Leave the tough questions to the bloggers
Is newly-elevated Cardinal Sean O'Malley really a humble Capuchin, or does he just wear the trappings?
Theology teaches that the Deadly Sins are not characterized so much the act as they are by obsession. For instance, a person feverishly weighing every ounce of food consumed is as guilty of Gluttony as a jaded gourmand consuming a seventeen course meal. It is the obsession with what ought to be a routine concern that distracts from God, not the form that obsession takes. So, a person who rejects appropriate recognition with extraordinary modesty and protestations of humbleness is as guilty of Pride as the more easily recognized arrogant and snobbish. It's always harder to see the Uriah Heeps clearly.Link
Now that he is Cardinal, will O'Malley begin to call the men to task also, or will he continue to reserve his condemnation for the more usual and easily disregarded targets of the Roman church, the women?
posted by $!# at 3/29/2006 07:27:00 AM
4 Comments:
Porcupine makes a nice point... It is the obsession with a thing that matters, not necessarily even your talent... Reminds me of that scene in Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle when the dean--perplexed by Kumar's lack of interest in medical school--says to Kumar, "But you have perfect MCAT scores?!" And Kumar replies that just because you're hung like a horse, doesn't mean you have to do porn... OK. It's not exactly the same, but it's sort of an inversion of the same argument. It's the fixation that counts.
yeah, it's a pretty biting analysis, and from a conservative, no less. It's hard not to look at the humility bit as manipulative given the tasks this guy is facing: cleaning up after Cardinal Law and being the point man on Rome's cultural/political offensive. He's playing bad cop, closing parishes, screwing the victims out of settlements, and getting in deep with the anti-gay wackos around here.
There's some saying here that i can't think of, but it's like whatever someone's claiming most vehemently is what you should be most suspicious of.
Yeah. Although, as for being the Vatican's point man, I dunno. I think that in the US, we're always convinced that we're at the center of the universe. I've heard people argue that while in the US, especially in Boston, we think that the priest sex scandal is a big thorn in the side of the Catholic church, the Vatican barely pays attention. They could care less who their crazy American priests are fucking. I mean, they could sell a few paintings and shut up all the molestation victims; they don't really need to be closing parishes or "cleaning up" here. Your read sounds like O'Malley is "The Wolf" from Pulp Fiction; maybe he's just some poor SOB that they have working here. The Vatican is more worried about their worldwide proselytizing efforts and keeping the universe safe from homos and abortionists.
Don't forget that we're a frontline battlefield when it comes to keeping the world safe from homosexuals. I'm not trying to say he's their Harvey Keitel character, just that his job isn't a 100%-all-peace-and-light-all-the-time deal. They moved him into Fall River specifically to handle the James Porter situation. Then they moved him to Palm Beach to do the same thing. Now he's stepping right into the middle of an extremely high-profile situation.
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