Leave it to Eileen McNamara to prove once again that, when it comes to all matters Catholic, she’s a dim bulb. Or to use her own term, divorced from reality. In her latest spleen venting on the Archdiocese of Boston, she says that it is ironic that the archdiocese is “booting” children and families out of a school attached to a closing parish in order to “install canon lawyers who job it is to dissolve Catholic marriages.” Where to start?
First, the job of canon lawyers is not to “dissolve Catholic marriages.” In fact, they have many duties, among them to help people who have dissolved their own marriages to pick up the pieces and move on. They help determine which of those failed marriages were sacramental to begin with and which were not.
Second, the reason the tribunal has to move to the building is because their old buildong the chancery grounds was sold to Boston College in order to pay the multi-million dollar settlements that people like McNamara demanded be paid to the victims of sex abuse. Where did she propose the money to come from? Pull it out of think air?
All the people in Oak Square, to say nothing of Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the City Council, are asking is that O’Malley be true to his word that surplus real estate would be used in a way most in keeping with the mission of the Catholic Church. Peddling faux divorces would not seem to fit that bill.
Once again, what an idiot. She doesn’t even know what she’s talking about. If I were a Catholic seeking an annulment or who had any serious business before the the Tribunal, I would be outraged at McNamara’s dismissal of my pain and suffering and heartbreak as a farce.
McNamara cares no more about the children and family of that school than she does about those seeking annulments. What she really cares about is scoring points on the Church, trying to drag Her down bit by bit, eroding her moral standing among the faithful even more until finally the Church’s voice can no longer be heard defending morality.
The Scandal itself was bad enough. It’s the jackals tearing the flesh from the wounded Body of Christ that really anger me.
Of course, she’s wrong. However, closing a school and turning it into an office for church bureaucrats is stupid, just from a PR POV, as I believe you also noticed.
The Boston curia seems only as wise as doves; they already looked as innocent as serpents.
To add to the insensitivity, the judicial vicar publically thanked the Abp. for the building, and mentioned the ‘important ministry’ of the tribunal staff—which makes us wonder if the ministry of educating kids is less important.
One cynical canonist derided his reference to “ministry”, asking: “have they made annulment the Eighth Sacrament?”