftentimes seems hypocritical in that it has more to do with politics rather than children. And by the way, that same accusation could be leveled against some of the conservative commentary on this issue (but that is not reaching a mainstream audience).

MZ--it's in large part Mahony's mess. He is responsible for those under him and their actions. He can't just never be held accountable because he is a bishop.

Any change the Roman Catholic Church could get investigated for federal racketeering charges? The archdiocese of L.A. seems like a Mafia outfit to me. And Mahoney and his cohorts are the crime bosses.

Not to allow the facts to get in the way of a good argument, but the $600 MM settlement deals with allegations prior to Cardinal Mahony's leadership.

In the weeks following the opening of the Rog Mahal, I attended a few Masses at the Cathedral celebrated by His Eminence. I was impressed that the Cardinal would celebrate Mass in his Cathedral often, having come from a diocese where the bishop was rarely seen except for confirmations, Holy Week, and other official functions. The bishop of my home diocese generally said Mass privately in house by himself.

Mahony does have, however, an appalling lack of tact. During one Mass, owing to the amounts of copious smoke issuing forth from the censer, the fire alarms kept going off. Cardinal Mahony said that they were going off because there were, in his works, "too many one dollar bills in the collection baskets". He made similar statements about "too many one dollar bills" in the collection plate at subsequent Masses. I think someone finally told him that his jokes were going over like a lead balloon and he finally stopped them. He came off quite badly. It is not for nothing that the LA Times, in an editorial cartoon, featured Mahony saying Mass while stating, "wherever two or three hundred million dollars are gathered together in my name, there am I". He came off as a sort of money-grubber.

There were some very worthy initiatives that I supported during my time in the Archdiocese, especially the Together in Mission collection. This collection is supposed to raise funds to share with poor parishes and schools. It is a worthy project and one which I was happy to participate in. But making jokes about "too many one dollar bills" doesn't do much to endear the faithful and encourage them to give.

"make him the keeper of the foot stool in Rome or something like that." Alongside Law for good measure.