Current Events: April 2004 Archives

Did anyone else see Mark Shields spinning away last night on the Lehrer NewsHour?

Every Friday, Shields and David Brooks do a little back-and-forth on a current issues, and last night they were chattering about Kerry. I wasn't paying too much attention until the very end, when the host brought up Cardinal Arinze's comments about pro-abortion politicians.

He asked Shields, "Didn't the Church just say that pro-abortion politicians shouldn't be given Communion?"

Shields sputtered and said quickly, in almost these exact words, Well, that wasn't the Church, that was a Nigerian cardinal. And I know that Kerry met with Cardinal McCarrick, the Archbishop of Baltimore.....

A little background -- Mr Shields is a pundit who writes on current events and on the political scene. He is also one of those self-proclaimed Catholics of a certain generation that somehow always manages to defend whatever the Democrat in question is doing. If you pressed him, I'm sure he would be quick to say something like, but of course I'm Catholic! I'm Irish, aren't I? I was an altar boy! Mr Shields lives in Washington, DC, and is involved in Catholic life to some degree; he's said to be a parishioner at a parish in Northwest DC, and my husband once saw him buying medals at the Shrine.

So what's with not knowing that Cardinal McCarrick is the Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, not Baltimore? Baltimore has her own Cardinal Archbishop! It's true that the Archdiocese of Washington was spun off from Baltimore, but that was in the 1940's, so it's not exactly recent news.

And what's with this dismissive that was a Nigerian cardinal? Does Mr Shields seriously not know who Francis Cardinal Arinze is? Does he not understand that the Cardinal is not just some random prelate shooting off his mouth -- that he is the Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments -- a member of the Curia? Is Mr Shields really just that out of touch?

Or is he really being that disingenuous?

Either way, it was not an edifying display (particularly that line about the Nigerian cardinal, which to me came across as patronizing and parochial -- at best.) If Mr Shields wants to shill for Democrats, that's his business, but if he wants to represent himself as a knowledgable commentator on Catholic affairs, it's time to get up to speed. And it's time for the Lehrer NewsHour to find a better Catholic talking head.

UPDATE: Mark the Vociferous Yawper found and posted the transcript. An excerpt:

MARK SHIELDS: It was not the Catholic Church. It was Cardinal Arinze, who is a Nigerian cardinal and said it in a press questioning. There is a question here of whether the Holy Eucharist Communion will be used as a political football. Cardinal McCarrick, the cardinal archbishop of Baltimore [sic] right now has been meeting, trying to come up with some sort of a prudential decision on this.

there was an editorial by Ellen Goodman about how it is important to Catholics to vote following Catholic teaching-and somehow this is wrong:

Keep eye on Washington, not Communion

First published: Saturday, April 17, 2004
BOSTON -- What next? Will we have a political reporter to cover John Forbes Kerry at each Sunday Mass from now to November? Will there be a Holy Communion beat? A wafer watch?

You know, the things she is whining about are really none of her business. I was rather flabergasted because I would never tell someone they were wrong to vote along with their religious and moral conscience.

The second was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who addressed the anti-Catholic prejudice in a campaign speech in 1960 when he said famously, "I do not speak for my church on public matters and the church does not speak for me."
Back then, most Catholics were relieved to break down the stereotypes about them as people who followed orders from Rome and weren't allowed to think for themselves.

I see, so it is much better we allow her to do the thinking for us instead?

Madonna: Friday Gigs Are Against My Religion
Deeply religious superstar Madonna will play no Friday night gigs on her upcoming world tour - because the teaching of the Kabbalah forbids it. The "Holiday" hitmaker has pledged to respect the Jewish practice of Shabbat, the religion's sabbath, by dining with her close family every Friday rather than working. And Madonna, who is married to British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, hopes her move with convince the world she is very serious about the mystical teachings of the Kabbalah. A source says, "This shows just how much Madonna is influenced by Kabbalah. She is completely focused on following her beliefs no matter what lengths she has to go to."

Why does Madonna need to "convince the world" how serious she is about Kabbalah? How can anyone be serious about Kabbalah anyway?

Bettnet blogs about Fr. Minkler's death being ruled a suicide-sort of.
Here is an article from The Wanderer about some of the events that happened prior to Fr. Minkler's death.

I am tired of living in a "strange things going on" diocese. I want to live in a normal diocese with lots of pretty Churches and less folk music and manly priests with lots of places to go to Adoration.

Well, I cannot complain. It's not like I was in Atlantic City trying my hand at winning millions.

Lileks has a great Bleat today on Kerry's appearance on MTV. Good comments on being a grown-up and giving grown-up answers; a great zinger on the generation gap between people like Kerry, who think that all of American history was preparation for -- and then commentary on -- the sixties and early seventies, and people of my generation and older, who just associate that time period with riots and ugly clothes and a bunch of pop music stars who are going to be eligible for Medicare soon.