The Dolan problem

When Archbishop Timothy Dolan was appointed Archbishop of New York, everyone seemed to have an opinion on the man even before he arrived. I decided to take a wait-and-see attitude and refrained from passing judgement publicly, even when approached by a certain media outlet. After he began his reign, his public record began to invite commentary, which I offered, judging his tenure to be a mixed bag. Now, after 4 years of Dolan (how time flies!) I think we can say that this man's record has been an unmitigated disaster for the Faith in New York.

Incredibly, Dolan has a reputation as a "conservative" and for some bizarre reason was even touted as papabile at the Conclave. I suppose mere words are enough to get a man a good reputation in the Church these days for Dolan to be considered any sort of orthodox prelate, let alone worthy of sitting in the Chair of St. Peter. I am unaware of anything the man has done to warrant such popularity and esteem except for constantly guffawing and cackling like some backslapping, red-faced Irish ward heeler. No, rather he has undermined the Faith here at every turn. As evidence:

• like several previous Cardinals here, he has been enthusiastic about playing ecumenical games by going to seders and engaging in interfaith prayer services, thereby denigrating the uniqueness of our Faith and spreading indifferentism among the Faithful. 
• he publicly applauded the gay pride group at the openly gay parish of St. Francis Xavier in Manhattan.
• he scandalously invited Barack Obama to the Al Smith dinner at the same time as this baby-murdering Nero was plotting to abolish religious freedom and force the Church to offer birth control to its employees.
• worst of all, except for writing a blog post and giving an interview to an Albany radio show, he did absolutely nothing to fight against the passage of gay marriage in NY State. When it was all over, he didn't excommunicate the politicians who voted for this abomination; he didn't even say a word about it from the pulpit. He did, however, write a blog post in which he apologized to gays who might have been offended by the Church's position against gay marriage!
• even though the Catholic school closings aren't his fault, he has come up with no alternative solution and has axed them with the alacrity of a Bolshevik Commissar. 
• he has never spoken out about anything of consequence, or at least not in any way that would suggest to his listeners that he expects them to do anything or that he is going to do anything about it. Denounce abortion? Sure, why not? Words are cheap. Refuse Communion to pro-abortion politicians or even excommunicate them? Oh my! That would be scary! What does his new evangelization look like? Fiery preaching? Public protests? Letter-writing campaigns? A renewal of Catholic devotional life? No. We've seen felt banners with banal slogans hung from church doors. His episcopacy has been one, long, demotivational exercise in cowardice and compromise.

Now, to top it all off, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-HHS Health Care mandate Vice President Joe Biden stopped in at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Palm Sunday and not only received a "shout-out" from the pulpit by the Cardinal but was permitted to receive Holy Communion, in defiance of Canon Law 915 and basic morality. Church Militant TV has just produced an amazing 10 minute special report on Dolan and Dolanism which is, in their definition, "subordination of the Catholic Faith to prevailing cultural mores." In addition to the things I've listed here, this segment adds persecution of Latin Mass priests to Dolan's charge-sheet. I encourage everyone to watch this explosive video.

Alert! Alert! Confession available!

Important alert! Important alert! Since Confession in this diocese is usually only offered for a few minutes a week at inconvenient times and is publicized with such muted and almost clandestine furtiveness that one would think it's a state secret, it is a significant news item that every single church in the NY Archdiocese (as well as those of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre) will be offering Confession from 3-9PM today, Monday March 25th.

I saw a full page ad in the Catholic New York announcing this event and it was also publicized on the front page of the bulletin at the church I've attended for a few Sundays. (Nothing remarkable about this place on the church-shopping front. Nothing great nor terrible. Maybe that's a good thing.) There's even a website associated with this. So bravo to the Cardinal for this initiative!

It is imperative to re-instill a conscience in a people who have lost any sense of sin, thanks to a cowardly Vatican II Church which simply stopped talking about the subject 4 decades ago. Hopefully, all the parishes will actually offer the Sacrament later today, unlike the last time I tried to avail myself of a Reconciliation Monday.

Take advantage of this very important gift. Wash away your sins before Easter. Don't buy into the lie, promulgated both by the secular culture and cowardly and/or modernist priests, that you are just fine and dandy so long as you haven't killed someone. If you have committed an unrepented mortal sin, then you are loathsome to God and will burn in Hell for eternity if you die. Are those harsh words to your ears? I'm sure they are, since you've most likely heard nothing but flattery and sentimental drivel all your lives, but it is God's truth and always has been. Examine your conscience very carefully and be purified tomorrow.

A fork in the road...

So a depraved and decadent nation, including a majority of nominal Catholics, re-elected Nero to a second term. Now that they can't count on a deus ex machina in the form of a President Romney saving them from the consequences of their decades-long collaboration with Democratic evil, the big question is what the bishops are going to do about the Health Care contraceptive mandate. Are they going to stand up like men or will they lie down like lambs? Are they going to compromise with evil or are they going to lead our church in civil disobedience to this vile regime and its attempt to make Catholics pay for what is sinful and loathsome? The next four years will undoubtedly be horrific, but fidelity and martyrdom always produce great fruit for Christ's Church.

From Mount Manresa to Mount Mohammed?

So, the disobedient and dishonest Jesuits at Mt. Manresa, who were publicly crowing last year about their dubiously glorious future, knowing full well that they were bankrupt, are selling the undeniably glorious Mt. Manresa for 15.9 million dollars. (Seriously, why not just say 16 million? Are they trying to sell socks at a five & dime shop?) So, now this treasure of the Church will pass into the hands of Caesar (i.e., the State) or Mammon (i.e. Staten Island's vulgarian real estate developers) to be, in either case, transformed into some version of social and architectural Gehenna, one possibility being a refuse pit of revolting, identical townhouse as far as the eye can see, or the dumping ground for New York City's problem children- Section 8 housing for the criminally insane perhaps? Or maybe, our religious rivals will jump at yet another opportunity to desecrate the holy places of Christ. Mount Manresa would make a great headquarters for the Muslem American Society, who were temporarily thwarted in their attempt to take over the convent at St. Margaret Mary. 16 million dollars really isn't that difficult an amount to raise for such a prolific, influential and politically-protected people. I can see it now: "Mt. Mohammed", where aspiring Islamic "freedom fighters" use the leftover crucifixes and statues of Mary for target practice!

Shrinking Moore?

Moore Catholic High School recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. No, the goonish student body did not mark the occasion by any sort of vandalism, rioting or debauchery, as they are wont to do. It was just the usual round of back-slapping and self-congratulatory accolades by the faculty. In fact, they celebrated with a $150 per head gala dinner in September. What caught my eye from the article was the fact that the student body, which once numbered 1000 students, is now down to 500 which is odd considering that the population of Staten Island is exploding and Moore is still located in an all-White, upper-middle-class neighborhood, unlike St. Peter's girls school, which recently fell victim to the 50 year demographic murder of the North Shore. So, why the slump in enrollment at Moore? Is it simply the astronomical cost to attend the school, or is it yet another sign of Staten Island Catholics' ongoing apostasy and rejection of the Church?

Countess Mary Young Moore

R.I.P. Mt. Manresa

I've written many times about the disobedient Jesuits of Mt. Manresa, the venerable 101 year old retreat house. There was their weekly Zen Buddhist meditation sessions, their yoga and Mandala classes, their ecumenical latitudinariansim, their leftist radicalism, and their grasping quest for money with high-priced lectures and dinners. That's not to say that Mt. Manresa didn't host good programs and events, but there were enough questionable activities going on there to make the place scandalous, in keeping with the general secular and disobedient spirit of the Jesuit order. Even this week, their own calendar indicates that they are hosting a Methodist youth group. Huh?

One just didn't get the sense of a very Catholic, or even spiritual attitude emanating from Mt. Manresa, as I noted in this blog post. The administrators of the retreat house apparently prided themselves most on being some sort of community center or social services provider, and not for their role in winning souls for Christ. They played up their role as a shelter for 9/11 rescue workers, a meeting place for drug addicts, a refugee camp for children from overseas and other sundry services. Well, the inevitable has happened, and it was announced that Mt. Manresa will be closing in 2013.

It was only less than a year ago that the administrators of Mt. Manresa threw themselves a gala ball in the Great Hall of Snug Harbor to celebrate their greatness and crow about how successful Mt. Manresa was, as if they didn't have an inkling that the handwriting was on the wall. Well, now the beautiful property which was paid for and maintained by the millions of dollars of donations from Catholic people over the course of a century will be sold off to pay for...what? Sexual abuse lawsuits? Cushy pensions? And the spectacular campus and its buildings will be handed over to...who? Townhouse developers? A Protestant megachurch? Or maybe the Jesuits will try to cut another deal with the Moslem American Society?

In any case, this is yet another body blow to the faithful in Staten Island, and just one example of what's happening in the American Church at large: disloyalty, dissent and eventual disappearance.

More Buddhist Catholics

I've written many times about the scandalous activities of the disobedient Jesuits of Mt. Manresa, particularly their long-time, regularly scheduled Zen meditation classes which were conducted by a "resident sensei". As recently as December 2011 this group was holding sessions at Mt. Manresa. Therefore I was very surprised to read in the Advance that the group had moved their classes to Wagner College. I wonder why. Did someone in authority finally have the guts to put an end to this disgraceful collaboration?

Postscript: as it turns out, no, there wasn't a sudden revival of orthodoxy at Mt. Manresa, just greed: the reason the Zen meditation group moved was because Mt. Manresa tripled their rent, while the space at Wagner College is being provided free of charge.