I love this beautiful and funny vinette from Father Neuhaus, and simply had to share it with y’all:
Let me stop with a story. One ordinarily does not repeat in public what the pope says in private conversation, but I asked and John Paul gave me permission to tell this one. When during the O’Connor years I had occasion to meet with the pope, he would always ask, “How is Cardinal O’Connor?” And I would always say that Cardinal O’Connor is flourishing and is an inestimable gift to the Church. One time I went on to say, “You know what Cardinal O’Connor said the other day, Holy Father?” “No,” he answered. “What did Cardinal O’Connor say?” “Cardinal O’Connor said that he gets up every morning and prays that he will go to bed that night without having discouraged any impulse of the Holy Spirit. Now isn’t that a beautiful thing for a bishop to say?” A pause of several seconds. “Yes,” said the pope, “that is a beautiful thing for a bishop to say. I told him that.”
John Cardinal O’Connor. John Paul the Great. I think about them, I thank God for them, I talk with them, every day.
And all the people said: Amen!
January 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I miss Cardinal O’Connor.
January 20, 2008 at 12:03 am
To rescue O’Connor from the arms of the right wing….
From Rocco (as was the inspiration for Neuhaus’s remembrance):
“…But what many didn’t know is that, when he couldn’t sleep, he would often slip out of the house and go incognito to hospitals or AIDS shelters to minister to the sick and suffering, praying with them or simply cleaning bedpans, quietly, away from the glare of the cameras and the trappings of high office, as if to witness that, just as there can be no love without justice, so there can be no justice without love.”
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html
January 20, 2008 at 3:23 am
Actually, EWTN mentioned that as well:
. . . During his years in the Archdiocese of New York, Cardinal O’Connor was active in many areas – from ministering to both the rich and down trodden, to preaching it was important to live your faith in both politics and even on the baseball field. He would donate his Social Security benefits to a black scholarship fund and give blood to the Red Cross and ask others to “give” too. In the quiet of the night, he was known to visit AIDS patients at an archdiocesan hospital and could be found listening to them, cleaning their sores and changing their bedpans.
One of the many reasons why I appreciate him — he walked like he talked. And it speaks highly of his ministry in that manner, given ACT-UP’s mistreatment of him and disruption of his masses at St. Pat’s.
January 20, 2008 at 3:34 am
What is “right wing?” Are you saying politically conservative Catholics don’t care for the poor?
Really?
Or is this some sort of circular reasoning at work in which if someone works with the poor they can’t be politically conservative because in your scenario, political conservatives don’t care about the poor?
And I’m wondering, Daniel…how many “left-wing” Catholics celebrate the memory of Cardinal O’Connor? Where are the laudatory words at Call to Action, Woman’s Ordination Conference, Voice of the Faithful?
Political categories are so destructive when we speak of church. I wish some of you would get over them, and get over the need to put folks in boxes.
January 20, 2008 at 9:06 am
Mr. Alexham’s very well-written commentaries are nearly all very conservative-posting at “redstate.”
Political categories exist in “Church.” The whole movement to abolish them and accept “orthodoxy” was part of a conservative attempt to hijack discussions in blogland.
One cannot even discussion “social issues” without reference to one’s politics. Mr. McClarey refers to these nearly exclusively as concerns of abortion, same-sex marriage, etc. and I would refer to them by concerns of war and peace.
Politics exists. The categories are less destructive than instructive.
(Oh, and as far as political conservatives and AIDS: The leading presidential choice among religious conservatives was advancing calls to isolate and quarantine AIDS patients a full decade after JP2 and Princess Diana were touching these individuals with bare hands- and right about the time O’Connor was cleaning their bed pans. So yes, political categories matter.)
January 20, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Daniel:
As far as I know secularist right wingers don’t give a flip one way or another about Cardinal O’Connor. So, proceeding from your cmment you’re talking about Catholic “right wingers.”
So now, answer the question, to what Catholic “left wingers” is O’Connor a beloved hero?
January 21, 2008 at 12:30 am
The last time I looked, the church has designated exactly 2 popes as “The Great” … Leo and Gregory.
The rest is wishful thinking on the part of a very few … or that old fallback: prudential judgement.
January 21, 2008 at 3:06 am
“And I’m wondering, Daniel…how many “left-wing” Catholics celebrate the memory of Cardinal O’Connor?”
The NY AFL-CIO put out a very laudatory memorial book after his passing.
January 21, 2008 at 8:20 am
So now, answer the question, to what Catholic “left wingers” is O’Connor a beloved hero?
Nat Hentoff (Village Voice columnist) for one — who describes himself as a “Jewish, atheist, civil libertarian, left-wing pro-lifer.” I believe he co-wrote a book (or else wrote a biography of) Cardinal O’Connor, my memory escapes me.