Open Letter to the Catholic Standard

I posted last week regarding the celebration of Cardinal McCarrick's 80th birthday.  In that post I lamented that Sister Carol Keehan was a lector at that Mass.  While I was away, the July 1st issue of the Catholic Standard was released.  In it was a report, written by the editor Mark Zimmerman, on the Mass and other celebration details.  However - lo and behold - there was not one mention of the presence of Sister Carol.  I find that to be somewhat disingenuous.  Thus, I have written an open letter to Mr Zimmerman to let him know that not all of us are clueless ostriches with heads in sand.  We must call these people on such shenanigans.  And now, the letter...

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Mr. Zimmerman, I write this open letter to you to comment on the article that you authored regarding Cardinal McCarrick’s 80th birthday celebration. By “open letter”, I mean that it is currently posted on my blog. The url is (only in email to Mr Zimmerman).

I will preface my comments by stating that a major factor that inspired the creation of this blog and its sister website http://www.restore-dc-catholicism.com was the decision of the Catholic Standard directors (I assume you were one of them) to virtually eliminate publication of “letters to the editor”. I have it on good information that this decision came about because hundreds of people wrote to protest Cardinal McCarrick’s abysmal refusal to obey Canon 915. I understand that even some of the “liberal” elements in archdiocesan efforts decried the decision to cease the “letters to the editor”, correctly citing the fact that such amounted to de facto stifling of others’ concerns. Hence I opened up some venues for real information to be publicized. Now I shall delve into the article itself, which appears in the July 1st issue on page 10 (although not online at the time of this writing).

You made mention of the Mass of Thanksgiving that the Cardinal offered on June 23rd at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. Now here’s the million-dollar question that you knew was coming! Why, oh why, did you not see fit to mention that Sister Carol Keehan served as a lector during that Mass? Could it be that you knew full well that such honoring of someone who has promoted the Obama Health Bill (along with included abortion provisions) is a flagrant violation of the USCCB’s document Catholics in Political Life (note fourth bullet)?

Mr. Zimmerman, you certainly knew that Sister Carol’s prominent role at that Mass was not a minor detail. You’re a journalist, are you not? Surely you are aware of the pivotal role she played in the passage of the Obama Hell Bill (that’s what it is). Much has been posted online about the mess she has made of her vows; a good bit has been on my blog. For ease of reference, please see these links:

http://www.lifenews.com/nat6115.html
http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-043.shtml
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/sr._kehaan_receives_presidential_pen_for_supporting_health_care_against_bishops_decision/
http://restore-dc-catholicism.blogspot.com/2010/06/dc-prolifers-protest-gonzaga.html (the video should be watched in its entirety)
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/jun/10060413.html
http://www.ewtnnews.com/new.php?id=348

These links illustrate clearly that Sister’s disregard for the Magisterium in favor of Obama has NOT gone unnoticed by others in Catholic circles. So again, why did the Standard fail to mention that very pertinent detail? Click the following link to the Washington Post article citing her presence. It’s truly a sad commentary on the Standard’s competence, if not integrity, when the Washington Post, notorious for its left-wing bias, is more factually accurate than is a Catholic publication. By the way – the same article claims that the Cardinal “is an advisor of some sort to the Obama administration”. Hmmm… maybe that’s an answer to the question I just asked.

The omission of any mention whatsoever of Sister Carol’s role in that Mass was, at best, shoddy journalism. Before any whining and sniveling occurs over any alleged “lack of charity” on my part, let me posit that the aforegoing is the charitable assumption. The only other possible explanations for the omission must assume motives of deception.

Mr. Zimmerman, I entertain no illusions that this message will see print in the Standard. To be fair, it is rather lengthy. However, even if it were below the word-count threshold, I doubt it would be printed; I hope I’d be wrong. However, I suspect that others will voice similar objections to your article. Will you allow those letters to be printed? Again, I point out that this letter/email is open. I welcome replies; any such replies are subject to being publicized.

To other readers: if you wish to voice your own concerns to the Catholic Standard, Mr Zimmerman’s email address is mark@cathstan.org. Other contact information for the Standard is found here. Feel free to send copies to me via comments to this post.