Man of steel
American Catholic bishops are “not realistic because (they’ve) never seen what is the result of absolute disregard of human rights…They’ve never seen it; they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”
Who is this guy, and where does he get off talking about the bishops like that? None other than retired Archbishop Philip Hannan of New Orleans, speaking about the bishops’ views on attacking Iraq. The prelate is a former WWII chaplain who has a dim view of totalitarians such as Saddam Hussein.
Lots of people say that the USCCB is liberal, but that misses the mark. The USCCB almost invariably prefers the “nice” option when coming to any decision (with the honorable exception of the U.S. attacking al Qaeda in Afghanistan). So it won’t come out (ha!) and say that homosexuality is sinful when talking about the pastoral care of homosexually-oriented people, and it won’t condemn politicians in the thrall of the culture of death. Heck, it took them 27 years after Roe vs. Wade to make a statement saying that abortion should be the primary consideration for Catholic voters. If they had done that in the 1970s, it could have changed the course of history, and the Democrats might not have become the party of abortion. But that wouldn’t have been “nice.”
May God grant us bishops whose hearts are filled with charity and a holy zeal for justice. May God grant us a legion of Archbishop Hannans.