For those of you who said you wished you could have signed the open letter to Boston Archbishop Sean O’Malley regarding the invitation of Mayor Tom Menino to be honored at a Catholic Charities dinner, and for anyone who would like to be heard on this, you can now sign and send an open letter to Menino asking him to withdraw from the event.
A few blog readers set up this page to consolidate all the information about this incident and to make it easy for Catholics to take part.
One thing to keep in mind is that even if Menino backs out of the dinner, it won’t immediately solve the root problem. There is a cultural problem at Catholic Charities that goes to heart of its identity as Catholic and while it’s important to treat the current symptom, we have to pursue this until we find a cure for the disease.
That’s absolutely correct, Dom. The real issue is truly the one of “Catholic Identity”. If an individual or an agency is going to identify itself as “Catholic” this means that one is claiming to be a disciple of Christ. And to be a disciple means to accept all of His Teaching. And this is the “KEY” to be able to know the truth. Following upon this is the reality, “then you will know the truth and the truth will make you free”.
This is not my imposition of opinion, view, . It is the Lord’s truth.
—-John-8 v. 32
Actually, the request to Mayor Menino to withdraw is counterproductive.
One may argue that the Mayor is in need of correction, and that would be true—just as anyone who thinks themselves a Catholic and supports the unnatural acts that Mr. Menino supports needs fraternal correction.
But the problem with this dinner is not that of a Catholic in need of correction (or, if so, it is not about Mayor Menino’s correction). Rather, the issue is of an organization that is under the umbrella of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston that (1) sees itself as independent of that umbrella, and (2) acts scandalously as a result of that perceived independence.
Either the organization is part of the Church’s mission or it is not. If the latter, then good luck to them—but they need to be stripped of the name “Catholic” and stripped of support from the Archdiocese (and that includes clerical staffing). If, however, the former is true, then the organization needs to fall in line with Catholic teaching.
Asking Mayor Menino to voluntarily withdraw from being honored at this dinner (and even the Archbishop’s refusal to participate) does nothing to accomplish either of the above two realities. In fact, it may muddy the waters and allow the people in charge of Catholic Charities to persist in their unbelief.
Isn’t that what I said in the last paragraph?
In 1999, when Bishop Murphy was the Vicar General,Moderator for the Boston Archdiocese, many Catholics wrote to him to let him know that they had witnessed the support by Catholic Charities leaders,together with certain priests , for the promotion and practice of same-sex sex acts ,under the deception that they are acts of love and,in fact, the “loving” partners should have their union blessed. This was done through the organization that was developed under the outreach of Catholic Charities. Dr. Joseph Doolin who was the Director of Catholic Charities at the time, Fr. Phillip Earley ,Secretary and General Counsel, Pat Dunn and Vivian Soper, both L.I.C.S.W.s,all working as representatives of Catholic Charities, were all very present and involved in the activities of the Catholic Charities organization which was titled:“Companions”. I know that Dr. Doolin has been replaced by Fr. Bryan Herir, but,to my knowledge, the other representatives of Catholic Charities are still very much involved in Catholic Charities activities. The Companions program was established under the guise of “Catholic” to encourage Catholics to join Parents,Friends,of Lesbians and Gays(PFLAG) and to accept th PFLAG belief that same-sex actions and unions are a blessing from God and those who act in this manner should be honored for these good actions( PFLAG document:“Is Homosexuality a Sin?”).The priests who were actively involved in the development of Companions were Fr. John J. White(co-owner of Fr. Paul Shanley’s gay bed and breakfast in CA, who has since died in Thailand), Fr. Walter Cuenin(who was removed from his parish recently), Fr. Richard Lewandowski(who was told by his bishop in Worcester to take a leave of absence) and Fr. Robert Congdon(who has recently been put on a leave of absence by Archbishop O’Malley).
Before Bishop Murphy left for his new assignment in Rockville,N.Y., he addressed concerns for what was happening in the Companions program by saying that those of us who were complaining about what was going on were not appreciating all that Catholic Charities was doing for us. He trusted that what they were doing in the Companions program was good and that those who found fault with it were wrong.
Cardinal Law simply left any concerns for Bishop Murphy to address.
My question now is, does Bishop Lennon, who took the place of Bishop Murphy, take the same position that anyone who complains about Catholic Charities and their support for the same beliefs as were the foundation for the Companions program, are wrong and that they simply do not appreciate all that Catholic Charities is doing for them? I have asked Bishop Lennon if Catholic Charities is still carrying on the Companions program or a program similar to it in intent but under a different title. I have not had a response to that question. What are they doing in this area of advice to Catholic families?
For those of you who said you wished you could have signed the open letter to Boston Archbishop Sean Oment_author_IP>209.91.58.188
2005-12-06 19:10:54
2005-12-06 23:10:54
Thanks wmh…I never would’ve known about it!