TJ & The Cardinal 2012

Thomas(aka TJ) Ph------ has his arm around Cardinal George's shoulders in a 2012 photo I took celebrating the Cardinal's visit. Thomas is at college and Cardinal George is at home with Christ.

At Leo in 2010,  He was Thomas.  At St. Cajetan's, prior to admission to this rock of manhood on 79th Street, my daughter and her pals called their classmate TJ.

TJ?  Like he was right out of some Disney Afternoon Special and wore Bev Rat Northface clothing and accessories.

Thomas was what PC educators might call . . .willful.  Here at Leo, we'd say JUG fodder at best . . .usually a pain in the ass. It was during Thomas'  freshman year that my daughter informed me that one of her classmates from St. Cajetan grammar school, a largely white Catholic elementary school in Morgan Park, was attending Leo.

"Dad, do you know TJ?"

TJ?

"Yeah, TJ Ph-------!  He's real funny and was Jack Collins buddy"

I know a Thomas Ph------!  Wait.  Thomas, Mr. Y'all Street Ph-------is TJ?  TJ?"

That was all I needed.

I am, like Thomas aka TJ, a dedicated . . .pain in the ass. Like TJ. . .er Thomas, I needed an epiphany.  I got mine from Father John Gavin O.S.A. in 1966.  I was mopping the locker room as punishment for one of my recent academic, or social crimes and misdemeanors, when the red-headed athlete priest wandered in reading his Divine Office in full Augustinian habit.  He closed the breviary and smiled brightly, " Hickey, you know how you always are?"

" Yes, Father."

" Don't be that way."

With that, he opened his tract and walked quietly away.  I was a chang . . .modified man.

Thomas was bright, funny, tardy, absent and any where near an occassion of sin, In short, Thomas was for his freshman and sophomore years at Leo High School a typical Leo guy.  He was the diamond in the rough, the first draft, and unlicked cub, who, after several metaphorical lickings, chin wags with his elders and betters on his way to becoming a superior young man.

It helped to know of Thomas's BevRat sobriquet. The next day shouted out my friend Thomas in the act of 'just playing!'

TJ!

His blood went cold, in the manner of all men caught out in the hard truth of whom they really be.

" How you know that?"

"Clare told me. Well, Lookee here, White Boy!  You wear FUBU here and about, or do you really wear Northface, a rolled brimmed green White Sox Cap and watch Hannah Montana?  Man, it'd go hard on a gent who is all Cheef Keef and such."

"Please, Mr. Hickey don't let that get out. Man, I'm Thomas!

"And so it shall stay under the following conditions . . ."

You see, these kids need street cred, even though they are far from street.  Their families send them to Leo High School to avoid the street and all that it stands for, but the kids still need to get here from Roseland, Grand Crossing, Englewood and Canaryville.  They pass gang territories and need to put up a front. Or, they think that they do. All they need is to believe in themselves.

All they need to do is be a good guy. Respect women, the elderly, their faith, their traditions and the rules.

Thomas remained a scamp, but a great guy.  He was a fearless D-Back for the Lions and a great boxer and his GPA shot up to where it needed to be for college.

Watch Thomas on this video.  He is boxer in the dreds wearing black gear. BTW - Leo boxing coach Mike Joyce is a cousin of Cardinal George.



Thomas is a sophomore at Missou, now. After an epiphany, Thomas was on his way.

In 2010, he sidled up to Leo President Dan McGrath at an open house where eight white boys attended with their folks. " Mr. McGrath, we going to get all those white boys?"

President McGrath, replied, " Well Thomas, it won't be for lack of trying,"

" Good. This school needs some diversity!"

We got it. White boys and Mexican kids thickened the cultural stew at Leo High School and Thomas was the most open-handed greeter in his junior and senior years. He took the lead in making these urban pioneers welcome.

In 2012, Francis Cardinal George spent the day with the Leo gents.  We do not put on a dog and pony show.  Take us as we are! Cardinal George had a ball and graced our boys. Thomas plunged in to make Cardinal George as welcome as flowers of May.

Thomas is at college, but visits every time he is home.  Cardinal George is a home with Christ and visits Grace upon this wonderful school for tender-hearted tough guys. 

My Neighbor is Home with Christ- Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.
Saint Patrick

 No man lived for Christ like Francis Cardinal George, O.M. I., Archbishop of Chicago.  I witnessed this simple, but tough, priest.

Cardinal George had a powerful intellect, but never allowed his gifts to smother questions, doubts, or take advantage of the follies of other people.  He was not a big shot and therefore never became a media darling.

He was tasked by our Church to lead a huge and very combative Archdiocese that had lost a favorite shepherd in Cardinal Bernardin.  Upon assuming his duties, Cardinal George knew that he had a tough act to follow and did not presume Brotherhood with us.  Rather, he introduced himself as Our Neighbor.

My brother and sister know every grain of dirt beneath my fingernails, every weakness and every gap in my armor, because they have lived with me and not near me.  My neighbor knows of me and will only get close enough to me as I will allow.  My neighbor does not presume to cross the property line without an invite.

I invited the most powerful American Bishop to be my brother and he was not too busy, too big, too disinterested to take up my call.

In fact, Cardinal George called me.

Shortly after he, Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, was inducted into the College of Cardinals, a friend was unceremoniously and very publicly removed from her role as Principal of a Catholic Girls High School, where she has raised enrollment, student and faculty morale, spiked fund-raisisng and elevated the status of that school in the public eye.

The religious order operating that school decided to take another direction.   Bob Foster, then President of Leo High School, hates bullies and injustice and asked me to write a couple of letters to the editor for the Daily Southtown.  I did.

In the letters, I asked Cardinal George to look into the matter.  Cardinal George was in Washington D. C. leading the American Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The letters appeared through the week.  On Monday, I was told that I was to be fired.  Bob Foster lit into the powers-that-be in the bureaucratic branches of the Chicago Archdiocese - on the phone and with his characteristic force and rhetoric.

The Archdiocese is a Corporation - a Public Person - and that person's feelings were hurt by the Director of Development for Leo High School.  Leo High School is a school of Archdiocese of Chicago. Most people assume that Leo is independent of the Archdiocese, like St. Rita, Fenwick, Brother Rice, or St. Lawrence. The fact is Cardinal Mundelein ordered the building of Leo.  Irish Christian Brothers never sponsored Leo, only operated it and were long gone.

From the moment, the Christian Brothers bailed out of any responsibility for Leo, Bob Foster and the Leo Alumni paid down the debts, raised tuition, secured the grants and initiated the on-going campus expansion and all without subsidy from the Archdiocese. Therefore, Bob Foster would not allow "policy," a changeling tool for the unimaginative, to dictate on a technicality.

Lawyers, crumbs and money, to paraphrase a rock and roll tune had other ideas.

My youngest was in third grade at St. Cajetan's and had come home with the flu. As a single Dad, I remained home with her keeping the possibility of losing my job to myself.

At around, six o'clock in evening I got a call on my cell phone.
 " Hello, is this Pat Hickey?"

" Yes, It is. . . ?"

" This is Cardinal George."

I though for a moment. It was Bill Gainer*, who had pulled that gag on me before, " Up Your's Eminence!"

There was genuine laughter on the other line, " No, really, Pat.  This Cardinal George.  I understand that I fired you."

" Gainer.. . ."

" Relax, it is the genuine article, Pat.  Now tell me why I fired you. This is the first I have heard of it. It's something about some letters you wrote to the papers?  I have this note, but I have not even heard about the firing of the Principal.  Fill me in, please."

I explained the chain of events and of my request that the Ordinary -Archbishop of Chicago - look into the capricious removal of a great Catholic woman as principal of girl's high school within the Archdiocese.

The Cardinal laughed and said, " Easy for you to say.  The religious order as a corporation can fire any employee.  It is not right, or just but certainly is legal. Look, I'll go over there and talk to the parents, staff and people representing that Order. Why are you home, by the way. Did Bob Foster suspend you? That does not sound like the man I know! Ha, ha, ha,. . ."

Again the genuine humor from a man who did not need to call an employee about a matter that put him in the middle of a controversy of another's doing.  Yet, here he was.

" No, Your Eminence, I am taking care of my little girl who is down with the Flu."

" Poor baby. Is she school age?"

" She goes to St. Cajetan's."

" Would like me to speak with her?"

I took the phone to Clare and she and the Archbishop of Chicago chatted about school her up-coming First Holy Communion and Hannah Montana from one end of phone anyway. The Cardinal gave Clare a blessing for good health and grace.

" Pat. You have your job.  I did not fire you.  In any bureaucracy people will say 'The Cardinal says, this and Cardinal says that and all without asking Francis George what he thinks.  They mean well."

We chatted some more and I learned that his father belonged to Local 399.  Like my father and his father before him, Francis Cardinal George's Dad was a stationary engineer.

We shared some more laughs about life in the Chicago Archdiocese.  I continue to work at Leo.

Cardinal George worked for Leo.  He counseled five students who had very tough lives.  He helped us raise money for new buses and blessed those buses.  Francis Cardinal George was made a Leo Man in 2011 and inducted into this school's Hall of Fame in 2014.

He was my neighbor - a great neighbor.

Cardinal George went home to Christ on Friday, April 17th.

* Bill Gainer is a guy from Roseland. Like Cardinal George, Bill does not know the first thing about being a "big shot."

Catholics Bury the Indigent Fetus: The Chicago Tribune Buries the Evil that is Abortion

Francis Cardinal Ceorge initiated the practice of taking the bodies of the unclaimed poor (fetuses and adults) off of the hands of Cook County in 2012.  The Chicago Tribune decided that needed no mention in its article about the burial of 62 unclaimed aborted children, in order to make a political propaganda piece. 

Instead, John Daley's presence at the recent ceremony is used.

Cook County Commissioner John Daley is a wonderful man.  Of the Daley Boys, he is the kindest and most thoughtful, in my opinion.  The other day, he joined fellow Catholics  at Mount Olivet Cemetery on the south side to bury the aborted children of poor people - indigent fetuses.

This practice begun by Francis Cardinal George, who is not mentioned in the article, is a good thing.  Not even Planned Parenthood could scream, as is their wont, about religion interfering in choice.

However, a good deed can not go un-propagandized in Chicago and the Chicago Tribune immediately rolled over for  rub of its tummy, by Planned Parenthood Illinois, Progressives and Abortion Complicit Politicians.

The Illinois Department of Human Services also has provided funding to the county over the years for burials of unclaimed remains of people who were public aid recipients or would have been eligible for public aid, Shuftan said.

However, as previously reported in the Tribune, Gov. Bruce Rauner recently announced cuts to state payments for indigent funerals.

Explain to me - if the Archdiocese of Chicago has made a practice of burying the remains of children aborted with the help of Illinois legislation for years, why is it important to mention that 'cuts ti state payment fro indigent funerals' is news and not propaganda?

 The Catholic land to bury the aborted children might run out, we are told.  But Catholic Cemeteries are private, you see, and Catholics are paying for that space to burying children aborted due to State of Illinois sponsored homicide.

It was very decent of John Daley to attend this service. He is a decent guy. Cardinal George deserves some recognition by the Chicago Tribune for this mitzvah, but this is the Chicago Tribune -a vassal of Planned Parenthood 24/7.

End abortion; no fetus to bury.

Christ Comfort Cardinal George - A Genuine Lion of the Church

We are sad to hear that our Brother, Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I and Leo Class of 2011 has  been hospitalized yet again.

Cardinal G

oerge is our Shepherd and a particular friend of the Leo High School family.

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I - Chicago's Worker Archbishop

 

Juravit Dominus et non paenitebit eum/
Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech./
Dominus a dextris tuis,/
confregit in die irae suae reges.
(The Lord swore, and will not repent:Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.The Lord upon thy right hand,shall wound even kings in the day of his wrath.)

Those are some tough words for hymn. The lyrics come form Pslam 110 and the tune from George Fredrick Handel ( Mr. Messiah). This Baroque hymn is sung at the ordination of priests.  I sang with with my pals Mike Kelly, Willie Bigane, Bobby Ryan, Kevin McEldowney, Phil Panatera, Tommy Walsh and other scapegraces from Little Flower Grammar School following weeks of training from Miss Alice Doney and beat downs from high school age choirmasters, like Terry McEldowney.  We got it right for a young guy's First Mass - I think his name was Corrigan.  I remember the beauty of hymn and sense of the sacred that got through to 7th & Grade miscreants aborbed with growing hormones, scatological humor and physically violent pranks.  We were told by Sister Mary Doralese and Sister Mary Gertrudis (RSM) that we were destined to 'die on the gallows. or worse.'  Well, you can't kill a man born to hang.

Nevertheless, our choir carried off the First Mass of a young priest from the neighborhood . . .splendidly. I recall that we were treated to a five spot ($5) each by the father of the priest and that was in 1965 dollars.

I though about the Handel hymn all weekend - every time the Chicago media announced that Francis Cardinal George will end his leadership of Archdiocese of Chicago on Tuesday, November 18th.

I though about the lyrics of Juravit Dominus and how real the words of the Psalm match the tenure of Cardinal George's stewardship of the Church in Chicago.

Cardinal George caught a bum rap from the newspapers, activist priests who play to the OP ed pontiffs from Oak Park to Englewood, gutless elected officials pandereing for more LGBTQ hozanahs and Planned Parenthood lucre and the blow-dried ninnies on Chicago television  I can think of no churchman who withstood more ambush activism and journalism than Francis Cardinal George for speaking the truth.  The truth runs counter to desires and impulses - always.

Cardinal George cleaned up the clergy abuse mess tolerated by his two predecessors, the racial animus inherited from Cardinal Cody's singular role in making Chicago a genuinely 'segregated' city and Cardinal Bernadin's enegetic closing of schools, churches and social institutions.

Even institutions run by the Church follow idiotic policies of goo-goo of State, County and City progressive one-size-fits-all procrustean policy.  Policy is for . . . .persons without the will to good for others.  Sometimes, it is necessary to work things like Catholic Chicagoans - outside of preening policy.

Cardinal George found time to counsel Leo students who came from horrible situations (abusive parents, crime addicted families, drug addled parent with legal custody & etc.)  and to call about their progress.  I have yet to pick up the phone to report back to Neil Steinberg, Carol Marin, Mike Flannery and Dane Placko of Fox News 32 on the condistions of an apartment at 40th & Wallace and how a kid manages to maintain a C+ average with running water and a diet of Cheetos.  The kid refused to abandon his little brother and suffered dysfunction, squallor, rats and loneliness.  Cardinal George partnered with Leo and helped - Old School Chicago.   Cardinal George calls about hurting kids all of the time.

Cardinal George is a working man's priest, bishop and Cardinal. An intellectual giant and ecclesiastical scholar of international reputation, Cardinal George never lost tough with the carpenters, electricians, cops, school teachers, firemen, or skilled tradesmen who remain in the Catholic pews of Chicago and who also shooulder the abuse from prentencious asses like Carol Marin, Eric Zorn, Michael Sneed, or Dane Placko with modest good humor.

Cardinal George is a great shepherd and a great guy -Order of Melchisedech notwithstanding.

The Seeker Says Secularist Will Select for Chicago Catholics: Archbishop Chosen by Holy Spirit is So . . .Wrong Side of History

The Seeker - The Chicago Tribune's Holistic Spiritualist Manya Brachear-Pashman determined that 'secular forces' will play a key role in the selection of Chicago's next Archbishop.

Manya failed to mention that Chicago's Archbishop Francis Cardinal George spent Mothers Day celebrating the Eucharist with expectant mothers at Holy Name Cathedral and will ordain twelve priests on this coming Saturday. Pretty busy for a guy fighting cancer, ministering to troubled teens, dealing with Pastoral Center bureaucrats and lawyers, managing the largest Archdiocesan school system in America and still answering his phone when guys like me give him a call about some family in need of his prayers and good offices. That's The Seeker!

Manya Brachear warns us unevolved  Friday Tilapia Tasters this - "As much as Chicago's Roman Catholics believe the selection of the city's next archbishop will be guided by the Holy Spirit, experts and history point to other forces, such as demographics and local politics, that help shape such decisions."

I know that I generally fail to consult the Paul Simon Institute on matters theological and take a somewhat dim of the power of Mount Horeb's(WI) Circle Sanctuary dictae in matters ecclesiastical, but I continue to doubt that the late Dawn Clark Netsch's pie-chart bandito Ralphie Martire's Center for Tax and Budget Accountability which drove Illinois off the cliff, or Thundering Dick Simpson's Cut & Paste Political Papers Workshops at Cement City ( UIC) will be determining, much less compelling, factors in the selection of whoever wears Cardinal George's massive wing-tips.

I doubt very much that fatuous Catholic back-sliders like Governor Pat Quinn, Senator Dithering Dick Durbin, Congressman Wee Michael Quigley will be asked to give voice to the episcopal selection recommendations presented to Pope Francis I anymore than the seedlings gifted to His Holiness by President Obama will see the light of day.

The Seeker found a 'source' who offers insight to the debt American Catholics should and must offer bonfires of thanksgiving due to government largess in their lives -

Jo-Renee Formicola, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, a Catholic institution in New Jersey, said while the pope might be aware that the church relies heavily on public funds to fulfill its mission, that's probably a minor factor in choosing George's successor.
"He will make his decision based on what is the best religious, spiritual role that the church can play and the individual is someone who's got to be able to straddle the problems between Catholic Charities and the state governmental structure," she said. "This is not a political appointment. It's a religious appointment."
She said she would not be surprised to see an archbishop who shares Obama's experience of community activism, largely honed in Chicago's Catholic parishes.

Let's see, Prof!  Pope Francis I is at the top of his game. Barack Obama . . .?????? Mmmmmm.  No game. I doubt the Pope will spread the Obama Playbook on the Vatican gym floor in this matter.

I do not understand why in the world The Seeker did not ask Cook County Board President Toni " The Crypt-Keeper" Preckwinkle about the apostolic succession here in Chicago. After all, Toni Preckwinkle was on the payroll at Visitation High School for a brief period of time.

Gee. 

Lincoln's Furniture or St. Peter's Rock.

“Rather, we expect that further efforts will be undertaken by plaintiffs’ lawyers or by others to use the redefinition of marriage in Illinois as a cudgel to infringe on rights of free speech and the free exercise of religion on the part of Illinois citizens who conscientiously oppose homosexual relations as gravely wrong and sinful. In other states where marriage has been similarly redefined, forceful and repeated attacks have been waged against such individuals, religious groups or associations, and business owners.  At Thomas More Society, we are prepared to defend the free and untrammeled exercise of sincerely held religious beliefs and the right to advocate freely against homosexual acts by those who adhere to Church teachings and Biblical principles. Americans’ preeminent and paramount rights of free speech and the exercise of religious liberty must prevail.” Thomas More Society

Pat Quinn signed the Gay Marriage Law, yesterday, on  Abe Lincoln's desk.  There was no possible way that this law would not pass the Illinois House, after the Illinois Senate sent a Valentine Card to the fortunes behind the Marriage Equality Movement.  

Civil Unions was never going to be enough, because enough is not a feast.

I supported civil unions, but I fundamentally object to the redefinition of marriage and that is all that happened yesterday.  It was not a Sexual Selma Moment, nor was it a Gay Gettysburg.  It was political power play pure and simple.  If you disagree with this redefinition of marriage, then you are a legal and political target.

I do not take particular pride in my sex life.  It is what it is.  I take pride in the care of my children in honor of my vows to their departed mother, whom I married in the rites of the Roman Catholic Church and according to the laws of the State of Illinois.  I am widowed.

Engaging in sex outside of marriage is a sin, for which I must make penance after Confession.  This I believe.  I believe that marriage is only between a man and a woman for the purpose of procreation.   Pat Quinn signed away my beliefs.

A pair of gents, or brace of gals, no matter how loving and committed to one another, can never procreate.  Can't have kids. Adoption has nothing to do this.

I wish gay couples every happiness and hope that they will return the sentiment.  So far, I am just not feeling it. Rather, there has been a constant misreading of Cardinal George and Bishop Paprocki in the same media that covers for the political, cultural and economic  train wreck that is Illinois.

I await the displeasure of those who wish me and mine no earthly good.  That does not bother me a jot.

Lincoln's Springfield desk was hauled to UIC Center as part of panoply surrounding Pandering Pat's penmanship, yesterday.  That's nice. It was as artificial as the parsing of Pope Francis.

I am not overwhelmed by furniture.

I'll stick with the Rock of Peter.  

This Important Little Man Gets It! So Does The Pope.

We enjoyed a visit from Cardinal George on Monday here at Leo.Cardinal George stayed way past his appointed schedule talking and joking with students, the parents and the Leo Alumni. Chicago's Archbishop gets it.

Mayor James Sexton - Little Flower HS 1970/ Loyola University 1974

Evergreen Park Mayor and my old classmate  and pal Jimmy Sexton dropped by the blessing and stuffed a huge check in support of the bus program into my coat pocket, offered his best to the Cardinal and beat it without fanfare. Jimmy Sexton gets it.

Some years ago the guy coaching Notre Dame football at the time told a bunch of 7,8,9 and 10 year boxers from Celtic Boxing Club, who traveled to South Bend in a Blizzard in order to fight exhibition matches that would benefit the coach's daughter's charity that he was far to busy to autograph pieces of paper, let alone sit for a picture and talk to them.  I'm sorry that is not true.  The coach sent his body guard, an off duty South Bend cop, to tell me and the kids that the Coach was far too Big and Busy a Man to concern himself with kids drawing in money for his daughter.  Yeah, that is accurate. The Coach was not, or course Faust, Devine, Holtz, Willingham, or coach Kelly.  The coach was let go.  He just does not get it.

Most people get it.  Little kids arrive with it and best of us keep it.

This below makes much more clear than I could ever hope to do, or say.







http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/boy-wanders-onto-stage-to-hang-out-with-pope-francis

These guys get it.

Pat Elwood's Fox 32 Coverage of Francis Cardinal George's Blessing of Leo Buses

Here's the lede

Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Here's the Heart

Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Here's Our Newest Video Star

back row - Mike Joyce, Kimberly Hickey, front row, Amir Holmes, Francis Cardinal George ( undefeated) and James Davis
Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Please NOTE - Mike " Pickle" Joyce, Esq. ( 10-1 Pro Boxing career) is the Leo Head Boxing Coach and bears no resemblance to Miss Kimberly Hickey* our Math Teacher and Leo Assitant Boxing Coach.

* Miss Hickey is not a relative of the this post-hole digger and has no relative in Local # 399 IUOE.

Join Cardinal George and Leo Lions for the Bus Blessing - Monday Oct. 28th 9:30 AM

Want to feel great on a Monday morning?  Start next week by joining the Leo High School Family as Francis Cardinal George blesses our new vehicles, purchased by the Leo Alumni!

Who -Archbishop Francis Cardinal George to Bless Buses of Leo High School

What – Cardinal George will bless the two new buses purchased by Leo High School following the very successful Leo Express to Opportunity Campaign, which was co-chaired by His Eminence and Mr. Sam Leno '63.

The Leo Buses in a Row

Mr. Byrd, President Dan McGrath and Fleet Management Chief for Leo HS Harold Green

 Mr. Byrd, the Leo Bus Man, approves the fleet and its seats

Al Krieg of Midwest Transit Hands Leo President Danan McGrath the keys

Mr. Byrd The Leo Bus Man!

Where – Leo High School – 7901 South Sangamon Street – Chicago , IL 60620 -The Alumni Parking Lot on Sangamon Street west of the school.

When – October 28th, 2013 at 9:30 AM
Contact – Mr. Par Hickey, Director of Development
(773) 224 -9600 ex. 208, or

Father Tony Brankin Answered Mark Brown's Column in the Sun Times today - Two Weeks ago.

Some time ago, the Illinois Coalition of  Immigrant and Refugee Rights ( ICIR) found it had lost its funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD)after ICIR decided to stand in solidarity with those demanding the redefinition of marriage, via homosexual marriage legislation.

As a result ICIR could no longer fund Albany Park Neighborhood Council's Bike 'N Roses program that helps poor kid fix bikes with the dollars funded by the Catholics. See how this works?

Mark Brown, who feels deeply and writes nicely, took umbrage with the Archbishop of Chicago's Catholics, Francis Cardinal George, OMI, decision not to allow CCHD to continue to toss huge money to ICIR,which peeled off some Catholic Jacksons and tossed them to the poor kids of Albany Park, after ICIR tossed the Cardinal's defense of marriage and teachings from the Catholic catechism under foot once the check was dry.

Mark Brown wrote a heart-tugger about the likely lads of Albany Park and the cruelty of the Cardinal and followed that up with very dissembling interview with Chicago's Shepherd. That's is what a Progressive advocate must do! I guess.

Mark Brown's column was about the domino effect defunding the ICIR for its solidarity with homesexuala marriage was followed in short order by a cadre of Democratic Party lightweights with spray tans condeming the Cardinal and shortly thereafter one heaveyweight and former gubernatorial candiate the same.   Getting a funding cut is never pleasant, but its part-and-parcel of the action packed world of fund-raising.

I too get my shorts in knot every time a 501(c)3, corporate charity arm, or rich guys writes a decline to a proposal for a grant to help poor Black, Latino and Canaryville Irish kids in Auburn Gresham, because we are Catholic in mission and operation. One might call such refusals to help poor kids get a high school education . . .Progressive. Shucks, the very first decline to one of my inquiries came from Barack Obama himself, when he headed the Woods Fund.  Progressives don't do certain faith based initiatives, not unlike, Catholic grant making entities who will not fund fund groups seeking to undo it.  I research and reach out to 501(c)3's, corporations and rich guys unburdened by Progressive symbiotic doctrines.

Today Mark Brown lays out the red carpet welcoming Progressive money to philanthropy.

A group of progressive charitable foundations — active in both the immigration reform and marriage equality movements — will step up Wednesday to announce creation of an emergency fund to replace the $300,000 stripped from member organizations of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
I’m glad to see that somebody has got these folks’ back.

Can I get a Harrumph?  Bike chains and seat adjustments will once again signal the dreams of Albany Park's impoverished lads.

Two weeks ago the pastor of St. Odilo's Catholic Church in Berwyn, Father Tony Brankin, preemptively answered the Mark Brown Huzzahs in a published homily. St. Odilo's is comprised largely of Latino ( Mexican), blue collar ethnics and a few Black families.  Father Tony Brankin is a musician, sculptor, scholar and a Catholic priest.
Read this, folks.

Ramblings - Fr. Brankin 
CHD and the Cardinal
Not too long ago the Cardinal asked us to help defend him against the assaults of so-called
Catholic politicians of Chicago—taking place these days in the papers and media.
It seems that some politicians—including Bill Daley—(the one that wants to be governor)—
are protesting the fact that the Cardinal denied charitable funding to a community organization
that advertises itself as working for immigrants. This is grant money that comes from the
Catholic Campaign for Human Development. You remember, this is the collection in October
where the cardinal asks for donations from the Catholic people of Chicago.
Well the problem is that this particular organization has decided to promote homosexual
marriage among the immigrants—all the while it takes Catholic money. Of course we cannot
be involved in any way with something like this.
The Cardinal has made it very clear that it is not right that the money that Catholic people
give to the Church for the purpose of alleviating the suffering of the poor—would be used by
the recipients of that grant to fight against the Catholic Church’s moral teachings. It is in fact
dishonest. And that is the Cardinal’s word—dishonest.
Of course the politicians are crying great crocodile tears: “How terrible of the Cardinal—that
he would deny the poor people this help—this money!”
Well all I can ask is: how dare these conniving Catholic politicians demand your charity—as
if it were theirs—as if it were owed to them. If they want their pet organizations to survive—
then I have no doubt that they could reach into their own pockets and pull out the money they
need. It is chump change for someone like Bill Daley who has been fooling around with the
Clintons and the Obamas for twenty years now.
Besides, it is not poor people who receive any of the money from this grant anyway. Not a
cent would have been given to the poor woman sitting on one side of the desk with three
children in her arms—and her husband being threatened with deportation. Not one cent. That
money goes to the organizer who is writing down all the information and asking her to hold a
sign at the next protest rally.
The money from many of these grants is not going for the poor but for community organizations so that the organization can pay its bills.
In other words, the money we collect for the Campaign for Human Development does not
find its way to the homeless guy who doesn’t have a mat to sleep on—it isn’t given to the
struggling father without papers who is just trying to feed his family—it gets funneled to the
community organization. And then, of course, you have to ask: How did the politicians get involved in all this? Why
have they decided that now is the time to shame the Cardinal and the Church with their
falsehoods? You would have thought they didn’t have a horse in this race.
But there they are—in all the newspapers—all upset with the cardinal—and their shorts in a
knot—because their buddies—the professional poverty crowd—the ones with whom they go to
rallies and fund raisers and cocktail parties—you know—the cocktail parties they never invite
you or me to—they’re upset because their buddies are getting cut off. And what better way to
gain cheap plaudits than to slam the Cardinal for opposing homosexual marriage?
It seems that they are all in on it—the politicians and precinct captains and the community
organizers and the professional poverty hustlers and the media. And here is the likely scenario.
The Cardinal cuts off some free-will funding to a group that now promotes homosexual
marriage. The community organizers panic! They are on the phone to city hall in a New York
minute: “What’s going on? He cut us off! You better do something!”
The next thing you know there is a full page ad in the Tribune—paid for I am sure by the
Democratic Party—a smarmy, lying letter that excoriates the Cardinal for not helping the
poor—a letter that perverts Church teaching about life and love and marriage—a letter that
demands more money for their friends. And they write these greedy lies all in the name of
helping poor immigrants.
What a crew! This is what goes on in this city—and they want you to think it is all on the up
and up! Well it’s not on the up and up. And probably never has been.
But I will say that I hope we rethink our involvement with the Catholic Campaign for Human
Development—because when we don't give our money to the poor, but to those who say they
are helping the poor, we are really vulnerable to these kinds of problems. There will be
no end to such cynical and greedy manipulations and dishonesty. We cannot keep funding
people who just do not believe what we believe about life and love. It is that simple.
And then we can start distributing assistance to people directly and to those who actually need it—just like we used to when the poor were genuinely helped and they had the Gospel
preached to them in the bargain. And Son of a gun! It worked! 

Fred Eychner, a rich guy who owns the Illinois and good part of National LGBTQ agenda is helping fund the Albany Park bike fixers.  That's great; no kidding.

Fred Eychnaer owns a significant piece of both US Senators, most US Reps.the current governor and most of legislature. Fred does Not own a piece of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church in Chicago amassed pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters from immigrants and refugees in its churches over the last two hundred and still managed to develop social services being now erased by Progressive lordship over the Democratic and Republican elected officials of Illinois.

I hope that Fred Eychaner's wallet can make up the difference in peoples lives that the Catholic Church continues to do on its dime.

Cardinal George and Pope Francis Say Exactly the Same Thing - Love Gays; Oppose Redefinition of Marriage

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all mysins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offendThee, my God, Who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmlyresolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the nearoccasions of sin. Act of Contrition

“We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible. I have not spoken much about these things, and I was reprimanded for that. But when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context. The teaching of the church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the church, but it is not necessary to talk about these issues all the time. " Pope Francis I

"Everybody is welcome,"but not everything we do can be acceptable. Not everything I do, and not everything anybody else does." Francis Cardinal George

I missed the part in the Pope Francis interview where he advocates homosexual marriage, a redefinition of marriage, a nod to abortion, or plea for free contraceptives.  However, deep thinkers like Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Schmich and the almost invisible Neil Steinberg are doing hand-stands and hugs over the latest cut and paste job by the social engineers.   

I oppose the idiotic and intellectually insulting Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality bully bill that has gone about as far as the Book of Mormon in making Illinois more like Lincoln and less like Joseph Smith, or Bishop Shiel, but wish all and sundry happiness.  The Civil Union bill was the advent of new dawn in civil and social living until Pat Quinn's ink dried on that legislation; at which point Stonewall became Selma and Illinois just could not wait. 

The Pope said nothing new in the article for the Jesuits run here in the States by America and nothing that Francis Cardinal George has not said at every turn in the twisted road to Illinois homosexual marriage and the necessary redefinition of marriage.  Sex outside of marriage is a sin- gay, straight, or solo.   Sex outside of marriage is not a crime, generally speaking.  The only persons that concern me with regard to sex are my kids and of course old Dad himself . . .as if.

Like I said above, Francis Cardinal George has never once uttered a calumny against any sinner.  Nor, has he ever issued a Catholic  Fatwah upon the heads of LGBTQs ever, or of any sort.  Pope Francis called the priesthood to task about their role as pastors ( read the damn article) and he especially mentioned homosexual sex and abortion within the context of the sacrament of Confession -

"We must always consider the person. Here we enter into the mystery of the human being. In life, God accompanies persons, and we must accompany them, starting from their situation. It is necessary to accompany them with mercy. When that happens, the Holy Spirit inspires the priest to say the right thing.“This is also the great benefit of confession as a sacrament: evaluating case by case and discerning what is the best thing to do for a person who seeks God and grace. The confessional is not a torture chamber, but the place in which the Lord’s mercy motivates us to do better. I also consider the situation of a woman with a failed marriage in her past and who also had an abortion. Then this woman remarries, and she is now happy and has five children. That abortion in her past weighs heavily on her conscience and she sincerely regrets it. She would like to move forward in her Christian life. What is the confessor to do?

Cardinal George explained "I think it's a good examination of conscience," George said outside Holy Name Cathedral, where he had just celebrated a Mass honoring couples married for 50 years. "I also think that he's coming from the viewpoint of a pastor who is close to the Lord and close to the people."

Then we get a Medill treatement of the Cardinal Archbishop's remarks, But George, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, warned that some had gone too far in seeing Pope Francis' interview as a move away from long-held church teachings on homosexuality, abortion and contraception"

Yep, a vocal opponent of gay marriage, just like Pope Francis.

"Everybody is welcome," George said, "but not everything we do can be acceptable. Not everything I do, and not everything anybody else does."

 Hell, I am welcome, even though my thoughts words and deeds can be unacceptable. . .wildly unacceptable. My beliefs are unacceptable to people who demand that I accept the notion that marriage can and must be not restricted to one man and one woman.  Now, what would those Mormons ridiculed in that boffo play think about that?   One man . . .two wives . . . three?  Does Greg Harris' religious freedom bill include Mormon polygamists?  Or, would that cast the LGBTQ community in the role of hot-headed and hysterical bigot?  Must a wife be human?  Some folks worship chicks and ducks and geese what better scurry!  How about a Dutch Wife? Oh, who cares about wives and WHo cares a fig about the Dutch?

Why sailors and members of the news media.

My most desperately wild 'dirty' thoughts are of Matt Helm movie variety; yet, I am thoroughly ashamed of their distracting imposition upon my better angels.  'And I detest all my  sins' including all of the fun ones.

Read the comments in the article concerning this matter in today's Tribune and tell me again  which side spews the real hate.

Cardinal George is No Sun Times Columnist!

 

Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago*, past President of the American Conference of Catholic Bishops, internationally honored author and theologian, Oblate of Mary Missionary priest is no newspaper columnist and he certainly is no Progressive member of the Cook County Democratic Party, nor is he any way near a GOP tasseled loafer suburban fence sitter, like Senator Marque Kirque and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner.

How can a scholar of sacred theology expect to reason with a Mark Brown**, an Eric Zorn, a Carol Marin, a Neil Steinberg, or a Proco Joe Moreno and maintain any semblance of moral high-ground? Recently these folks have opined upon the Secular Redemption of Milliken Don James St. James who merely slaughtered his entire family in 1960's served his time in the nut house, deemed clean, was released, advanced degreed, changed his name and lived anonymously among the folks as respected member of the academic community, not unlike Dr. Josef Mengele or other South Americans of post-Holocaust redemption. Columnist love this American Progressive Gatsby narrative. But that is Columnist Theology.

Today, Mark Brown, one of the very few columnists who actually offers a semblance of a fair shake, recounts his 'cordial' exchange with Cardinal George concerning this summer's hoo-ha over Proco Joe and company's outrage in letter form protesting Catholic Campaign for Human Development's (CCHD) decision to no longer fund the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights( ICIRR).

Mark Brown wrote a searing column that burned the fibers of manly hearts that already agree with him on matters relating to same-sex marriage and scorched the muscles of that vital organ in the womanly breasts of maids and dowagers who equate bike repair with non-Euclidean sex and Civil Rights.

Cardinal George found fault with Mr. Brown's column; hence the 'cordial' dialogue.

George expressed his opinion that the funding cutoff “wouldn’t have been an issue if we weren’t in a campaign for governor.”
That confused me a little, because I certainly would have raised the issue whether there was an election next year or not. The cardinal reiterated that his understanding is that some people want to use gay marriage as an issue in the governor’s race.
I suggested it was his decision to halt funding from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development to the immigrant groups that made this an issue. He rejected that assertion, arguing that the leaders of the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights in effect cut off funding to their own member groups with the decision in May to endorse gay marriage.

You see, Cardinal; George is not only an episcopal and evangelical leader of the Catholic Church in Chicago, but he also happens to be a Chicagoan and someone who can and does read print.

To avoid any confusion, there is a race for governor.  The signer of the hostile and historically damaging Illinois Civil Union Bill, Governor Pat Quinn, lost the May bid to make Same -Sex Marriage the Lincoln Log Cabin for his Reelection, chinking every crack with Progressively pious platitudes.  Quinn is even more unpopular than his enemies who are growing up out of the ground from the dragon's teeth sown by the very forces that own Quinn's political soul - ( SEIU, Planned Parenthood, Dr. Quentin Young, Abner Mikva, the ACLU and Fred Eychaner). We now have Bruce Rauner, a billionaire buccaneer hopping out of Rahm Emanuel's vest pocket as a GOP standard bearer and Bill Daley who gave Rahm his first job.  We have Kwame Raul as a wedge candidate to gobble up Quinn's African American base, if there ever had been such, and a cavalcade gimpy-wimpy GOP dependables.

Now, that is something to confuse one, Mr. Brown.

The Catholic Church has been sanctioned for fire bombing by the DNC, because of its implacable defense of the unborn and traditional marriage.

Cardinal George knows the political landscape and it is hostile.  What passes for an evolved culture in this country finds the Gay Ann Landers, Dan Savage,  to be a sober and thoughtful Catholic voice and it finds the certitude of ethical and moral principles just too mean for a queen. Mark Brown offers his last word on the matter ex-cathedra, or swivel seat, or easy chair in a much less than cordial manner.  Mark Brown wants that to be his column's take away?

The cardinal acknowledged his own characterization of the pope’s comments on gays may have been “jarring,” as I put it, but he said he was frustrated by journalists missing the pope’s point.
“In our culture, ‘Who am I to judge’ means nobody has the right to distinguish right from wrong,” which wasn’t what the pope meant, the cardinal said.
“He was saying that a person who has given up their sinful ways, you don’t judge them. You accept them,” George said. “. . .He started out saying: gay sex is wrong.”
I told the cardinal I never believed for a moment that the pope was changing church policy toward gays, only setting a different tone that was missing from his own approach.
The cardinal expressed frustration that, in the current political climate, Catholics can’t express their opposition to same-sex marriage without being regarded as bigots.
“”When that becomes the criterion for accepting gay and lesbian people, then we’re in the bind we’re in now, which is a real bind,” he said.

No - that is not what a Sun Times reader must take away from the 'coridal' exchange of the columnist and mere Cardinal.  It is this.

"Nobody really expects the Catholic Church to change, only to adapt."

Millions of European Jews were told that very thing. Now, that was some lesson in social evolution . . . very scientific.

* Francis Cardinal George, OMI Education
Bachelor in Theology, University Ottawa
Master in Theology, University Ottawa, 1971
MA in Philosophy, Catholic University America, 1965
PhD in Philosophy, Tulane University, 1970
STD, Pontifical Urban University, Rome, 1989
Career
Ordained priest Oblates of Mary Immaculate, 1963, provincial central region, 1973—1974, vicar general, 1974—1986; coordinator Circle of Fellows Cambridge Center for Study of Faith & Culture, Massachusetts, 1987—1990; ordained bishop, 1990; bishop Diocese of Yakima, Washington, 1990—1996; archbishop Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, 1996—1997, Archdiocese of Chicago, 1997—; elevated to cardinal, 1998; cardinal-priest S. Bartolomeo all'Isola, 1998—
Career Related
Vice president US Conference Catholic Bishops, 2004—; chancellor Catholic Church Extension University St. Mary of Lake, 1997; member Congregation Divine Worship, Discipline of Sacraments, Congregation for Oriental Churches, 2001—, Congregation Institutes, Consecrated Life, Societies Apostolic Life, Pontifical Commission for Cultural Heritage of Church, 1999—, Pontifical Council Cor Unum, 1998, Congregation Evangelization of Peoples, Pontifical Council for Culture, 2004—, Catholic Commission on Intellectual & Cultural Affairs
Creative Works
Author (pastoral letter): Becoming an Evangelizing People, 1997, Dwell in My Love, 2001
Memberships
Mem.: Am. Catholic Philosophical Association, Am. Society Missiologists
Religion
Roman Catholic
Address
Office: Archdiocese of Chgo Pastoral Ctr PO Box 1979 Chicago IL 60690-1979

** Mark Brown

Brown grew up in central Illinois, graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1977 and then attended the Public Affairs Reporting program at University of Illinois-Springfield, then known as Sangamon State, where he was a Sun-Times intern. Brown worked four years at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Sun-Times full-time in 1982.
At the Sun-Times, Brown worked mainly as a general assignment reporter specializing politics and government, which led him into investigative reporting. In September 2000, Brown began writing his column, which currently appears Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday. One of his strengths is that he has experience covering not only Chicago City Hall, but also Cook County government and the Illinois Statehouse.
Brown, a third-string high school basketball player, grew up obsessed with St. Louis Cardinals baseball, Chicago Bears football and Bradley basketball. Only Bradley has moved down on his radar, replaced by the Bulls.

Illinois Same Sex Marriage is More Important Than Poor Kids In Albany Park and Everything Else

In his column this morning Mark Brown concludes,

 " One day soon, the Illinois Legislature is going to make it legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married in Illinois — despite the Catholic Church’s opposition.
But there will still be poor kids in Albany Park who need help fixing their bikes.": markbrown@suntimes.com Twitter: @MarkBrownCST

You see the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) cut its grants to the lllinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) because the ICIRR's board of directors was touched by Same Sex Marriage Illinois, a  much broader coalition of money, influence, ink and iconoclasts, to fully support same sex marriage in its fight for immigrant and refugee rights. The Chicago Tribune published a letter that excoriated Francis Cardinal George and CCHD for what it  regards as a heartless neglect of the poor. The letter’s signers were Chicago Aldermen Proco Joe Moreno, Danny Solis, Patrick O’Connor, and James Cappelman; Cook County Commissioners John Fritchey and Larry Suffredin; and Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza - huge Catholics, Huge.  Like the Castro Brothers (Cuba, not Ohio) the signers are all about the Church, poor and really helping folks - Salvation Army and such.

The poor kids in Albany Park got $20,000 in grant money from CCHD.  $ 20,000 would help five poor kids from Englewood get a Leo High School Education.  Twenty thousand bucks is about half a payroll for Leo High Schooll employees every two weeks.  Nothing to sneeze at, $20,000, but the board of Directors of Illinois Coalition for  Immigrant and Refugees Rights (ICIRR) listened to Rick Garcia, Rep. Greg Harris, Personal PAC's and Governor Pat Quinn's Boss Terry Cosgrove appeal to evolved reason.  The Same Sex Marriage Heart trumps all other vessels.

Going from the heart of that meaty criticism, Mark Brown yanks on the heart strings with case-specific philippic aimed at Cardinal George, CCHD and unevolved Catholics in Illinois and it's a good one, worthy of two-hour WTTW special  narrated by the Ann Landers of homosexual journalism -Dan Savage. Here's the Sun Times' pilot



I wonder if Same Sex Marriage Illinois will fund those industrious kid in Albany Park? Maybe a grant from Henry Van Ameringen, Fred Eychaner, Personal PAC Illinois, or Northern trust Bank will ensure that poor kids in Albany Park kept them wheels rolling.

My bet is not.  Why would they apply money meant to secure the doctrine that Marriage is just a semantics exercise toward a non-systemic enterprise operated for the purpose of helping a few urchins?  That is what the Catholic Church is for, after all.

I remember my Mom telling me, Be careful of what you ask for.  No kidding.

Shortly after Same-Sex Marriage Illinois won the Civil Unions battle,  Catholic Charities ended almost two hundred years of care for Illinois orphans and support of childless married couples ( a guy and a gal).   Same Sex Marriage Illinois, a broad coalition of money, influence, ink and iconoclasts, makes the Vatican Bank seem like parish savings and loan during the Depression.  It is powerful and has purchased the legislature ( is that too cynical? Nah.) the Governor, the Illinois Supreme Court, The AG, the Media and people who equate conscience with watching Will and Grace/Glee/Bill Maher and of  course WTTW.

Francis Cardinal George Archbishop of Chicago has been treated with shamefully great disrespect by Same Sex Marriage Illinois, but maintains his dignity and good humor while defending the Church.

It is intellectually and morally dishonest to use the witness of the Church’s concern for the poor as an excuse to attack the Church’s teaching on the nature of marriage.  Four weeks ago, Pope Francis wrote: “…marriage should be a stable union of man and woman…this union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God’s own love, and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flesh and are enabled to give birth to a new life.” In other words, when it comes to marriage and family life, men and women are not interchangeable. The whole civilized world knows that.
Those who signed the open letter in the Tribune proclaimed their adherence to the Catholic faith even as they cynically called upon others to reject the Church’s bishops. The Church is no one’s private club; she is the Body of Christ, who tells us he is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Because the signers of the letters are Catholic, they know that in a few years, like each of us, they will stand before this same Christ to give an account of their stewardship. Jesus is merciful, but he is not stupid; he knows the difference between right and wrong. Manipulating both immigrants and the Church for political advantage is wrong.

The big picture in the matter of Same Sex Marriage Illinois was artfully captured in this paragraph by Tina Korbe in 2011 concerning the Illinois Legislature's Civil Union codicil requiring all Illinois adoption services recognize the sanctity of homosexual couples:

The decision of the Illinois legislature to initiate the requirement in the first place — knowing it would hamstring Catholic Charities, which provides essential services — demonstrates an appalling willingness to allow an adult agenda — the mainstream acceptance of gay behavior — to supersede children’s interests. The spokesman for the state’s child welfare agency has said he thinks the child welfare system Catholic Charities helped to build is strong enough to withstand CC’s departure. But it’s hard to believe the shuttering of so many CC affiliates won’t make the burden of finding a home for children in need even greater.( emphasis my own)

I don't recall Mark Brown or other columnists bewailing the plight of the many hundreds of those young bairns.

" One day soon, the Illinois Legislature is going to make it legal for gay and lesbian couples to get married in Illinois — despite the Catholic Church’s opposition.
But there will still be poor kids in Albany Park who need help fixing their bikes.":

Yep. The Illinois  Same Sex Marriage Coaltion could care less.

The Clearest Statement on SCOTUS's Gay Marriage Works

Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago is a scholar.  The Gay Marriage initiative is a pop culture civil rights demand that opinion triumphs over truth.

It takes a man and woman to make a baby in Nature. Dow Chemicals or Green Futures BioGenetics, LLC might work on some form of Insta-Kidz, but that would not be natural - as the organic and free range farmers are wont to note.

Gay Marriage is a political power play candied up as civil rights, by hack journalists and pricey politicians. Andrew Sullivan is a homosexual writer, baptized a Catholic, and branded by his liberal publishers as a 'conservative voice' on American culture.  The breathless and the clueless on MSNBC, Fox and CNN will c cite Andrew Sullivan, or Dan Savage, the borderline Kiddie porn advocate and Gay sex-life advice columnist as Catholic opinion on the SCOTUS Rulings and Gay Marriage.


Here is the only succinct and cogent reaction to the twin rulings of last week found in my vast and eclectic readings during the last few days.

STATEMENT OF FRANCIS CARDINAL GEORGE, O.M.I.
REGARDING SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON MARRIAGE
June 26, 2013
This morning, in the guise of technical legal language, the United States Supreme Court advanced the project of making marriage in the United States a genderless institution. Since women and men are not interchangeable, the Court's action is illogical and pretentious. The Court abuses its own authority when it permits civil law to alter the definition of marriage, which is a natural institution. What is truly at stake in these decisions is not the right of adults to love whom they please, but rather the right of children to have both a mother and a father.

Today's decisions also bring us one step closer to the day when those who continue to distinguish between genuine marital unions and same-sex arrangements will be regarded as "bigots." We have already seen the negative result of gender-free unions on Catholic social services here in Illinois and other states.

We can all be grateful that the Court did not create a new "right" to same-sex marriage, allowing Illinois and other states to continue to acknowledge in law what nature and nature's God already tell us: that marriage is the union of one man and one woman for the sake of family.

That about sums it up.

Catholics have had a target on their backs from the Founding Father and 1st Chief Justice John Jay through the evolved out of the faith Justice Kennedy, who like the evolved Justice Brennan who poked the Pope in the eyes with Roe v. Wade in 1973, proved that he his religious beliefs matter not at all.  The target is getting bigger.

Gay Marriage - Angry, Hostile and Vindictive is the Only Way to Gay?

Illinois Pan-pest Andy "Smashing knockers" Thayer.  If it's goofy, Andy is out in front.

Only hours after failing to sweep-up enough votes to Redefine Marriage and Make 'Em Pay's (SB # 10), sponsor and architect of both Civil Unions and the failed Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act is being treated with all of the civility and graciousness visited upon Francis Cardinal George by the LGBTQ leadership and men of Boystown.

In more than a dozen speeches Saturday night, activists who fought for months to pass the bill, blamed Democratic politicians for the loss.
"We were working under circumstances where there was a lack of communication from the House," said Anthony Martinez, executive director of The Civil Rights Agenda, who described himself as "incredibly pissed."
Taking much of the heat were House Speaker Michael Madigan and Harris.
"The truth is there is no one to blame except for the person who didn't call a vote," said Lambda Legal's Jim Bennett, chair of the Illinois Unites for Marriage Coalition, of Harris.
Bennett said that accusations that lack of support in the House Black Caucus doomed the bill were unfair.
He further commented on a Windy City Times editorial by Publisher Tracy Baim, which called on Harris to step down as the bill's sponsor and not run for re-election if the bill fails in the November's veto session.
"It's a conversation we should all have," said Bennett, who called the lack of a vote a "profound betrayal." But Bennett said that calls for resignation might be premature, noting Harris's history within the community.
Bennett's comments came alongside a media release from Equality Illinois the same night, stating that the call for Harris to resign was wrong. [The editorial does not call for Harris to resign.] The release condemned his decision not to vote on the bill.
"But Representative Harris has been our stalwart leader in the General Assembly, masterfully leading the way for civil unions, funding for AIDS/HIV services, and other important initiatives impacting seniors, women and children," Equality Illinois said in the statement. "Probably no one in that body ached more than he did in announcing his decision."
Equality Illinois leaders did not attend Saturday night's rally.
Several speakers urged action from grassroots community members, noting that LGBTs had placed undue trust in leadership on the bill.
But despite outrage from many speakers, a solemn and disappointed mood marked the rainy evening protest. LGBT couples stood arm-in-arm together, some of them crying. Others quietly held up homemade signs.

Scores of gay activists - some say 50, but Windy City Times says over 100 - vented in Boystown against Rep. Greg Harris.

Fred Eychaner paid to get Greg Harris' looney bill passed and signed by Gov. Pat " Yes, Sire!" Quinn.  Catholics, evangelicals and African Americans strongly voiced opposition to the legislation that is using Civil Rights as its smoke screen, in order to exercise power over the people of Illinois and the religious faiths and institutions that object to re-defining marriage.  The politics of this demands that there be no such opposition - in thought word or deed - like voting.

Fred Eychaner's Windy City Times trotted out Tracy Baim's Stalinist denunciation of the leading gay activist in Springfield.

The biggest blame has to be placed on the chief sponsor of the marriage equality bill in the Illinois House, Rep. Greg Harris, an openly gay man. If you are out front for the credit when there is victory, you are also out front for the failure. The bill stops there.
Harris made promises he could not keep. In politics, that can be a reason to step down. Harris, who has dedicated his career to LGBT and AIDS issues, deserves the chance to prove his strategy right. If he wins, we all win, and that is all that matters. But if he does not succeed in passing this in the veto session this fall, he should not run for re-election in 2014. To be clear, this is not a call for Harris to resign, but he will have lost the trust of the people he made commitments to, and it is very difficult to lead once that trust is gone.
In addition, Harris should step down now as chief sponsor of this legislation. He has proven he is tone deaf to the wishes of both the grassroots and leadership of this community. They almost all called for a vote "no matter what." Instead, Harris chose to give cover to his political colleagues, rather than follow through on his own on-the-record promise to call for a vote by May 31.
Why did a vote matter now? Because for months, no hard count has been possible on who really was for or against this bill. This limbo caused confusion and depleted valuable resources lobbying dozens more representatives than necessary.
Harris said he has promises from certain reps they will vote for the bill this fall, but we have seen how political promises pan out.
What's not clear is if it would have failed if the legislators had been forced to be on record. Several legislators said they believe some of their colleagues would have changed to "yes"—and indeed in other cities and states this has been the case. With four openly gay and lesbian representatives in the Illinois House as their colleagues, they have a much greater understanding of this battle. ( emphases my own, HARRIS!)

Not Greg, Not Mr. Harris," not thanks . . .just try and get a reservation at Kit Kat, Harris. "

Anger, Hostility and Vindictiveness have been the theme and overall tone of the push for Gay Marriage - the issue, according to Gay Commissars, is not subject to debate.   What's next ?

More anger, hostility and vindictiveness.  Fred Eychaner will get more money from fro Henry Van Ameringen and other members of the American Gay Mafia.  There will be more Gay sit com idols trotted out wearing Paul Simon ties and Pat Quinn will talk about his bruised fists punching out homophobic cops at Stonewall.

Gay Pride Parade will be one angry, hostile and vindictive stroll.  Harris had best blow town.