AWARDS
Lamplighter
Award given to those fostering the light
of truth in a dark world:
To Raymond Arroyo who ably pegged the problem with Kennedy’s funeral on his EWTN blog: “The problem… is one of public witness and appearances — the corrupting example, the ‘objective situation of sin.’ Even if Senator Kennedy privately confessed his unrelenting public support for abortion and embryonic stem cell research, didn’t he owe the public and his Catholic colleagues— his family members who still serve the public—some correction? Shouldn’t he have offered them some last admonition that might have led them to the right path?... This entire spectacle—the Catholic funeral trappings and the wall to wall coverage— was only partially about Ted Kennedy. It was truly about cementing the impression, indeed catechizing the faithful, that one can be a Catholic politician, and so long as you claim to care about the poor, you may licitly ignore the cause of life. The ‘Common Ground’ argument was reinforced this weekend—the notion that supporting a host of ‘social justice’ initiatives somehow cancels out or trumps the ‘grave’, ‘intrinsic’ evil of abortion…. As the Pope has described in his letter of 2004, and subsequently, this is an untenable position.”
May St. Francis de Sales, patron of journalists and Gabriel the Archangel, patron of television workers, intercede for Mr. Arroyo.
Millstone
Award
given to those who through ignorance or malice scandalize God's
people:
To Cardinal Sean O’Malley who chose to enable the near canonization of the Senate’s champion of death. The cardinal used his “teachable moment” to instruct the faithful by his actions that spending one’s entire career promoting mortal sins of abortion-murder, the destruction of marriage, sodomy, etc. is okay.
May Our Lady of Sorrows who loves her priests so dearly intercede that Cardinal O’Malley and all bishops will be zealous teachers and defenders of the faith.
To Fr. Thomas Rosica for his diatribe at his Salt and Light blog vilifying pro-life activists and Catholic TV colleagues [Take that, Raymond!] who objected to the scandalous Kennedy funeral. Father said, “[M]any so-called lovers of life and activists in the pro-life movement…have revealed themselves to be not agents of life, but of division, destruction, hatred, vitriol, judgment and violence.” [Whew! Isn’t that a vitriolic, hateful, and divisive judgment?] He went on, “[V]icious attacks launched on blogs… [reveal] authors who behave as little children bullying one another….We make the Church and our efforts for life look ridiculous.” [No, Father, what makes the Church “look ridiculous” are clergy who pay lip service to Catholic doctrine while undermining it by their actions.] Canon Law 1184 calls for depriving ecclesial funeral rites: to “manifest sinners for whom ecclesiastical funeral rites cannot be granted without public scandal to the faithful.” It was the bishop’s call; but the funeral should have been a quiet, family affair to mitigate the scandal.
May St. John the Baptist who spent his ministry dividing the sheep from the goats intercede for Fr. Rosica.