Monday, January 12, 2009

Bob the Knuckle Dragger

Bob The Pious over at Monroerising.com is asking, “Where is Bishop Clark’s commitment to speaking out against abortion?”

The question comes in the context of the diocese's announcement of an interfaith prayer service to be held at Sacred Heart Cathedral on the evening of Barack Obama's inauguration.

Bishop Clark is scheduled to lead that prayer service.

"With the largest pro life event happening in Washington," Bob is wondering why the bishop will not be in the nation's capitol instead of staying home and hosting "an Obama celebration."

Somewhat predictably, one reader has branded Bob a "knuckle dragger," claiming that people like him turned the reader "into an atheist years ago."

Boy, some people are easily influenced.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I think you guys need to give Bishop Clark a break. He is still recovering from major surgey and probably needs to stay close to home.

Mike Shea said...

Tmac,

The bishop's knee replacement surgery took place November 4th, some 11 weeks prior to Inauguration Day.

My wife's grandfather was about 10 years older than the bishop when he had a hip joint replaced. A mere 8 weeks later he was playing golf in Florida.

Still, you may have a valid point. Some folks do heal faster than others.

Anonymous said...
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irishmam said...

Prior to the Election a friend who was at a meeting at the diocese noted that everyone there was no excited about Obama and praying that he would win the election. She asked how they could justify that given his record on abortion. They remarked that "our bishop has told us it was OK to look the other way on that issue given his strong stand on other social justice points." Not surprising to me because right after Roe V Wade there was a Right to Life March in Rochester and an anti-war demonstration at the Seneca Army Depot on the same day. Guess where the Bishop went?

Anonymous said...

Dr. K.
You have a right to your opinion and so do I. I like Bishop Clark and I believe he is one of best Bishops the Church has. I don't always agree with his decisions, but I think he is a good man.

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Mike Shea said...

Tmac,

If Matthew Clark is "one of best Bishops the Church has," then why is DOR in a death spiral?

We have a near zero ordination rate, our number of parish and school closings leads the nation for dioceses of our size, and almost a quarter of our weekend Mass attendees have left in a mere 7 years.

Compare these statistics with those of St. Louis, Wichita, Denver and many other dioceses where orthodoxy and orthopraxy are taken seriously.

Jesus himself gave us a test some 2,000 years ago:

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:15-20)

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Mike Shea said...

Dr. K.,

About the only thing missing is gay marriage.

He is right about the well-educated laity, though.

Unfortunately most of their teachers have been atheists, agnostics and apostates and most of the students have lacked the basic philosophical and catechetical background to see through their flimsy arguments.

Anonymous said...

"the culture of secrecy, deception and spin - cancers that have been allowed to invade the Church for too long"

I could not come up with a better description myself of the DOR.