When my family came to this country by boat ( and I still have a gritty b/w photo of the Statue of Liberty as we approached) we felt connected to the dreams of freedom of thought, just as much as any need to put food on the table.
My parents told me they were sick of being told how to think, what to think, how to act, etc. first by the Nazis, then by the Russians. Had they heard these words spoken by Cuomo they would have been horrified-” We left everything behind to come to this?” Neither liberal nor conservative, Democrat nor Republican, ,my family came here for the precious freedoms this country offered., that we could all live together, despite our dfferent viewpoints. To tell anyone they dont belong here because of how they think is to tell them to get back on the boats and return to the narrow minded oppression of the police states that grew out of this kind of mind set. Of course, Americans have always lived inside their comfort box and would find it hard to think of themselves living under these circumstances. But it can happen here. We must be watchful and speak up against this kind of hate speech. Cuomo made his sneering statements because he felt they would be welcome and would help his political agenda. Why would he think that? Is he just another conceited, out of touch politician? Or did he feel that this is what America has come to?
I am the editor of what is sometimes called the most widely read travel magazine in Scandinavia. We have over the years frequently featured New York as our choice for the world’s Number One destination in our magazine. Moreover, I have been traveling to NYC once a year with my family for more than twenty years. We like staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants and shopping for family’s shoes and clothes for the year.
No more. Nor we will we feature New York in our publication in the future.
Because he’s rich and powerful and has the ability to use his office to reign down hell on the Diocese, their schools, and charities through regulation.
OrthodoxChick: and because, it seems, the hierarchy is more interested in being seen with him than not.
Dialogue with Cuomo’s type is like saying ‘nice doggie’ while they reach around for a stick. We’re not even doing that! Not impressed with hearing nothing but nuanced *crickets* from the Archdiocese. How far we’ve fallen when even our spiritual leaders are unwilling to stand up to this adulterer bully and call him out, publicly, forcefully, and unambiguously.
Would NEVER have happened when the chancellery was nicknamed “The Powerhouse” under +Spellman. Say what you want about him…he never backed down in asserting the Church’s rights OR teachings, regardless of his personal faults. You knew where you stood.
But Cuomo must be a fine upstanding Roman Catholic. He receives Holy Communion from so many outstanding priests and bishops in New York.
No…no. We have no right to criticize such a sterling example of our Holy Faith. If our wonderful shepherds do not find fault with the man – who are we to judge?
My browser is slow to load because I have dial-up at home. When I saw the phrase, “Give me our Huddled Masses,” pop up on the screen, I began to wonder if the churches were being pushed together in New York. Get it – huddled Masses…
Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.
Lets be accurate. Governor Cuomo belongs to the Albany Diocese, which the Metropolitan for is Cardinal Dolan. So yes, Bishop Hubbard, the Bishop of Albany has been, HORRIBLE in his support of Cuomo having said at the Governor’s inaugriation that Cuomo was “the kind of Catholic we need more of in politics,” Cardinal Dolan has also said that Governor Cuomo is a “Catholic in Good Standing.” So if Bishop Hubbard does nothing, Cardinal Dolan COULD do something.
Just a thought that when these outrages occur, there is a good response which can include prayer, and sending an email or making a call to say, the New York Tourism Board, or some such group, and letting them know you won’t be spending your tourist dollars in a state where you are not welcome.
Even leftist tyrannical dictators have a soft spot. For a governor, one would be that the response to such a comment has been overwhelmingly negative and garners you “bad attention” (that seems to have happened) and that say, you are getting panicked calls from your state’s tourism board that people are registering their displeasure by refusing to spend tourist dollars in your state, or stating that intention. Next time he gets the urge to target conservatives, he might remember and instead practice a little shuttie.
If Catholics and all Christians responded strongly to these assaults, they would decrease in number. There is indeed strength in numbers, and there are reportedly many more “conservatives” than liberals, many more “believers” than atheists. So why are conservatives not running things, or why do we not only not get respect, we are now targets? We don’t respond forcefully enough or in sufficient numbers. The day we do, we will start turning the tide.
Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.
The governor has jurisdiction over the entire state, thus what happens in Albany doesn’t stay in Albany.
Only the Bishop of Albany has canonical jurisdiction over a resident of Albany. If I were the bishop of Albany, I would tell him to get out of my diocese and not to come back.
But what is going on there is more than just a canonical issue and even more than an application of Canon 915. What should happen is that all eight bishops of New York State, led by their archbishop, and surrounded by all the auxiliary bishops of New York State, should hold a joint press conference in which Andrew Cuomo is conclusively and decisively condemned in no uncertain terms and put on public notice that his actions will no longer be tolerated in any way. They still have a bully pulpit if they care to use it. But like others, I fear that our bishops are too concerned about things being awkward at the Al Smith dinner.
Apart from that, I would miss Fr. Z if he no longer wanted to come to our state, though nowhere else is he more desperately needed. I would understand if he wanted to join the boycott, of course.
Maybe C.Dolan (or whoever is in charge of overlooking Cuomo’s Catholicism) should tell Cuomo
“Please leave the Catholic Church, because that’s not who we are”
[As we have seen, the Governor’s bishop is not Card. Dolan, but Bp. Hubbard. That said a bishop is a bishop is a bishop and must be a bishop also to those not directly under his jurisdiction. Moreover, I think we would all rather see the Governor manifest a sincere conversion, than to get out. On the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, that could be our prayer. Pray to St. Ananias to help Cuomo lose the scales from his eyes and convert.]
Note that Cuomo’s spokesperson in his letter defense said that Cuomo himself was “a Catholic”. The campaign on the part of Catholics in the Democratic Party to pretend that to give funding and support to expand the number of abortions is perfectly “Catholic” has to come to an end in this country now that the younger generation nationwide does not buy it. Maybe they meant well 41 years ago, now with the statistics such as they are in NYC, they can no longer justify it as ethical even from a secular point of view. The science just does not support the expansion of abortion.
What is happening politically, and one can sense the desperation on the part of Gov. Cuomo, is that the inherent anti-Catholic hatred and bigotry of the Democratic Party is being exposed. So many politicians like him at all levels have had to tow the party line on more and more insatiably more abortion in order to please a radical, extreme amoral lobby that insists that women must kill their offspring in the womb, for the betterment of society, for the good of the public fisc, for freedom to have sex wherever and whenever, for so many unjust reasons given. The fact is that women have not had their situation improved due to this lynchpin of modern sexual “ethics” and for women’s health and econonic well being it is just the opposite in the vanguard of the age of abortion. One should ask, what group(s) are invested in the notion that the “right” to have sex justifies killing children in the womb? Do we deny these group(s) exist? They do, they are well funded, and they call the shots for the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has not permitted the consensus-backed voice of prolife from coming to the fore for many years now. Prolife Democrats?? Any? Gov. Cuomo well knows that prolife is not welcome in his party and he is rallying the troops.
So what is the rally. The expectation is that Obama’s bigotry in trying to force Catholics to fund abortion to greater and greater numbers will be shortly exposed when the HHS decisions are decided. This is a propaganda war to paint Catholics as “extremists” in order to make Obama look ok and nice enough and benign. It’s “reproductive” care, it’s “health” “care”, it’s women’s “rights”. None of them ever acknowledge that the very decision that legalized abortion in this country recognized that there are always two rights in play when it comes to the question of abortion. So, compare Roe to what these politicians assert, and ask yourself, who is the real extremist? Which is the moderate view.
I pray that Gov. Cuomo changes his heart on this. Why deny tens of millions of children their civil rights? For what? For a well funded and organized lobby? If that party really had a core of compassion and service it would mobilize to find a way that these children could live, and life life to the fullest.
The various prelates in NY state are dealing with reality. They know that all elected officials are imperfect. NY voters never had a choice between Cuomo and a perfect candidate. As is often the case voters are choosing the lesser of two evils. We should not make the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I’ve already agreed here that Andrew misspoke and I am sure that his father (who in my view is ten times the man Andrew is) is most likely embarrassed by and for his son.
I should have continued, I am not a fan of Andrew whatsoever. However v. Paladino it was a total no brainer. Bozo the Clown would have been a better governor than Paladino and that’s not hyperbole.
If people don’t like Cuomo they need to put their noses to the grindstone and come up with a decent repubican candidate. Andrew won better than 60 of the popular vote in 2010. If he had had a worthy and viable candidate he may not have done as well, but he still may have won.
Yet it would be a much more just situation for voters all around if the Democratic Party were to permit prolife to contribute meaningfully, I suppose just to speak and be represented on the platform, at all levels. Gov. Cuomo well knows to speak favorably of prolife Catholics is to get one’s head chopped off in the Dem Party, continuing.
benedetta, yes, such is the dynamic of polarization which exists in both of the major political parties. Can a republican candidate stand up against capital punishment and remain electable?
2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
Here the Church gives latitude on this matter provided it is used only as a last resort and therefore, not excluded by the Church.
Capital punishment has not nearly the well funded and ideologically extreme lobby that abortion advocay has. And, there is a surprising diversity among Republicans on that one.
The issue is Gov. Cuomo’s attempt to portray prolife as extremist. This is connected to HHS and Democrats are bracing for the backlash.
What has happened is that more people regard abortion as immoral now as compared to decades ago. The Democratic party on this issue is completely unable to accept the change in consensus. It should probably adapt now lest it find itself on the irrelevant end of things.
Of course there’s always the Tea Party. Doesn’t that also scare the likes of Cuomo and the rest bigtime?
Leaders worth their salt and who call themselves “liberal” are able to have a discussion with constituents who voice a diversity of views. In the “it’s health care” and “women’s rights” only propaganda the message is that all who believe that life is important are unwelcome, not to mention that the tens of millions lost do not matter. That’s a big problem, bigger than the issue about the nation’s parties and their platforms that you take up frjim4321. In the next generation the Democratic Party, the party of death, will have to come to grips with that.
I often wonder, who do the baby boomers who love abortion so much think is going to care for them in their old retirement age? The half permitted to be born? I wonder if it will be enough…
“Of course there’s always the Tea Party. Doesn’t that also scare the likes of Cuomo and the rest bigtime?” – Benedetta
I don’t think so, Benedetta. I think Democrats should bend down and kiss the ground “Tea Party” (sic) members walk on. The RNC is hopelessly fragmented and this will assure more DNC victories in 2014 and 2016.
I really don’t think your analysis on this is at all correct. The crazier, louder and more monied and powerful the lunatic fringe of the RCN becomes the better off the Dems will be.
MAJOR FAIL: Two (2!) repubican responses to the SOTU address this week! Why don’t they get out there, wave red flags and say “We can’t get it together, we can’t get along?” They are totally dead in the water.
Fr. Jim with all due respect you seem to be echoing the theme that the MSM also promotes which is that the Tea party is the “lunatic fringe”, that somehow people who advocate smaller government, less control by Washington and more local government, a return to the traditional values that our country had for most of its 200+ year existence is extreme, whereas advocating socialized medicine, abortion on demand and free contraception funded by taxpayers as being mainstream views.
Both parties have always had their issues with the moderate pragmatic wing (for Dems its the Clintonians) vs. the more radical ones on the left or right as the case may be. I remember the period 1968-1972. What has happened in this country is that the perception of what is “moderate” has moved to the left, so that people who believe in the principles outlined in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, especially the concept that our rights come from the Creator and are not granted by Government, are now considered the “lunatic fringe”.
JonPatrick, I understand your explanation and rationalization for there being a virtual third party within the RNC but my point was more about how that relates to electability. The rightist vote is diluted.
On what is the civil rights issue of our times, both major political parties, ought to be able to dialogue with the moral assertion that wishes to enable women to keep their children, that says that these 55 million, more than all lost to wars combined, do matter to us. The Democratic Party, Cuomo is trying to have us believe, not only is “moderate” on this but is somehow egalitarian, more than the NYS Republicans, such as that party as currently comprised may be. I am not the shill for either party that frjim4321 would like me to be stereotyped as. I am merely pointing out that the Dem Party that styles itself as diverse and tolerant does actually start from the very standpoint that Gov. Cuomo accuses the Republicans of “You are not welcome”. Clearly the party of death is intolerant and lacks diversity, a diversity that national polls on this issue capture. If it really was moderate and not extremist when it comes to the goal of trying to fund even more abortions in NYS, then, it would permit the voice or prolife within their own midst, before setting their sights on Republicans and assault rifles which to my knowledge isn’t even raised as an issue. So it sounds like a fiction, from beginning to end. That sort of rhetoric is designed to distract from the truth and reality closer to home, which is that NYS is already the most radically permissive of abortion in the country, has the most abortions than any other state, and in NYC, horrifically, roughly half of babies of color are sacrificed without ever being permitted to see the light of day, and the Democratic Party seeks to gain and acquire more abortions by public fisc, even more over the horrific number, and does not permit those in its own party from even entertaining reasonable limits on abortion consonant with Roe and/or the will of the American people.
Cuomo clearly is fearful and is directing a rhetoric that paints a picture that is at odds with reality. Whenever that starts happening when a politician attempts to demonize an “other”, scapegoating, we are called upon to ask questions and protest. Not just as Catholics but as Americans. One could ask, what is the threat they perceive, and what loyalty are they trying to shore up, by demonizing people, likely mainly Catholics, who advocate for respect for life?
Left winger New York Senator Chuck Schumer speaking at the socialist George Soros funded Center for American Progress this past week said–
“It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies — we must redouble those efforts immediately,” Schumer said.
Cuomo and Schumer are telegraphing who the Democrats are afraid of and their plan of attacking them by words and deeds. If the Constitution gets in the way –Obama says he has a pen and a telephone and he will ignore the democratically elected Congress to dictate what he wants. It is clear that the Christians and Catholics who actually follow Church teachings – in particular- are a big problem for them and they must be isolated and demonized(following Saul Alinsky rules).
People now feel free to destroy statues in front of Catholic Churches.
Don’t forget that the new Democrat mayor of New York agreed with Cuomo.
These two cartoons that Father Z posted say it exactly right.
Andrew Cuomo would seem to believe that enough baptized Catholics will buy into, or remain silent about, his treacherous bigotry not to threaten his political standing.
Considering that the bulk of the civic instruction American Catholics have got for the last two generations has concerned the exigent need for the works of mercy to be subsumed to the Juggernaut of Holy Mother State, such a belief would seem to be pretty accurate. Cheerleading for Obama and his mob in full throat, and then squeaking unaccountably and inaudibly — or whining about the Tea Party — when the Juggernaut encroaches upon their flock, only diminishes the already soggy credibility of our pastors and hierarchs.
Tomorrow’s sunrise, if we be spared, will bring us one day closer to open martyrdom, a martyrdom from which pusillanimous appeasement will not save us.
The quibbling about misspeaking, the Tea Party this, the Repubs or the Dems that carries no weight. The elected governor of a large state, purported to be ‘Catholic in good standing’, trafficks in invective, supports the murder of children as inviolate policy, and measures out cant, all these in exchange for power. He could wind up in Hell, from whence comes no “Get out!” “The horror, the horror”.
frjim4321 says:
The various prelates in NY state are dealing with reality.
The Viennese Catholics should thank the Lord for the bloodless way this great political change has occurred, and they should pray for a great future for Austria. Needless to say, everyone should obey the orders of the new institutions.”
Cardinal Innitzer after the Nazis annexed Austria
Every bishop needs to know when and where to draw the line. Unfortunately, the line continues to move.
I think that’s right. If the HHS mandate hasn’t proven to our Catholic bishops and cardinals, as well as the laity, that the Democratic party of our grandparents is gone, and that the Democrats of today are anti-Catholic, nothing will prove it to them. Catholic Democratic party politicians like Gov. Cuomo have a decision to make. Most of them already made it years ago and show no signs of rethinking their decision. Once their party began marginalizing and chasing out pro-life Democrats, the Catholic members of the party had to choose between standing up to their party leadership to defend their faith and religious beliefs, or opposing their Church in order to climb the political ladder. Politicians like Gov. Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, V.P. Biden and the like chose ambition for wealth and power within their party over their faith. Sadly, too many of our bishops and cardinals are afraid to challenge them on it now, and because these people have since become the leaders of their party, now it’s almost too late for them to be challenged. Now they’ve amassed enough power to target the Church. Afterall, it is a “c”atholic, Secretary Sebelius who is targeting her own Church with the HHS mandate. Anyone who believes the HHS mandate is an isolated action is burying their head in the sand. It’s just the start of what is to come. We need to pray that that our bishops and cardinals gain the courage to send the big donations from these power-player Democrats back to these people, even if we have to close more parishes, schools, and charities. We no longer have strength in numbers as so many of our “c”atholic laity oppose Church teaching anyway. The only strength we can possibly regain is that of a stronger faith and a stronger Catholic identity among the few parishoners who will remain faithful.
It is quite something to behold when the people with the best chance to challenge the religious oppression of the U. S. government’s HHS mandate are not the bishops and the cardinals, but an order of nuns. And come to think of it, I have not heard a single one of them whining about not being able to be ordained! Now THERE are some women who know how to play a pivotal, leadership role in the Church!
That this quote and the circumstances it references have been posted here should be very sobering. It is absolutely approriate and accurately describes just what is going on in Amerika, right now.
“The Viennese Catholics should thank the Lord for the bloodless way this great political change has occurred, and they should pray for a great future for Austria. Needless to say, everyone should obey the orders of the new institutions.”
Some good news here is that perhaps these obnoxious comments by Gov. Cuomo will bring back the Right-to-Life Party in New York State. When it first made the ballot many moons ago, it actually got the number 4 line behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Party. It was one of those things that kept the other parties marginally honest (though far from acceptable). Its existence at least forced the extremists to temper their remarks a bit– if the Right-to-Life Party were on the ballot, no one would dare say what Cuomo said, even if they believed it to the core. It takes 50,000 votes for a gubernatorial candidate to get a permanent ballot spot for a political party in New York State– I pray that someone will get the ball rolling soon. Otherwise, no one might get my vote in the next gubernatorial election.
Cuomo is not stupid. He made a political calculation. Reveal his true feelings and shore up his base into the future and let the aftermath just roll off his back since he knows NY has the long term monopoly of freeloading supporters.
Dolan has done nothing to publicly correct the dozens of sleazy “Catholic” councilmen and Assemblymen in the Bronx and Manhattan who support homosexual marriage and abortion.
Are we supposed to believe that if Cuomo was in his jurisdiction, Bishop Dolan would correct a Governor?
All this is sound and fury signifying nothing. Cuomo was elected by New Yorkers and they’ll vote for him again. He’s too ugly to be president but the senate is a definite possibility.
“…no one would dare say what Cuomo said, even if they believed it to the core.”
But aren’t we better off when Cuomo (and anyone else who is like-minded) is honest about their disdain rather than hiding it with deception? At this point, anyone – bishops/cardinals/laity – anyone who brushes off Gov. Cuomo’s comments is a full-fledged flaming fool. If you’re a conservative in NY, this man just told you exactly where you stand with him. Now no one can claim ignorance from this point forward. From now on, if you’re a NY conservative and you don’t get the fact that your governor has no use for you, you’re deceiving yourself. Don’t blame him.
HobokenZephyr opined:”Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.”
and Cardinal Dolan is Metropolitan Archbishop of the greatest slice of the electorate who placed Mario’s son in Albany. Like Pelosi, et at, the son’s permanent residence is in Mordor on the Hudson; his temporary residence is in Albany. Having lived in the Archdiocese, I know well its boundaries, but, my point being, if you missed it, was that the effect of the Metropolitan’s comments do not limit itself to the five boroughs, Westchester and Rockland counties, but ripple throughout the state. As does the silence. If +Hubbard isn’t willing to stand up (and if the past is any indication, he won’t), then it is entirely within the perview of the next step up the ladder to do so.
As for ‘slandering’, no, I don’t think so. It’s not such to call things the way they are when compared to what was. Not out of anger, but sadness that those charged with protecting our backs seem to have exchanged popular approbation for doing what is right.
Bishop Malone of Buffalo has responded to Gov. Cuomo’s remarks. Below includes a short 2 minute video from the bishop. In the video the bishop reminds us that New York state has the highest rate of legal abortions in the USA. Shameful!
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Grant unto thy Church, we beseech Thee, O merciful God, that She, being gathered together by the Holy Ghost, may be in no wise troubled by attack from her foes. O God, who by sin art offended and by penance pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy people making supplication unto Thee,and turn away the scourges of Thine anger which we deserve for our sins. Almighty and Everlasting God, in whose Hand are the power and the government of every realm: look down upon and help the Christian people that the heathen nations who trust in the fierceness of their own might may be crushed by the power of thine Arm. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. R. Amen.
When my family came to this country by boat ( and I still have a gritty b/w photo of the Statue of Liberty as we approached) we felt connected to the dreams of freedom of thought, just as much as any need to put food on the table.
My parents told me they were sick of being told how to think, what to think, how to act, etc. first by the Nazis, then by the Russians. Had they heard these words spoken by Cuomo they would have been horrified-” We left everything behind to come to this?” Neither liberal nor conservative, Democrat nor Republican, ,my family came here for the precious freedoms this country offered., that we could all live together, despite our dfferent viewpoints. To tell anyone they dont belong here because of how they think is to tell them to get back on the boats and return to the narrow minded oppression of the police states that grew out of this kind of mind set. Of course, Americans have always lived inside their comfort box and would find it hard to think of themselves living under these circumstances. But it can happen here. We must be watchful and speak up against this kind of hate speech. Cuomo made his sneering statements because he felt they would be welcome and would help his political agenda. Why would he think that? Is he just another conceited, out of touch politician? Or did he feel that this is what America has come to?
I wonder if a chat with Cardinal Dolan might help? I doubt it, but it’s worth a try.
I am the editor of what is sometimes called the most widely read travel magazine in Scandinavia. We have over the years frequently featured New York as our choice for the world’s Number One destination in our magazine. Moreover, I have been traveling to NYC once a year with my family for more than twenty years. We like staying in the hotels, eating in the restaurants and shopping for family’s shoes and clothes for the year.
No more. Nor we will we feature New York in our publication in the future.
Thanks to Governor Cuomo.
Why is he not excommunicated and why is he receiving Communion?
Supertradmum,
Because he’s rich and powerful and has the ability to use his office to reign down hell on the Diocese, their schools, and charities through regulation.
OrthodoxChick: and because, it seems, the hierarchy is more interested in being seen with him than not.
Dialogue with Cuomo’s type is like saying ‘nice doggie’ while they reach around for a stick. We’re not even doing that! Not impressed with hearing nothing but nuanced *crickets* from the Archdiocese. How far we’ve fallen when even our spiritual leaders are unwilling to stand up to this adulterer bully and call him out, publicly, forcefully, and unambiguously.
Would NEVER have happened when the chancellery was nicknamed “The Powerhouse” under +Spellman. Say what you want about him…he never backed down in asserting the Church’s rights OR teachings, regardless of his personal faults. You knew where you stood.
But Cuomo must be a fine upstanding Roman Catholic. He receives Holy Communion from so many outstanding priests and bishops in New York.
No…no. We have no right to criticize such a sterling example of our Holy Faith. If our wonderful shepherds do not find fault with the man – who are we to judge?
Charles
My browser is slow to load because I have dial-up at home. When I saw the phrase, “Give me our Huddled Masses,” pop up on the screen, I began to wonder if the churches were being pushed together in New York. Get it – huddled Masses…
Thank you, thank you. I’ll be here, all week.
The Chicken
Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.
“Or did he feel that this is what America has come to?”
I work with a colleague, a naturalized U.S. citizen, who commented a week or so ago, “I feel as if America is becoming like China.”
Lets be accurate. Governor Cuomo belongs to the Albany Diocese, which the Metropolitan for is Cardinal Dolan. So yes, Bishop Hubbard, the Bishop of Albany has been, HORRIBLE in his support of Cuomo having said at the Governor’s inaugriation that Cuomo was “the kind of Catholic we need more of in politics,” Cardinal Dolan has also said that Governor Cuomo is a “Catholic in Good Standing.” So if Bishop Hubbard does nothing, Cardinal Dolan COULD do something.
Just a thought that when these outrages occur, there is a good response which can include prayer, and sending an email or making a call to say, the New York Tourism Board, or some such group, and letting them know you won’t be spending your tourist dollars in a state where you are not welcome.
Even leftist tyrannical dictators have a soft spot. For a governor, one would be that the response to such a comment has been overwhelmingly negative and garners you “bad attention” (that seems to have happened) and that say, you are getting panicked calls from your state’s tourism board that people are registering their displeasure by refusing to spend tourist dollars in your state, or stating that intention. Next time he gets the urge to target conservatives, he might remember and instead practice a little shuttie.
If Catholics and all Christians responded strongly to these assaults, they would decrease in number. There is indeed strength in numbers, and there are reportedly many more “conservatives” than liberals, many more “believers” than atheists. So why are conservatives not running things, or why do we not only not get respect, we are now targets? We don’t respond forcefully enough or in sufficient numbers. The day we do, we will start turning the tide.
What cpttom describes is basically what the folks at ChurchMilitantTV call “The Church of Nice.”
As Charlie Brown would put it, “Good grief.” <:^(
MSM
HobokenZephyr
No jokin’–you’re from Hoboken?
says:
Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.
The governor has jurisdiction over the entire state, thus what happens in Albany doesn’t stay in Albany.
Only the Bishop of Albany has canonical jurisdiction over a resident of Albany. If I were the bishop of Albany, I would tell him to get out of my diocese and not to come back.
But what is going on there is more than just a canonical issue and even more than an application of Canon 915. What should happen is that all eight bishops of New York State, led by their archbishop, and surrounded by all the auxiliary bishops of New York State, should hold a joint press conference in which Andrew Cuomo is conclusively and decisively condemned in no uncertain terms and put on public notice that his actions will no longer be tolerated in any way. They still have a bully pulpit if they care to use it. But like others, I fear that our bishops are too concerned about things being awkward at the Al Smith dinner.
Apart from that, I would miss Fr. Z if he no longer wanted to come to our state, though nowhere else is he more desperately needed. I would understand if he wanted to join the boycott, of course.
Might I suggest Cardinal Dolan and the bishops of NY try some old fashion religion and declare him anathema ala St Thomas Becket:
Bother…try that again…here’s the link: Becket Excommunication Scene
Maybe C.Dolan (or whoever is in charge of overlooking Cuomo’s Catholicism) should tell Cuomo
“Please leave the Catholic Church, because that’s not who we are”
[As we have seen, the Governor’s bishop is not Card. Dolan, but Bp. Hubbard. That said a bishop is a bishop is a bishop and must be a bishop also to those not directly under his jurisdiction. Moreover, I think we would all rather see the Governor manifest a sincere conversion, than to get out. On the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, that could be our prayer. Pray to St. Ananias to help Cuomo lose the scales from his eyes and convert.]
Note that Cuomo’s spokesperson in his letter defense said that Cuomo himself was “a Catholic”. The campaign on the part of Catholics in the Democratic Party to pretend that to give funding and support to expand the number of abortions is perfectly “Catholic” has to come to an end in this country now that the younger generation nationwide does not buy it. Maybe they meant well 41 years ago, now with the statistics such as they are in NYC, they can no longer justify it as ethical even from a secular point of view. The science just does not support the expansion of abortion.
What is happening politically, and one can sense the desperation on the part of Gov. Cuomo, is that the inherent anti-Catholic hatred and bigotry of the Democratic Party is being exposed. So many politicians like him at all levels have had to tow the party line on more and more insatiably more abortion in order to please a radical, extreme amoral lobby that insists that women must kill their offspring in the womb, for the betterment of society, for the good of the public fisc, for freedom to have sex wherever and whenever, for so many unjust reasons given. The fact is that women have not had their situation improved due to this lynchpin of modern sexual “ethics” and for women’s health and econonic well being it is just the opposite in the vanguard of the age of abortion. One should ask, what group(s) are invested in the notion that the “right” to have sex justifies killing children in the womb? Do we deny these group(s) exist? They do, they are well funded, and they call the shots for the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has not permitted the consensus-backed voice of prolife from coming to the fore for many years now. Prolife Democrats?? Any? Gov. Cuomo well knows that prolife is not welcome in his party and he is rallying the troops.
So what is the rally. The expectation is that Obama’s bigotry in trying to force Catholics to fund abortion to greater and greater numbers will be shortly exposed when the HHS decisions are decided. This is a propaganda war to paint Catholics as “extremists” in order to make Obama look ok and nice enough and benign. It’s “reproductive” care, it’s “health” “care”, it’s women’s “rights”. None of them ever acknowledge that the very decision that legalized abortion in this country recognized that there are always two rights in play when it comes to the question of abortion. So, compare Roe to what these politicians assert, and ask yourself, who is the real extremist? Which is the moderate view.
I pray that Gov. Cuomo changes his heart on this. Why deny tens of millions of children their civil rights? For what? For a well funded and organized lobby? If that party really had a core of compassion and service it would mobilize to find a way that these children could live, and life life to the fullest.
The various prelates in NY state are dealing with reality. They know that all elected officials are imperfect. NY voters never had a choice between Cuomo and a perfect candidate. As is often the case voters are choosing the lesser of two evils. We should not make the perfect be the enemy of the good.
I’ve already agreed here that Andrew misspoke and I am sure that his father (who in my view is ten times the man Andrew is) is most likely embarrassed by and for his son.
I should have continued, I am not a fan of Andrew whatsoever. However v. Paladino it was a total no brainer. Bozo the Clown would have been a better governor than Paladino and that’s not hyperbole.
If people don’t like Cuomo they need to put their noses to the grindstone and come up with a decent repubican candidate. Andrew won better than 60 of the popular vote in 2010. If he had had a worthy and viable candidate he may not have done as well, but he still may have won.
Yet it would be a much more just situation for voters all around if the Democratic Party were to permit prolife to contribute meaningfully, I suppose just to speak and be represented on the platform, at all levels. Gov. Cuomo well knows to speak favorably of prolife Catholics is to get one’s head chopped off in the Dem Party, continuing.
“And if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the heathen and publican” (Matthew 18:17)
1. Cuomo possesses the full use of reason
2. Cuomo possesses full liberty of freedom
3. Cuomo is not ignorant.
How I long to hear these words: “the culprit will be excommunicated at once”
benedetta, yes, such is the dynamic of polarization which exists in both of the major political parties. Can a republican candidate stand up against capital punishment and remain electable?
It goes both ways.
frjim,
We cannot dismiss what the Catechism teaches:
2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.
Here the Church gives latitude on this matter provided it is used only as a last resort and therefore, not excluded by the Church.
Capital punishment has not nearly the well funded and ideologically extreme lobby that abortion advocay has. And, there is a surprising diversity among Republicans on that one.
The issue is Gov. Cuomo’s attempt to portray prolife as extremist. This is connected to HHS and Democrats are bracing for the backlash.
What has happened is that more people regard abortion as immoral now as compared to decades ago. The Democratic party on this issue is completely unable to accept the change in consensus. It should probably adapt now lest it find itself on the irrelevant end of things.
Of course there’s always the Tea Party. Doesn’t that also scare the likes of Cuomo and the rest bigtime?
Leaders worth their salt and who call themselves “liberal” are able to have a discussion with constituents who voice a diversity of views. In the “it’s health care” and “women’s rights” only propaganda the message is that all who believe that life is important are unwelcome, not to mention that the tens of millions lost do not matter. That’s a big problem, bigger than the issue about the nation’s parties and their platforms that you take up frjim4321. In the next generation the Democratic Party, the party of death, will have to come to grips with that.
I often wonder, who do the baby boomers who love abortion so much think is going to care for them in their old retirement age? The half permitted to be born? I wonder if it will be enough…
“Of course there’s always the Tea Party. Doesn’t that also scare the likes of Cuomo and the rest bigtime?” – Benedetta
I don’t think so, Benedetta. I think Democrats should bend down and kiss the ground “Tea Party” (sic) members walk on. The RNC is hopelessly fragmented and this will assure more DNC victories in 2014 and 2016.
I really don’t think your analysis on this is at all correct. The crazier, louder and more monied and powerful the lunatic fringe of the RCN becomes the better off the Dems will be.
MAJOR FAIL: Two (2!) repubican responses to the SOTU address this week! Why don’t they get out there, wave red flags and say “We can’t get it together, we can’t get along?” They are totally dead in the water.
Fr. Jim with all due respect you seem to be echoing the theme that the MSM also promotes which is that the Tea party is the “lunatic fringe”, that somehow people who advocate smaller government, less control by Washington and more local government, a return to the traditional values that our country had for most of its 200+ year existence is extreme, whereas advocating socialized medicine, abortion on demand and free contraception funded by taxpayers as being mainstream views.
Both parties have always had their issues with the moderate pragmatic wing (for Dems its the Clintonians) vs. the more radical ones on the left or right as the case may be. I remember the period 1968-1972. What has happened in this country is that the perception of what is “moderate” has moved to the left, so that people who believe in the principles outlined in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution, especially the concept that our rights come from the Creator and are not granted by Government, are now considered the “lunatic fringe”.
JonPatrick, I understand your explanation and rationalization for there being a virtual third party within the RNC but my point was more about how that relates to electability. The rightist vote is diluted.
On what is the civil rights issue of our times, both major political parties, ought to be able to dialogue with the moral assertion that wishes to enable women to keep their children, that says that these 55 million, more than all lost to wars combined, do matter to us. The Democratic Party, Cuomo is trying to have us believe, not only is “moderate” on this but is somehow egalitarian, more than the NYS Republicans, such as that party as currently comprised may be. I am not the shill for either party that frjim4321 would like me to be stereotyped as. I am merely pointing out that the Dem Party that styles itself as diverse and tolerant does actually start from the very standpoint that Gov. Cuomo accuses the Republicans of “You are not welcome”. Clearly the party of death is intolerant and lacks diversity, a diversity that national polls on this issue capture. If it really was moderate and not extremist when it comes to the goal of trying to fund even more abortions in NYS, then, it would permit the voice or prolife within their own midst, before setting their sights on Republicans and assault rifles which to my knowledge isn’t even raised as an issue. So it sounds like a fiction, from beginning to end. That sort of rhetoric is designed to distract from the truth and reality closer to home, which is that NYS is already the most radically permissive of abortion in the country, has the most abortions than any other state, and in NYC, horrifically, roughly half of babies of color are sacrificed without ever being permitted to see the light of day, and the Democratic Party seeks to gain and acquire more abortions by public fisc, even more over the horrific number, and does not permit those in its own party from even entertaining reasonable limits on abortion consonant with Roe and/or the will of the American people.
Cuomo clearly is fearful and is directing a rhetoric that paints a picture that is at odds with reality. Whenever that starts happening when a politician attempts to demonize an “other”, scapegoating, we are called upon to ask questions and protest. Not just as Catholics but as Americans. One could ask, what is the threat they perceive, and what loyalty are they trying to shore up, by demonizing people, likely mainly Catholics, who advocate for respect for life?
Left winger New York Senator Chuck Schumer speaking at the socialist George Soros funded Center for American Progress this past week said–
“It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies — we must redouble those efforts immediately,” Schumer said.
Cuomo and Schumer are telegraphing who the Democrats are afraid of and their plan of attacking them by words and deeds. If the Constitution gets in the way –Obama says he has a pen and a telephone and he will ignore the democratically elected Congress to dictate what he wants. It is clear that the Christians and Catholics who actually follow Church teachings – in particular- are a big problem for them and they must be isolated and demonized(following Saul Alinsky rules).
People now feel free to destroy statues in front of Catholic Churches.
Don’t forget that the new Democrat mayor of New York agreed with Cuomo.
These two cartoons that Father Z posted say it exactly right.
Andrew Cuomo would seem to believe that enough baptized Catholics will buy into, or remain silent about, his treacherous bigotry not to threaten his political standing.
Considering that the bulk of the civic instruction American Catholics have got for the last two generations has concerned the exigent need for the works of mercy to be subsumed to the Juggernaut of Holy Mother State, such a belief would seem to be pretty accurate. Cheerleading for Obama and his mob in full throat, and then squeaking unaccountably and inaudibly — or whining about the Tea Party — when the Juggernaut encroaches upon their flock, only diminishes the already soggy credibility of our pastors and hierarchs.
Tomorrow’s sunrise, if we be spared, will bring us one day closer to open martyrdom, a martyrdom from which pusillanimous appeasement will not save us.
The quibbling about misspeaking, the Tea Party this, the Repubs or the Dems that carries no weight. The elected governor of a large state, purported to be ‘Catholic in good standing’, trafficks in invective, supports the murder of children as inviolate policy, and measures out cant, all these in exchange for power. He could wind up in Hell, from whence comes no “Get out!” “The horror, the horror”.
frjim4321 says:
The various prelates in NY state are dealing with reality.
The Viennese Catholics should thank the Lord for the bloodless way this great political change has occurred, and they should pray for a great future for Austria. Needless to say, everyone should obey the orders of the new institutions.”
Cardinal Innitzer after the Nazis annexed Austria
Every bishop needs to know when and where to draw the line. Unfortunately, the line continues to move.
robtbrown,
I think that’s right. If the HHS mandate hasn’t proven to our Catholic bishops and cardinals, as well as the laity, that the Democratic party of our grandparents is gone, and that the Democrats of today are anti-Catholic, nothing will prove it to them. Catholic Democratic party politicians like Gov. Cuomo have a decision to make. Most of them already made it years ago and show no signs of rethinking their decision. Once their party began marginalizing and chasing out pro-life Democrats, the Catholic members of the party had to choose between standing up to their party leadership to defend their faith and religious beliefs, or opposing their Church in order to climb the political ladder. Politicians like Gov. Cuomo, Nancy Pelosi, V.P. Biden and the like chose ambition for wealth and power within their party over their faith. Sadly, too many of our bishops and cardinals are afraid to challenge them on it now, and because these people have since become the leaders of their party, now it’s almost too late for them to be challenged. Now they’ve amassed enough power to target the Church. Afterall, it is a “c”atholic, Secretary Sebelius who is targeting her own Church with the HHS mandate. Anyone who believes the HHS mandate is an isolated action is burying their head in the sand. It’s just the start of what is to come. We need to pray that that our bishops and cardinals gain the courage to send the big donations from these power-player Democrats back to these people, even if we have to close more parishes, schools, and charities. We no longer have strength in numbers as so many of our “c”atholic laity oppose Church teaching anyway. The only strength we can possibly regain is that of a stronger faith and a stronger Catholic identity among the few parishoners who will remain faithful.
It is quite something to behold when the people with the best chance to challenge the religious oppression of the U. S. government’s HHS mandate are not the bishops and the cardinals, but an order of nuns. And come to think of it, I have not heard a single one of them whining about not being able to be ordained! Now THERE are some women who know how to play a pivotal, leadership role in the Church!
That this quote and the circumstances it references have been posted here should be very sobering. It is absolutely approriate and accurately describes just what is going on in Amerika, right now.
oops…
“The Viennese Catholics should thank the Lord for the bloodless way this great political change has occurred, and they should pray for a great future for Austria. Needless to say, everyone should obey the orders of the new institutions.”
Cardinal Innitzer after the Nazis annexed Austria
Some good news here is that perhaps these obnoxious comments by Gov. Cuomo will bring back the Right-to-Life Party in New York State. When it first made the ballot many moons ago, it actually got the number 4 line behind the Conservative Party and ahead of the Liberal Party. It was one of those things that kept the other parties marginally honest (though far from acceptable). Its existence at least forced the extremists to temper their remarks a bit– if the Right-to-Life Party were on the ballot, no one would dare say what Cuomo said, even if they believed it to the core. It takes 50,000 votes for a gubernatorial candidate to get a permanent ballot spot for a political party in New York State– I pray that someone will get the ball rolling soon. Otherwise, no one might get my vote in the next gubernatorial election.
Cuomo is not stupid. He made a political calculation. Reveal his true feelings and shore up his base into the future and let the aftermath just roll off his back since he knows NY has the long term monopoly of freeloading supporters.
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Dolan has done nothing to publicly correct the dozens of sleazy “Catholic” councilmen and Assemblymen in the Bronx and Manhattan who support homosexual marriage and abortion.
Are we supposed to believe that if Cuomo was in his jurisdiction, Bishop Dolan would correct a Governor?
Please… I can’t stop laughing!
Charles
All this is sound and fury signifying nothing. Cuomo was elected by New Yorkers and they’ll vote for him again. He’s too ugly to be president but the senate is a definite possibility.
Andrew Saucci,
“…no one would dare say what Cuomo said, even if they believed it to the core.”
But aren’t we better off when Cuomo (and anyone else who is like-minded) is honest about their disdain rather than hiding it with deception? At this point, anyone – bishops/cardinals/laity – anyone who brushes off Gov. Cuomo’s comments is a full-fledged flaming fool. If you’re a conservative in NY, this man just told you exactly where you stand with him. Now no one can claim ignorance from this point forward. From now on, if you’re a NY conservative and you don’t get the fact that your governor has no use for you, you’re deceiving yourself. Don’t blame him.
HobokenZephyr opined:”Cardinal Spellman was Archbishop of New York. The governor is under the authority of the Bishop of Albany. The Chancery you’re slandering has no jurisdiction over the governor.”
and Cardinal Dolan is Metropolitan Archbishop of the greatest slice of the electorate who placed Mario’s son in Albany. Like Pelosi, et at, the son’s permanent residence is in Mordor on the Hudson; his temporary residence is in Albany. Having lived in the Archdiocese, I know well its boundaries, but, my point being, if you missed it, was that the effect of the Metropolitan’s comments do not limit itself to the five boroughs, Westchester and Rockland counties, but ripple throughout the state. As does the silence. If +Hubbard isn’t willing to stand up (and if the past is any indication, he won’t), then it is entirely within the perview of the next step up the ladder to do so.
As for ‘slandering’, no, I don’t think so. It’s not such to call things the way they are when compared to what was. Not out of anger, but sadness that those charged with protecting our backs seem to have exchanged popular approbation for doing what is right.
Bishop Malone of Buffalo has responded to Gov. Cuomo’s remarks. Below includes a short 2 minute video from the bishop. In the video the bishop reminds us that New York state has the highest rate of legal abortions in the USA. Shameful!
HERE