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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Cardinal Dolan really has some nerve lecturing Obama on morals -- His actions in Milwaukee, paying off pedophile priests, were dreadful

Posted on Friday, June 01, 2012 at 08:06 AM
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Cardinal Dolan and President Obama 


Cardinal Timothy Dolan has spent the last few months lecturing President Obama on morals and the need for Catholic organizations to have freedom of choice over birth control provisions in their health insurance.

Ignore for a moment the fact that 95 per cent of Catholic women use birth control anyway and consider instead the story yesterday from Milwaukee.

There, a long-lost diocesan document has turned up making it clear that then Bishop Dolan paid $20,000 on at least two occasions to pedophile priests in order to spur their departure from the priesthood.

These two pedos were not handed over to the police. They received a $20,000 reward and walked away Scot-free as far as Bishop Dolan was concerned.

The only defense of these actions I have seen is that the Catholic Church was not alone in covering up pedophile activity.

That is akin to saying Nazis were not the only ones who hated Jews. Child molesters of any stripe or religion must be stopped – we know that

But Dolan has now gone on to the highest office in the Catholic Church in America. If he were in General Motors after this week’s revelation, he would likely be fired and might well face a court for covering up and abetting the pedophiles.

In the American Catholic Church the matter is hardly noted.

Is that too harsh or am I missing something here?

The ones I feel most sorry for are the ordinary Catholics who desperately want to believe in their church but are finding with every passing week that there is something very rotten at the very top of it everywhere with the exception of a great man like Archbishop Diarmuid Martin in Dublin.

What gives this man Cardinal Dolan, who essentially excused the sexual abuse of minors the right to pontificate about morals?

Frankly, it would be laughable if it were not so sad.

Dolan is a huge star in New York, there are even whispers that he could be an outside candidate for pope in the next conclave.

He has an easy manner and a well-developed sense of public relations.

But let’s not lose sight of the fact that when it came to cover-up of one of the most grievous crimes imaginable, the abuse of innocent children, it appears Dolan was part and parcel of it.

He initially denied strongly he had made the payments saying it was preposterous to suggest he did.

There are many decent clerics in the Catholic Church who will never reach Dolan’s lofty heights but I bet they sleep easier at night.

Cardinal Dolan has lost all moral authority to lecture the rest of us, especially the president, on matters of morals.

 


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73 comments

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hermitTalker | Jun 02, 2012, 10:13 AM EDT
This story appears on the headlines, two days in a row, second such fake "explanation" of the actual facts about what Tim Dolan did in WIS and what the real issue is with ObamaCare and his HHS mandate. That Ap. Dolan story should never have appeared, been taken down IF anyone is awake at the wheel of IC. Some of you regular ranters on here could use a dose of the facts about the stories, learn to recognise "spin" when you see it, and cleanse your souls of the hatred what seems to affect your view of the Church. dwelling on the sins of the few and most from the past and overlooking the sacrifices, sufferings, imprisonment, murder and torture of the many priests over the years is a distortion. It's like everyone blames Congress, the Dail in Ireland when they are both made up of people who are honourable, have integrity, care for the common good. Some are carried away by power and greed but that is par for any human being anywhere on Planet Earth. Your fight is with God who trusted people like ourselves with His Son Jesus and His Church.

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eiriamach | Jun 02, 2012, 08:53 AM EDT
How did Dolan "lose moral authority"? Covering up evil has effects on a person. Dolan's lawsuit against Obama is wrong. Obama is not trampling on the religious liberty of Catholic hospitals, schools, and colleges. He's defending the right of conscience of the employees of the organizations. Defending the rights of all to consult their own consciences (about contraceptives) and their right to equal treatment (insurance benefits) under the law is his constitutional duty. When employees' rights of conscience are in conflict with the rights of their employers to act according to THEIR conscience, the Constitution does not privilege the employers' rights and wipe out the employees' rights. "Impartial justice" means Not allowing one group's "liberty" to cancel another group's "liberty." Obama's compromise allows both groups liberty. It's so obvious to me that Dolan's sense of "religious liberty" is confused that I've wondered why he does not see it. Here's my answer: suppressing evidence of sexual abuse by priests does violence to the conscience. It blunts moral reasoning and makes him less able to see facts in moral perspective. In effect, Dolan's helping pedophiles made him insensitive--blind--first blind to justice for victims (the $20000 for pedophiles and the manipulated diocesan bankruptcy) and then blind to justice for all--the "common good" of Obama's health plan. In effect, his sins made him stupid enough to misread the US Constitution! When you defend him, you move into the same mindset.

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borefield | Jun 02, 2012, 07:09 AM EDT
IrishandProud , you stated my feelings exactly. All the Catholic haters are having a field day now. In today's world of social media they can digress their hate and resentment every day all day. Cardinal Dolan is a good person and will back up his reasons given a chance which, he won't get because there are those who will never be satisfied.

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IrishAndProud | Jun 02, 2012, 05:17 AM EDT
The Catholic Church was WRONG to hide the pedophiles, and Barack Obama is WRONG to try to force them (or any other religious organization) to pay for things that violate their beliefs -- that is blatantly unconstitutional, and the Catholic church's blatant failings on the other matter do not change or negate that, in the least. Two wrongs do NOT make a right. They are BOTH wrong, each on these two respective issues. The Catholic church is in decline overall, and Obama is in serious political trouble anyway...and this matter did not help him, to say the least.

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connemaragirl | Jun 02, 2012, 04:20 AM EDT
So they throw them out of the Catholic Church and lets them loose on some poor unsuspected innocent children in order to protect the Catholic Church ,well here 's some news for these priest s,bishops ,whom ever ,its not your Church to protect its the Community of people that go to that Church that those Churches belong to ,not the Pope or anyone else either .I'm disgusted totally with these people what Hippocrates but I knew that even as a child ,I always felt that a lot of them were anything but holy

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jamthecat | Jun 02, 2012, 01:30 AM EDT
Kilgara, reread what you wrote! Those creeps were given money, drummed out of the priesthood and sent off to continue their child-raping ways...and you think there's nothing wrong with that? Seriously? Are you that morally corrupt? Those men committed crimes. The Church helped them get away with those crimes. That is criminal conspiracy, and Dolan should be tried for it and sent to jail, not be considered a good candidate for the papacy. Jesus Christ, what is wrong with you? This is sickening and you think it was wise and humane. What a devil you are.

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kilgara | Jun 01, 2012, 11:23 PM EDT
Roberts, as usual you don't have a clue as to what you are pontificating about!Are you"missing something here" , Duh yeah you are. Dolan gave these creeps some money so they would become laicised pronto and cease being priests preying on children. Absolutely nothing wrong with that indeed it was the wisest and most humane thing to do.But Irish Central bashes faithful Catholics at any and all opportunities so they hire a stooge like you to advocate their hateful agenda. Disgusting.

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irishpjk | Jun 01, 2012, 11:20 PM EDT
Pope hell no, I think he should resign and run for president of the US he could do better than anyone running at the moment. I am assuming you are all smart enough to know anyone with a sixth grade education could do better than the one in the white house now.

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bfg9000 | Jun 01, 2012, 09:14 PM EDT
"There are even whispers that he could be an outside candidate for pope in the next conclave." Well, what did you expect? I mean, with the current pope being a former Hitlerian Youth and all...

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eccles64 | Jun 01, 2012, 07:40 PM EDT
The Evil Rotten Roman Catholic Church is doomed to extiction in Europe, the UK and Ireland. It is about time for it to collapse in the US, The problem is that as long as the United Christian States of America is under the control of the evil JESUITS, the Evil Roman Catholic Church will continue poisoning the country with the GOD VIRUS. THERE IS NO "GOD", SO STOP WORRYING.

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weeknocky | Jun 01, 2012, 06:34 PM EDT
President Obama does not have morals - he's a politician.

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irish-77 | Jun 01, 2012, 05:08 PM EDT
HE IS NOT A GOD HE IS A MAN DRESSED IN BLACK AND WHITE.IF THIS MAN WAS INVOLVED IN A COVER UP THEN HE IS PART OF THE CRIME.HE SHOULD NOT BE HARBOURING THESE MEN FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHURCH. LIKE YOU SAID HE HAS SOME NECK ON HIM CRITIZING THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT MORALS AND BIRTH CONTROL . THE DAY HE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH START PAYING TAXES IS THE DAY I WILL CONSIDER HIS OPINION, HE LIVES A VERY NICE LIFE ,CHAUFFERED DRIVEN EVERYWHERE , WHAT DOES HE KNOW ABOUT HARDSHIP AND WHAT FAMILIES GO THROUGH, HE TURNS UP AT A SOUP KITCHEN ONCE A YEAR AND HE FEELS LIKE HES BLESSED .I ONCE READ THAT THE AVERAGE SALARY FOR A PREIST IS 40K IN THE STATES (TAX FREE)WHICH IS MORE THAN THE AVERAGE INCOME IS IN THE STATES AND WHAT ABOUT DONATIONS THAT THEY GET . I GREW UP IN IRELAND AND I SEEN WHAT MEN OF GOD CAN DO,SOME GOOD AND SOME BAD

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eiriamach | Jun 01, 2012, 05:02 PM EDT
From the NY Times article today on this news: "The minutes say that those at the [Milwaukee Archdiocese] meeting discussed a proposal to 'offer $20,000 for laicization ($10,000 at the start and $10,000 at the completion the process).' Instead of salary, they would receive a $1,250 monthly pension benefit, and, until they found another job, health insurance." Though $1,250 per month sounds like it'd add up well over time, it represented a great savings for the diocese over the salaries it paid the priests.

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BulldogMania | Jun 01, 2012, 04:29 PM EDT
Do you all realize that campaigns spend MILLIONS of dollars digging up dirt on their political enemies. You all realize this is a FACT of both political parties. After reading some of the responses to me I'm SHOCKED at the naive nature of your comments. I am in NO WAY defending Tim Dolan...not in the least...but be specific about what he did...he LIED about his actions. That's it. There is no evidence that he violated any laws in this case...I say this case because I'm quite certain there are easily many cases where he did break the law. And that's the problem...unfounded attacks only strengthen the bishops...they claim they are being attacked while they are innocent. REALLY? Innocent...tell that to Msgr. Bill Lynn who is about to go to jail...Philly sex abuse case. Come on people, you all know about that right? One of you said I'm on the defensive, LOL, are you serious? Like I care that a bunch of radical mindless liberals don't get it and because of that I'm the one that's wrong. I've been an independent ALL of my life and I'm very used to getting it from the radical left and radical right. I did read in the NY Times that the cases of these priests were under legal review, and as such the community would know who they are...registered or not...they were known to the community. AGAIN...the point...what do we want the Church to do with pedophile priests...if the answer is throw them out, as many say, then you have to live with those consequences, which means in some cases they will be set free on an unsuspecting public. I suppose that's why so many of them move. They might be known in one place...but if they move they are not known. I do love the attacks on Bush...did you all see President Clinton on TV last night. Really, study economics before you post. Decades of mess hit home...and we are going to pay for it for a long time. Ireland is in terrible trouble...and getting worse. The government there is about to collapse.

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Mousemess | Jun 01, 2012, 04:21 PM EDT
Bulldog, Your words about aborted fetuses are yours... not mine. I did not say one single identifiable word one way or another about fetuses or aborted fetuses.

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