Sometimes I hope these assholes are right about the big Bieber in the sky so that He can send them to rot in hell for eternity:
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan a letter yesterday commending his “continued attention” to Catholic social justice “in the current delicate budget considerations in Congress.”
[…]The letter also clearly disputes one of the chief rallying cries against the budget: That it would hurt the poor to benefit the rich.
“In any transition that seeks to bring new proposals to current problems in order to build a better future, care must be taken that those currently in need not be left to suffer,” Dolan wrote. “I appreciate your assurance that your budget would be attentive to such considerations and would protect those at risk in the processes and programs of such a transition. While appreciating these assurances, our duty as pastors will motivate our close attention to the manner in which they become a reality.”
Ryan said in a statement that his budget “upholds the dignity of the human person and is especially attentive to the long-term concerns of the poor.”
This fuckhead happily lies in order to promote the political movement that he considers infinitely more important than any of the vows he took when he became a priest. Hell is too good for people like that.
Amanda in the South Bay
Its what the RCC (at least officially) has become in this country: a mouthpiece for the culture wars. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you are against abortion and homosexuality, literally I don’t think the church gives a shit about the rest.
Jazz Superluminar
I’m guessing Ryan is anti-abortion, yes? Obviously worrying about unborn humans is more important than worrying about what happens to actually alive people. Pretty sure Jebus said something about that somewhere.
Jazz Superluminar
Alsotoo, thread title reference? In the UK it’s a cheese.
ChrisNYC
Sort of OT — On Hotair, there is a thread on the NY-26 race. One comment from it: “The Ryan plan is killing us.” It’s a lightbulb moment. Hahahhahaha.
Hunter Gathers
They’re just your typical Catholic hypocrites: sure Jesus taught that to help the poor is divine, but if they aren’t able to drive a new Mercedes this year, the other Catholics that they hang out with might laugh at their inability to afford high priced prostitutes. Or, in the Archbishop’s case, he might not be able to afford the high priced lawyer that will help him get out of future molestation charges, which are all the fault of the hippies anyway.
Tax these child molesting assholes.
Elizabelle
Sounds like he’s trying to give cover to Catholics who want to vote for Republicans, but are sane enough to realize how cruel and un-Catholic the Ryan plan is, despite what this bishop claims.
Sickening, sickening, sickening.
Tony J
To be fair, you could say that Dolan is pointing to Ryan’s ‘assurances’ and saying “We’ll take you at your word for now, son, because we wouldn’t like to suggest that a nice, honest Catholic boy like you might be full of it, but we will be watching.”
To be less fair, but more realistic, yeah, this is a stiff-arm to those Catholics pointing out that the Republican Party budget penned by Ryan is decidedly un-Christian in its focus on greasing up the eye of the needle with poor people’s dollars so that the rich can squeeze on through.
MD Rackham
I find it helpful to remember that the Catholic church was set up as a political organization to rule the world. They no longer have the power they once did, but that just makes the politics nastier. Don’t get fooled by the window dressing they use as a recruiting tool.
This view explains why the hierarchy’s first reaction was to cover up child rape rather than punish it. The priority is political survival, not any pieties about the precious innocents, etc.
It’s sad for the laity who consider themselves believers but–as in any political organization–there’s bound to be disappointment among those who actually believe what their leaders are saying when the truth becomes apparent.
Yutsano
@ChrisNYC: Momentary lapse of sanity. They’ll burn the witch here soon.
Rihilism
All I can say is, “that fucking motherfucker”. Fuck him and his fucking lack of a soul…
Joey Maloney
@ChrisNYC: Except the lesson to be drawn isn’t “our platform sucks and too many people hate it” it’s “the people suck and too many of them can vote”.
Gus diZerega
The contemporary Catholic hierarchy and Ayn Rand have become bedmates.
PurpleGirl
Where is this era’s Joseph Cardinal Bernardin? Where are our Berrigan brothers? And the priests and nuns who worked for civil rights?
srv
Sometimes I wonder if the US Catholic Church strategy is to tack to the right of whatever the wingnuts are doing.
Origuy
@Rihilism:
What Tim Minchin sang about the Pope applies here too. (NSFW)
J Curve
The Catholic church is split just like our general population between those who actually care about the social justice preached by Jesus in the Gospels and the hard right, Opus Dei-type motherf*ckers who care not a whit for the poor and are possibly some of the most judgmental people on the planet. The Catholic church is a mess and until they handle the kid fuckers in their clergy(blaming that on the social liberalization of the 60’s) they need to STFU!
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
That’s how I interpreted it, although I question why a letter was even provided. They need to stay the fuck out of politics. It only makes them more irrelevant if that’s possible.
scav
Actually, I think the only thing Ratzo and his loyal red-shoed minions will go to the mat for is maintaining their authority and self-proclaimed infallibility. Moral coherence, let alone respectability is a disposable side-product.
Spaghetti Lee
especially attentive to the long-term concerns of the poor.”
Is this like one of those Jedi trick answers, where if you make sure you start from Ryan’s vantage point that the poor don’t deserve to have long-term concerns, then he’s not lying at all? Cause otherwise he’s lying his ass off, so I’m just checking.
scav
@Jazz Superluminar: We could get a cookbook going. Smoking Bishop isn’t one on the receiving end of his just deserts, but rather a rather nice drink.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
or
“i’m disavowing any reason, anyone with half a brain should give the slightest shit about what i have to say on the matter,and i certainly am not qualified to answer for the implications of my actions, but i felt it was necessary to let everyone know, that all shit collected, will be redistributed through the usual channels.”
i for one admire his consistency.
eemom
I guess the bishops are a different crowd from the Catholic scholars who delightfully attacked Orange John recently for his piss-poor record on “do unto the least of these.”
eemom
also too, one of my favorite moments from the HCR brouhaha last year was when Eric Cantor, the lone Jewish republican in Congress, said he “stood with the Bishops” on the Stupak amendment.
It is simply mind-boggling how stupid that guy is. I’m telling ya one of these days they’re gonna find him dead inside a paper bag because he couldn’t find the Exit sign.
bryanD
@PurpleGirl:
amazon.com/Breaking-Faith-Catholic-Church-Itself/dp/0142196088@PurpleGirl:
Highly recommended. Explains John Paul II’s determination to centralize all far-flung religious orders and operations to his will. Being an arch-conservative he nevertheless would use such morale-breakers as having TV sets installed in the nunneries of liberal orders that did not want such things. (Who remembers the nun riots of the early 1980s? Church moving vans would pull up to deliver TVs and microwaves “courtesy” of the Papal Curia, and the offended enemy-nuns would throw them back out the window!)
The book also describes some bizarre Irish counseling sessions for novitiate boys involving penis and crucifix.
BTW Cornwell is a practicing Catholic.
PurpleGirl
Dolan: …insisting that he’s a pastor, “not a politician.”
Yeah, right. That’s how he got to a bishop and archbishop and will one day be named a cardinal. Because he doesn’t know how to play the political games of hierarchy and organizations. If you think I believe that, I guess I’d also buy a certain bridge, too.
Jazz Superluminar
@scav
hmmm…that drink would make a good partner to the (strong) cheese. Seems a bit christmassy with the fruit and cloves, so may have to wait until later in the year. Thanx for the recipe though!
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
I often wonder if the Catholic church realizes it’s dealing with people that hold Ayn Rand with higher regard than Jesus. I mean, I really can’t see the church getting behind Rand in any measurable way, and I wonder what’s going to happen when they realize they’re competing ideologically with a miserable, unwashed, athiestic miser for converts.
mistermix
Speaking of bishops:
hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_NETHERLANDS_PEDOPHILE_PRIEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPL…
Tony J
@Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937:
I’m not exactly your go-to expert on the politics of American Catholicism, but it looks to me like Dolan’s letter was designed to give Ryan and the GOP budget a sheen of Catholic approval, while steering clear of actually calling the Catholic voices attacking it on the grounds of social justice liars, because they’re not.
IOW – “Young Mister Ryan has assured us that all this talk about “Social Injustice” this and “Medicare Killing” that is a load of old stuff and nonsense. He’s a good lad, and he assures us he wouldn’t be doing anything that silly. Not while he knows we’re watching, anyway. Am I right? Course I am. Now, you all know to vote Republican, don’t you?”
lol
@ChrisNYC:
It’s one thing to force your caucus to vote for something politically unpopular but is going to become law, it’s another to force them to walk the plank for something that never had a chance of passing.
If Dems take back the House in 2012, people are going to look back at the Ryan plan vote as Jonestown moment.
Steve M.
I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that Archbishop Dolan and the Catholic League’s Bill Donohue have a cozy little mutual admiration society.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
You’ll get pie in the sky when you die.
robertdsc-PowerBook
Reason 5,680 why I no longer affiliate with the Catholic Church.
JPL
Yep! Support the fetus but not the born…Cut medicaid and kick grandma out of her bed…
Warren Terra
The meek shall inherit nothing.
Tony J
@mistermix:
Back in the last century, I went to the same Catholic school as Wayne “Loves a bit of Granny” Rooney, run by the honourable Order of Saint John the Baptist De La Salle. Even in my day the music teacher (universally known as Brother Sausage Fingers) was infamous for making every new class start their recorder lessons by taking the instruments out of tubs of milky ‘cleaning solution’ and then “blow the muck out of them” for half the lesson, while he watched from behind his desk.
It will amaze you to hear that he was eventually (as in over a decade later) sent down for a paltry 18 months after pleading guilty to commiting acts of gross indecency with young boys from the school choir while chaperoning them on a North Sea ferry trip to Norway.
My point? I’m not surprised, and I’m only a little bit shocked.
ericblair
@PurpleGirl:
Yep, and they talk about general officers in the same way: he’s a soldier doin’ his duty, he don’t no nuthin’ about no political speechifyin’ and stuff. You don’t get to the top rungs of cutthroat hierarchical organizations like the Church or the military without some serious political chops, or if by some miracle (heh) you do you don’t last long.
Odie Hugh Manatee
One of the best moves in my life was turning my back on the Catholic church. By the time I was 14 I figured out that it was full of shit and full of hypocrites. I have nothing but disdain for them and their sin-all-week and p(r)ay for absolution on the weekend followers.
If they want to get involved in politics then tax their asses.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Hi DougJ and All,
I didn’t read the Politico link – I don’t trust much of anything they report on. I recall reading somewhere that Ryan spun the letter’s contents.
This link has another take on the letter, and the end has links to the originals. Here is the letter to Ryan (2 page .pdf).
I think the letter tried to encourage Ryan to pay attention to the poor, but knowingly gave him enough cover to spin it anyway Ryan likes.
FWIW.
(ETA:)
Cheers,
Scott.
Cliff
I sometimes wonder if the Catholic Church uses James Bond villains as examples for how to behave in modern society.
stormhit
Dolan’s an ass, but that letter says nothing like what you’re suggesting it says.
It makes no sense to get pissed off about the fact that he’s saying there are possibly other solutions to health care that don’t follow the current models. And if you are pissed off about that, get pissed off about the very similar ACA and the apparently hell-bound Obama who signed it.
Again, he says absolutely nothing in that other than affirming that Ryan sent him a nice letter. What are you suggesting he’s lying about? That Ryan assured him the poor would still be cared for? If anyone is a liar, it’s Ryan, but we all already know that.
ErikdaRed
So what about the Catholics who scolded Speaker Boehner over this shit?
What group were they??
stormhit
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
People love making those kinds of statements, but they always strike me as silly. My impressions of a lot of subjects weren’t mature or correct at 14. There’s no reason to think that philosophy and theology are any different.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@stormhit:
It’s many years later for me now. I’m over 50 and my opinion of the CC has only gone downhill.
Try again.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
You had to open the door: Do you cheer for the Reds or Toffees, and who do you like for the game at Wembley on Saturday? Or don’t you care?
Dammit, Randinho better have a footy post up every day this week….
Jazz Superluminar
@stormhit
whilst that is true in plenty of cases, are there also not cases where all the evidence you recieve after the age of 14 actually confirms your initial impression?
Jazz Superluminar
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Why would any self-respecting person give a shit about either team?
Unfortunately Arsenal are in the CL playoffs next season, but on the plus side we have an American sugar daddy so maybe we can buy some decent defenders this time round…
piratedan
@Warren Terra: well at least until probate clears and we have lawyers for that
Citizen Alan
Ya know, we could solve a lot of problems in this country if we just eliminated the tax exempt status of all churches. Three quarters of them would go belly up the first year, and all those cathedrals would get sold at foreclosure once the owners couldn’t cover the property taxes.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Jazz Superluminar:
Hmmm…Which to go with: “Jealous much?” or “Piss off, Gooner!” or “Your silverware is gathering dust.”? Choices…
:P
ETA: Unless you’re referring to the Reds and Toffees…Then, well, spot-on.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Translation: If the government gets out of providing for the poor they’ll have to come to us for the few crumbs we decide to dole out to those we deem deserving. Or have really cute kids.
@eemom: I love you.
Jazz Superluminar
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
oh, that’s so cruel. Yeah I would like our silverware to be a bit more dust free, on the other hand at least I can mention it without a superinjunction.
Marci Kiser
It doesn’t have to be entirely beholden to a political agenda. The fact is, Catholic leadership has a very ugly idea of what it means to help the poor.
People forget, it seems, that the theology of Mother Teresa and her order was predicated on how good suffering was for the soul. Her hospitals were usually little more than hostels where the sick went to die while having their foreheads mopped with warm water. Medicines offered to these places were often turned away because they were not consistent with the mission of redeeming the souls of the poor through their suffering, and using it to turn them to Jesus.
“You will always have the poor with you.” So then the Catholic mission to the poor: keep them alive, but only barely. They’re at their most useful when they’re like that.
Mike in NC
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
This was probably the selling point that hooked Newt and so many other converts.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Jazz Superluminar:
Yeah, just remember that after you’ve won it not “the right way” but by imitating what the more successful teams have done to win silver lately. Those hypocrites known as Red Sox Nation seem to overlook the fact that they had to become the Yankees to beat the Yankees, making them the more boorish of the two fan-bases these days.
Elliecat
@stormhit:
But Catholics are hypocrites so shut up!
Holden Pattern
Well, Dolan isn’t really going hard after Ryan, but I read it as follows:
1) Dolan writes a letter which says, pleasantly enough: “Hey, boyo, that’s a fine budget you got there, but it looks like you’re fucking the poor. Catholics aren’t supposed to do that.”
2) Ryan writes back: “Your province is fags and naughty bits, so STFU. I’m within my interpretation of Catholic teaching — charity should be devolved to the community, the family is the core unit of all society (so gummint should ‘encourage’ family formation by ‘allowing’ hard consequences for pregnancy), and the welfare state is not the solution.”
3) Dolan responds (and this is what we’re talking about right now): “So you say, so you say. But we think you’re probably full of shit, boyo, and we’ll be watching you… but be assured, it won’t be the way we watch Democrats to make sure they don’t let the fags and whores get out of control.”
Kathy in St. Louis
Most of the American bishops are black-hearted Republicans, of that I am sure. Dolan is a fat clown on the make for power within the Church, and as black-hearted as the most conservative GOP loving bishops out there. Life is all about abortion, abortion, abortion, and keeping their cushy power positions for most of these guys.
However, if you are a child in need, or an old person in a fix, you are on your own. Only the unborn need apply for compassion within the Roman Catholic Church these days.
Plus, these jerks want to tell us how to vote.
Jazz Superluminar
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
FTFY, that’s all I have to say.
Rihilism
@Origuy: Thank you for that! That was lovely!
Christian
While I am no defender of Dolan, I think many here are reading too much into this. Dolan was the archbishop of Milawaukee (i.e., where Ryan is from) before coming to New York. The most likely explanation is that they probably have crossed paths and Dolan’s comments about Ryan reflect that more than a change in Catholic policy. It is unfortunate, but the generalized Catholic bashing (linking unrelated issues, abortion, pedophilia, etc.) is not helpful. For all their other blunders, the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions, both here and abroad, have been more attentive to issues about material social justice than most.
dedc79
The deal republicans struck with the pro-life movement may be the single best trade ever made, perhaps even greater than the dallas cowboys’ trade of hershel walker to the minnesota vikings. And when I use the words “best” and “greater” I mean in terms of effectiveness. Both were complete disasters for the country at large.
Barb (formerly Gex)
My favorite Catholic Church activity is politicking against extending the statute of limitations for child abuse. The optics of that should be terrible. But nary a word in the MSM. Stories like these would provide a nice counterpoint to any of their anti-woman, anti-gay campaigns.
jetan
The American Council of Bishops is actually a jolly liberal organization, certainly by Catholic standards. That was the source of some of the most effective pushback sticking up for immigrants in this country.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@dedc79:
the trade worked for them, until they started to cum with the customers.
hard to believe but many republicans were pro-choice perhaps even a majority(silent, ironically) as recently as 1992. the more the republican party has gone for abortion, the more off the rails they have gotten.
Kathy in St. Louis
jetan@64. The only reason that they are pushing back on immigration is that the number of white, Anglo Catholics in this country has taken such a serious dip that the number of Catholics in this country would be down a huge percent if it weren’t for the influx of hispanic immigrants. It, like everything else they do, may be partly altruistic, but it is also highly self-serving for the Church.
opie jeanne
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Well said.
Tony J
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Red, very red. Given that I’ve got mostly homo-sapiens sapiens genes and am over 5ft in height.
As for Saturday, put me down for a convincing Barcelona win. Champions League referees aren’t culturally conditioned like those of the Premier League to act as Deux Ex Machina on behalf of the Manky Shite. 3-1 Barca, Rooney gets at least a yellow and a stern talking to for venting his frustrations on someone else’s shins.
bjacques
Will no-one rid me of these turbulent priests?