Some Resignations - Signs Of Hope

News came today of Andrew Cuomo's resignation from his office of Governor of New York.  Apparently there are credible allegations of sexual abuse - eleven women.  It seems that the Dems now consider him to be a liability so they are kicking him to the curb.  In two weeks he and the First Concubine will enter private life.  We pray that they will wreak no more mischief and will be given the grace of conversion to the One True Faith, with all due repentance.

Meanwhile in Rome, Father Adam Park, Vice Rector of the North American College is stepping down after allegations of homosexual harassment of seminarians arose against him. So he's leaving Rome and going home.  Regrettably for us, "home" is the Archdiocese of Washington.  He was a former secretary to Cardinal Wuerl.  

As I think of Cuomo's resignation, hope arises for the success of the eviction efforts against Gavin Newsom in California.  Let us pray!

Andrew Cuomo: Pro-Life People Are Personae Non Gratae In New York

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has publicly vented his animosity - rather, hatred - of pro-life people in New York last Friday at a press conference.  The exact quote is "Who are they? Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? Is that who they are? Because if that’s who they are and they’re the extreme conservatives, they have no place in the state of New York, because that’s not who New Yorkers are."

Some questions for Dandy-Andy:

• Who or what gives you the right to determine "who New Yorkers are"?
• Are you trying so hard to be presidential material that you believe you have to outdo Obama in sheer arrogance?  If so, you're off to a good start!  Keep making an ass of yourself, by all means!

The real questions are reserved for Cardinal Dolan:

• Do you plan to respond to this or will your usual cowardice rule the day as you pretend this slap in the face never occurred?
• Andrew Cuomo is your spiritual son.  Obviously your polite little relationship with him is doing his soul not one bit of good.  In fact, your stance towards him seems to be lulling him into a dangerous complacency as evidence by his arrogant dismissal of good people.  When will you stop fearing his political power and start fearing for his soul?
• The Catholics whom the governor just insulted are also your spiritual children.  How will you help remedy this slap in their face proffered by Cuomo?
• Will you - at long last - deny Holy Communion to Cuomo and to his live-in concubine?  This action is long overdue.  The more you demure in this regard, the greater the peril for Cuomo and the scandal for New York Catholics.

Last May, Judie Brown of American Life League penned an article called "Cardinal Dolan's Mess".  It's well worth another review, as the mess just got a lot messier.  Regrettably Cardinal Dolan shows no intention of cleaning it up as only he can. 

"Catholic In Good Standing" Label - A Tactic Of Progressives

In today's Vortex, Michael Voris talks not so much of that phrase as it was recently used in New York, but how it's being utilized to officially ostracize traditional Catholics and other good people of morals.  He cites as an example the treatment meted out to Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

Listen to him as he speculates what one must do to be considered a "Catholic not in good standing" (starting at 6:36).  Must he/she be a "homosexual abortionist who lives with his gay partner".  Then he says, "no".  I'm sure Voris wasn't thinking of what happened a year ago this past Lent at St. John Neumann in Gaithersburg, but Father Marcel Guarnizo was essentially booted from the Archdiocese of Washington for denying Holy Communion to someone who fulfilled all the hypothetical criteria (except that she was not an abortionist - probably "pro-choice", though).

Washington Post: Dolan For Pope

The Washington Post, with a column by R. Scott Appleby, has graced us all with yet another token of their concern.  They are advising the Catholic Church how to select the next Pope!  Awww!  Isn't that just, well, special???  Kinda makes one wonder how the Roman Catholic Church managed to survive these two thousand years without the wisdom of the Washington Post to guide her paths!

He thinks it's time for an American pope.  Appleby asserts that an American pope would not have been advisable at the last election eight years ago.  Why?  Because the rest of the world was "too resentful of America’s global footprint: its ostentatious wealth, its ubiquitous military presence and its saber-rattling, diplomacy-scorning president bent on prosecuting two unpopular wars. Big Brother hardly needed a partner in the Vatican."

Ah, but now that's changed.  Barack HUSSEIN Obama, the Messiah Most Miserable, is now president.  He has "softened America’s international image".  (I might argue that "softened" is a bit of an understatement, but I would digress!).  And who, oh who, is Appleby's choice?  Cardinal Dolan!

You see, he "projects vigor and regular-guy charisma, making his unwavering support of Vatican orthodoxy on sexual ethics and other doctrinal matters more palatable to the broad Catholic middle."   I suppose "regular-guy charisma" included that Al Smith Dinner, where Dolan allowed Obama his coveted photo-op right before the election and that groveling letter he wrote to Andrew Cuomo.

Appleby opines that "the church desperately needs an infusion of modernity" and "one who can get the creaky gears of the Vatican moving again, perhaps with the assistance of money and expertise from affluent and well-placed donors".  In reality, the Church needs to have modernism purged from its institutions and its clergy.  As for the "assistance of money", the apostles did quite nicely without buckets of money from Rome as they were commissioned and empowered by Jesus Christ Himself.  These are not valid qualification for the selection of a pontiff.

Cardinal Dolan's Wimpy Response To Cuomo

Normally I avoid the Patheos blogs like a plague, but once in a while they do have news.  In today's State of the State address, New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo promised to pass a "Reproductive Health Act" bill designed to render New York even more hospitable to baby-murder than it already is.  New York's abortion rate is twice that of the national average.  But Planned Parenthood, giddy over the 2012 increases in  its baby-murdering business wants even more blood money.  Since Cuomo knows at least some of that blood-money will flow into his political coffers (and he probably has his sights set on the White House), he is all too ready to do the bidding of those who hold his purse strings.

Cardinal Dolan of New York issued his response to Cuomo's address.  I saw it on "The Deacon's Bench".  This blogger entitled his piece "..Cardinal Dolan Shows How It's Done.."   Well, I beg to differ.  In the light of Cuomo's obvious indifference, if not actual hatred of his Catholic heritage and Church teaching, I see this response as one of the most wimpy, simpering things that I've ever read.  This is not a response to evil that would be incumbent upon a Shepherd of the Church.

So that I can add my own commentary in red, I'll reproduce the Cardinal's letter below.  I hope the New York chancery takes note (hey - I can dream, can't I?)

Dear Governor Cuomo: 

Congratulations on your third State of the State message earlier today. There is much to cheer in your report, and my brother bishops and I look forward to working with you to advance much of this agenda. 

In particular, we share your absolute horror at the many incidents of gun violence that have had such a terrible impact on our society, none more so than the unspeakable massacre of 26 innocent children and women at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14. We commit ourselves to working with you to address this urgent problem as you look toward meaningful reforms of our gun laws, improvements in care for the mentally ill, and safer schools. Meanwhile Cuomo promised to make the culture more hostile via abortion.  Cuomo has no horror of the "unspeakable massacre of innocent New York children that occurs daily.

Allow me also to single out for praise your continued interest in reforming and improving our state’s health care system, as well as your support for a long-overdue increase in the state’s minimum wage. I am hopeful that real progress can be made in these and other areas that enhance the lives of those who are living below or near the poverty level in our state.  Why go on and on about this trivia when babies are being butchered?

Yes, there is much to praise.  What????   However, I would be remiss if I did not renew my great disappointment regarding your continued support for the radical Reproductive Health Act. I know that you appreciate the fact that millions of New Yorkers of all faiths, or none at all, share a deep respect for all human life from conception to natural death. I also know that you are aware that New York State’s abortion rate is, incredibly, double the national average. Sadly, nearly 4 in 10 pregnancies statewide end in abortion. In some parts of New York City, the rate is higher than 60 percent, mostly in the impoverished Black and Latino communities.  Of course Cuomo knows all that!  He doesn't give a damn!  He's lock, stock and barrel in bed with the abortion cartel!  How can that be more obvious??

As we have discussed in the past, we obviously disagree on the question of the legality of abortion, but surely we are in equally strong agreement that the abortion rate in New York is tragically high.  Your Eminence, this is not mere "disagreement".  Cuomo is disobeying Church teaching to the possible damnation of his own soul and blood guilt of an entire state.   There was a time when abortion supporters claimed they wanted to make abortion “safe, legal, and rare.” Yet this measure is specifically designed to expand access to abortion, and therefore to increase the abortion rate. I am hard pressed to think of a piece of legislation that is less needed or more harmful than this one. 

I do hope you will reconsider this position. Your Eminence, you are his bishop.  Why not tell him that he stands in real danger of going to hell, with all its pains and torments, unless he repents?  As his bishop, order him to repent and if he disobeys even that, then instruct your priests to obey Canon 915 and not allow him to partake of Holy Communion.    I stand ready and eager to discuss this or any other matter with you at any time. My brother bishops and I would very much like to work closely with you to reduce New York’s scandalous abortion rate and to provide an environment for all women and girls in which they are not made to feel as though their only alternative is to abort, something which goes against all human instinct, and which all too often leads to lifelong feelings of regret, guilt and pain for them, and for the baby’s father as well.  Of course there is the reality of damnation should they die unrepentant of their sin.  Why, oh why, do you not mention that everlasting reality?

I look forward to discussing all of these issues with you further when I visit Albany on March 19 and 20 for the New York State Catholic Conference’s Catholics at the Capitol event. 

Wishing you and your family speaking of "family", is he still living in fornication with Sandra Lee?  When, oh when, will you broach that?  Again you are his bishop; do your duty!  every blessing in the New Year, may I remain 

Faithfully yours, 

Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan


Your Eminence, you have a duty to speak truth to this man about his own sin and the sins of immorality that he is foisting upon the state of New York.  I realize your job is not easy, but it's still your job!  Do it!  I ask the intercession of St John the Baptist, St Thomas Becket, St Thomas More, St John Fisher, St Charles Lwanga and all the other saints who stood up to immoral political leaders

The Other School Assault This Past Friday

While I was listening to news updates about the Newtown situation, I would hear every now and then some mention of a similar incident in China on the same day - but not much else.  So I googled it.

There was indeed an attack in the Henan province of China, according to BBC News.  A knife-wielding man slashed 22 children and 1 elderly woman.  Two of the kids were wounded seriously.  The attacker was overpowered by security guards.  The guards were apparently there due to previous attacks that did claim the lives of 20 children.

Fortunately in Henan there were no fatalities yesterday and that's why no one saw fit to delve more closely in that manner.  However, I believe there's an additional reason why the lamebrain-mainstream media chose to ignore those attacks.  The Chinese assailant did not use any guns in his vicious crimes.  Nor were guns used in the previous Chinese situations that did prove fatal to some children.  And yes, apparently China has "large knife registration", but that didn't stop what happened Friday.

Fifty years ago, the US didn't have nearly the number of gun control laws on the books as it does now.  Yet we never heard of such occurrences.  Of course at that time we knew better than to allow our babies to be murdered in their own mothers' wombs.  Abortion happened, but not nearly at the rate that it happens now and society condemned - not condoned - it.

Already we hear kvetching and ballyhooing for more "gun control", as if that really addresses the root of the problem.  The usual whiners and howlers include:

• NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg - (the guy who banned 16-oz sodas from NYC)
• NY Gov Andrew Cuomo
• Piers Morgan
• NY Rep Jerrold Nadler (Hey!  At least he's being honest!)

And lest you think that these libs are leading by example, think again.  Barbara Boxer and Chuck Shumer have concealed-carry permits.  Why don't they think that we citizens, we the Great Unwashed, have the right to self defense?

All the above-named progressives have something else in common - they promote abortion: that is, the murder of babies.  So of course they won't function on the actual criminal, but merely the criminal's choice of tools.  If they subjected the criminal to scrutiny, they must also subject to the same scrutiny those who assist the criminal in his/her murders.  Could it be that they unconsciously realize that they themselves are complicit in murder?

In my post yesterday, I related the remarks made by Mother Teresa during the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast.  During the lighting of the Vatican Christmas tree, the Holy Father repeated her thoughts when he warned that abortion and "gay marriage" are real threats to peace.  Unless we, as a nation, wake up and repent, these acts of violence will increase.

Governor Cuomo Not Meeting With Catholic Leaders

New York's bishops and other leaders are preparing for a state Catholic conference.  According to this CBS article, it is apparently a tradition for the governor to participate in these conferences.  However, he informed Archbishop Dolan that he could not make it this year.

Some view it as a snub, owing to Edward Peter's remarks that Cuomo should be denied Communion, on account of his very public shack-up and dissident views.  My opinion?  Big deal!  If anything, the governor is sparing the New York bishops the duty of telling him that he has absolutely no business attending that Catholic conference.  There is nothing worthwhile he could bring to the conference table, seeing that he is playing the dissident both in his public policies and not-so-private life.

Let's be even more realistic.  I doubt the bishops would have the requisite calcium in their spines to turn him away from the conference if he did attend.  Cuomo is (perhaps unwittingly) preventing their further disgrace and humiliation.

Bishop Hubbard - A New Low In Episcopal Scandals

From Catholic Culture, we read that New York governor Andrew Cuomo, with Sandra Lee (described by New York Daily News as Cuomo's "live-in girlfriend") attended Mass in the Albany Cathedral.  During that Mass, Bishop Howard Hubbard extolled them in his homily, after which Cuomo and Lee received Holy Communion.

To recap, Andrew Cuomo is both pro-abortion and pro "gay marriage".  Since he received Holy Communion, he committed a mortal sin of sacriligious Holy Communion.  Moreover, Bishop Howard, in not enforcing Canon 915, most likely cooperated with that mortal sin.  I thought bishops were supposed to shepherd people away from such sin and towards repentance; it seems that Bishop Hubbard did quite the opposite here.  With bishops like Hubbard sitting in episcopal sees, is it any wonder that the Church is in such rotten shape and that so many souls are careening towards hell?