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That would be Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, who just posted a lively, and timely, attack on anti-Catholicism in general — and the New York Times in particular. He lists a number of compelling and frankly outrageous examples, and then concludes:
I do not mean to suggest that anti-catholicism is confined to the pages New York Times. Unfortunately, abundant examples can be found in many different venues. I will not even begin to try and list the many cases of anti-catholicism in the so-called entertainment media, as they are so prevalent they sometimes seem almost routine and obligatory. Elsewhere, last week, Representative Patrick Kennedy made some incredibly inaccurate and uncalled-for remarks concerning the Catholic bishops, as mentioned in this blog on Monday. Also, the New York State Legislature has levied a special payroll tax to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority fund its deficit. This legislation calls for the public schools to be reimbursed the cost of the tax; Catholic schools, and other private schools, will not receive the reimbursement, costing each of the schools thousands – in some cases tens of thousands – of dollars, money that the parents and schools can hardly afford. (Nor can the archdiocese, which already underwrites the schools by $30 million annually.) Is it not an issue of basic fairness for ALL school-children and their parents to be treated equally?The Catholic Church is not above criticism. We Catholics do a fair amount of it ourselves. We welcome and expect it. All we ask is that such critique be fair, rational, and accurate, what we would expect for anybody. The suspicion and bias against the Church is a national pastime that should be “rained out” for good.
Visit the good archbishop’s blog and read the rest for yourself.
posted October 29, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Maureen Dowd and Patrick Kennedy are Catholic, are they not? Perhaps they are self-hating Catholics then? Is Hans Kung anti-Catholic?
Paul Vitello wrote a story today in the NYT about Dolan’s blog and it comes across as quite positive. Laurie Goodstein has written many informative and balanced articles about the Catholic Church and other churches.
posted October 29, 2009 at 5:22 pm
DML.
You are correct in saying that Laurie Goodstein has written many excellent, balanced articles about the church. Dolan’s point is that the editors chose to post this particular one above the fold on the front page…a place that the news story didn’t deserve in light of the other news of the day, while making a great deal less of another much more significant story about problems in some Orthodox Jewish schools. Why?
As for Kennedy and Dowd…Just because someone is Catholic does not inoculate nor excuse them from anti-catholic bigotry.
God bless Archbishop Dolan.
posted October 29, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Apropos of this topic, I am just finishing reading the recently published “Secular Sabotage” by Bill Donohue of the Catholic Civil Rights League. His book is not an exaggeration All the horrendous examples of anti-Catholic bigotry he writes about, I remember seeing in the news. One chapter is about Catholics who are anti-Catholic “Catholics.” That chapter is titled “Self-sabotage Catholicism.”
posted October 29, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Apropos of this topic, I am just finishing reading the recently published “Secular Sabotage” by Bill Donohue of the Catholic Civil Rights League. His book is not an exaggeration All the horrendous examples of anti-Catholic bigotry he writes about, I remember seeing in the news. One chapter is about Catholics who are anti-Catholic “Catholics.” That chapter is titled “Self-sabotage Catholicism.”
posted October 29, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Kudos to Archbishop Dolan. He speaks the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
posted October 30, 2009 at 7:33 am
Great article by the Archbishop, although I am not so sure the example of the tax for the MTA not being reimbursed should have been included in there with the other obvious examples of anti-Catholicism. I don’t think the state not reimbursing Catholic schools for a payrole tax as anti-Catholic – perhaps just not very fair.
posted October 30, 2009 at 7:42 am
When I posted here last week about how Maureen Dowd’s article was filled with hate, I was criticized by a number of posters. I feel that I am in good company when the Archbishop of NY has expressed (in a much better way that I ever could) my thoughts.
posted October 30, 2009 at 8:20 am
One further thought.
Have you started to notice how a small but growing number of our hierarchy are speaking out about how poorly the Catholic church is being treated by politicians and the press over the last year or so.
This is long over due and all I can say is: THANK GOD!
posted October 30, 2009 at 3:14 pm
“Yet the Times did not demand what it has called for incessantly when addressing the same kind of abuse by a tiny minority of priests: release of names of abusers, rollback of statute of limitations, external investigations, release of all records, and total transparency.”
Yes, and if the orthodox Jewish community had a governing hierarchy with a decades-long history of lying, obstruction of justice, and a pattern of legal attacks against the victims, but not the perps, his pathetic whining might be taken more seriously. But the fact is, neither he, nor any other American Bishop has the courage to admit that the scandal was not caused by perverted priests, but by venal, self-serving Bishops, a clear majority of whom who were more than willing to sacrifice someone else’s children to their own agenda of lying, coverups and obfuscation.
BTW, this is his cue to trot out that oh-so-useful lie about “the best science of the time…”, I entered the Church two years ago. It wasn’t because of lies like this one.
posted October 30, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I’m a doubter on the archbishop on this issue. Bishops have been at the crosshairs of a cover-up scandal, but they don’t seem to be aware they have lost a shocking amount of credibility with their sisters and brothers in the pews. Bishops in Santa Rosa and Chicago, among other places, have made high-profile blunders, so it might be that the press smells a little blood in the water.
The Church does far better as an advocate for real victims (like Christians in Iraq, or collateral casualties of war–the dead and the refugees). Bishops don’t live in the real world of lay people. I don’t see anti-Catholicism in any significant degree. That’s not to say that many people are ignorant about the Catholic Church, but ignorance in the press can be extended to all sorts of things, like science.
I wish Archbishop Dolan wouldn’t skirt so close to the border of the Culture of Victimhood. Let’s get past the Donohue talk show cryfest material. Good for the Times in refusing to print his piece: too long for the letters to the ed page anyway.
posted November 2, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Did we read the same article? Dowd’s discussion of a sensitive issue was respectful and assertive. The archbishop appears to be the sort of Catholic who finds any criticism of the institutional church anti-Catholic. Calling people names allows him to duck responsibility to give a defense of his point of view that thinking people would find plausible. What a shame he missed that opportunity. It’s like he’s talking to himself.