What's that about {oddly left unexplained by Trib but explained next day by Sun-Times as his school-age daughter, left back in her Chicago neighborhood school), and why does Smyth shoot from hip that way? Another thing he has done is make sure Cardinal George is the culprit if he has to leave M'ville, making the point strongly that he will leave only if the cardinal tells him to. He made his athletic mark in basketball but apparently plays hardball now.
SHOT ACROSS HIS BOW . . . C. George privately told Gov. Blago he wants to bump P. Smyth, says M. Sneed in S-T 9/23/03. (I don't think she made it up.) She speculates about George's closing the M'ville campus, selling the property for much money that could be used to pay off the sexual abuse victim settlement, calling this richly imagined scenario "a classic case of sending abused kids away . . . to pay off victims abused by priests." (A classic case? As if it's just one of the things that happens.) She hopes it's not true, but says if it is, she "will go after the cardinal with [her] own crozier [bishop's staff]. It's called the pen." She is such fun.
MAYOR V. GOVERNOR . . . That's not all. She paints a picture of The Body Chicago Political as delicious soap opera. MayorDaley II is "not only furious" (oh no), he's "livid" about Blago's deciding to move the Maryville kids. So furious-livid, in fact, that he questions his own ability "to deal with the governor in the future." Please.
He is even wondering (get this) about Blago's "decision-making process," according to "a top source," a.k.a. Iago of Old City Hall.
GOV NOT HAPPY EITHER . . . Then under the umbrella of "Maryville mayhem," we have a subhead-intro, "It's war!" and more of what "Sneed hears." First, that Gov. Blago is "furious" (but not yet livid) with the head man at Dept. of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and this fellow's feckless advisors for somehow "getting him into such a public brouhaha" -- whereby he's in the ever-popular position of battling with a popular if wrongheaded Catholic priest.
Never fear, however, (State's Atty.) Dick Devine is here. Sneed has him sending a memo to all concerned -- Blagojevich, Smyth, the DCFS man, etc., "entreating all to negotiate with calmer heads."
So is "former powerful state Senate President" and current Maryville board member and Oak Parker Phil Rock here. He "worked very closely with Smyth" when he was a senator.
MASS APPEAL . . . He and many others were at Sunday's mass, which apparently celebrated the life and times of Fr. Smyth along with or rather than that of Jesus Christ -- "They have a barrel of ink, and they can lie, and they can distort the truth," he said, per Maureen O'Donnell reporting in Sun-Times, apparently as part of his sermon, and for his trouble got "a standing ovation."
That, I submit is a misuse of the pulpit, the preaching function, and (reductively) the whole priestly mission, a hijacking of the worship experience. Of course, so was Cardinal G's using the St. Giles pulpit to call for a putting down of pens. It's pulpit abuse when the preacher gets up there where no one can raise a hand or ask a question and uses it for his political purposes.
CRIMINAL INTENT . . . So was "highly regarded" former DCFS head man Greg Coler on hand. He told Sneed it's "a crime" what Gov. Blago is doing. In lieu of indictment, he likened moving M'ville residents to "shipping a kid from the Four Seasons hotel to a Motel 6." He also testified to Smyth as "the easiest man I ever dealt with when it came to kids."
PARISH MATTERS: FEELING GOOD WITH JESUS . . . Father Dan recently discussed "what Mass is all about" in the parish bulletin, namely our coming "with full hearts to thank God." Moreover, it is "truly alive . . . when we bring to Mass the everyday things of our lives." Some of his best mass-time experience, he confessed, has been when he is "truly bringing what was in [his] heart to God."
The time-honored but now little-used phrase "sacrifice of the mass," he said "refers to our self-offering to God." This self-offering "feels good" to him because it reminds him that "God is taking care of" his various problems.
But there is nothing in what he said about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and its redeeming value or its being re-enacted in the mass, whatever we bring. He speaks only about what we bring. Apart from his belief in God as protector, it's as if there were no Christian tradition. Pagans did this much, and probably still do.
If you are wondering what there is about liturgy that reminds you of Rotary Club meetings, picnics, and other gatherings that make you feel good, consider this foray into theology by one of our coming pastors, who apparently does a good job and is probably as theologically literate as most.
INGRATE . . . Is it edifying to read of head U.S. Bishop Wilton Gregory's chewing out reporters at the recent Religion Newswriters Assn. convention for media coverage of clergy abuse, when he might have been thanking them for keeping bishops honest? Consider James Hitchcock's telling a Catholic Citizens of Illinois meeting a few months back that continued publicity is our only hope.
At least Gregory did not tell them to put pens away or liken them to communist apparatchiks taking down every word he said, as Chicago's Cardinal George incredibly told newsies at St. Giles Church in Oak Park some months back.
PRIESTS WITH WIVES . . . Ordain married men? Best argument is that it might break up or at least disturb the current network, giving breathing space until a new one formed, of married and celibate priests and bishops. It's a way to make the tribe increase, but tribalism will out, no matter the rules.
CATHOLIC SCORES . . . 9/2, Sun-Times, RC school scores are kept under wraps in some places. Come and talk to me if you want our scores, says one principal. Scores are not the only way to judge a school, says RC supt., rebutting someone (neither quoted nor mentioned in the article), somewhere, who says they are. Another straw man bites the dust, thanks to top Chi RC educator.
posted by Jim Bowman @ 9/25/2003 10:36:00 AM
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