Cardinal Timothy Dolan, exploring homosexuality, decided to address the Marxism preached by Pope Francis.
First, for full disclosure I’m not Catholic. And, this post has nothing to do with indicting the long-held Leftist views of The Catholic Church. But there is a very interesting take away from the Cardinals’ statement that needs to have some additional attention… and it has nothing to do with Gay Marriage.
Cardinal Dolan decided to take the opportunity during his reflections of what Pope Francis should and should not do to make it clear The Pope is not a Marxist. And this is how he did it:
“The Catholic Church is “always concerned about excesses on the left, which is collectivism, socialism, communism, and excesses on the right, which is unfettered, cut-throat capitalism,” Dolan said. “Somewhere in between is the via media, which will come to a fair, equitable, just, economic system.”
Pope John Paul II, having lived under a Communist regime in Poland, “was a bit more sensitive to the excesses on the left. Francis, he’s a bit more sensitive about the excesses to the right.” As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis lived under right-wing regimes in Argentina for much of his life.”
Let me help those of you not used to deciphering such speech. What Cardinal Dolan is saying above is The Church is always concerned when the Left attempts to remove God from the position of Ultimate Authority… But Capitalism (He’s actually describing Fascism… which is just a Flavor of Socialism/Communism) never Requires God… and this is unacceptable. What’s interesting is the “Socialism” he says the Church “is always concerned about” and the Capitalism (Actually Fascism) which he describes as “cut-throat” are One in the Same.
He goes on to illustrate my point in the second paragraph of the quote. Since Pope John Paul II grew up under a Communist Regime he was sensitive to the Horrible Leftist Ideas. But, since Pope Francis lived under “Right Wing” regimes in Argentina the implication is he is sensitive to supposedly “Capitalist” Ideas.
There is only two things that could be at work here.
Either Cardinal Timothy Dolan knows that there has never been unfettered Capitalism practiced anywhere in the World, as the closest we’ve been able to get is here in the U.S. Thus, he is intentionally trying to sow confusion in the minds of anyone who is listening…
Or
The Cardinal lives in a Magical Universe where the only Political Spectrum in existence is Socialist in Nature. There’s No Capitalism… none… to be found anywhere in it.
In Other words, All Governing Theory is Statist and there are only variations with Communism being on the Left Wing of the Spectrum and Fascism (What he, and most Progressive Socialists, describe a Capitalism) being on the Right Wing. (It’s worth noting that the Catholic Church has practiced Religion as Government for most of it’s existence… and their Theocratic Model would fit somewhere in the Middle of this imaginary Statist Spectrum.)
But either of these options just don’t seem to be the behaviors of trusted men.
So…
Giving Cardinal Dolan the benefit of the doubt, Let’s assume he doesn’t know what Capitalism is. And, let’s also hope he finds some time for Enlightenment in regard to the One Governing Theory that protects each and every one of us regardless of our RACE, CREED, COLOR, GENDER or RELIGION. I have Faith.
Until that time, it’s profitable to note, and remind all around you, that Capitalism, Property Rights and One’s Freedom to Choose are what protect Liberty. This formula is a Profoundly Unique Governing Paradigm, it has been found only one place on Earth. This might explain Cardinal Dolan’s, and Pope Francis’, inability to understand what the Rare concept in self governance is.
Just to be “fair”, Cardinal Dolan and Pope Francis grew up in Socialist Countries (St. Louis and Argentina) ultimately to reside in Socialist Countries (Manhattan and Italy) so we might want to go easy on them.
If nothing else, this is yet another example of the enormity of our task. The fact that there are otherwise intelligent people in positions of power who do not know the difference between Capitalism and Fascism… or if they do they don’t want to admit it… tells us that there is much work to do indeed.
I propose we start with the Useful Idiots. At least we Know they Don’t Know. Nothing Sinister there, just ignorance.
That, we can work with.
makeaneffort 
September 22nd, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Oops… Apologies for failing to close that link properly!
Best,
— x
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September 22nd, 2014 at 8:12 pm
No Worries!
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September 22nd, 2014 at 7:10 pm
Good points all. As a Catholic, I agree with most of them, especially with the idea that top-down governance always heads down the path of oppression.
Interestingly, that is the message of the Catholic Church! That the power needs to be in the hands of God first, then of the people… with the government — at any level — coming in a distant third. In what you hear from the pulpits, you will hear that message clearly. Then, you hear them agitate for greater “welfare spending,” and all the rest of the panoply of leftish nonsense.
Truly, they know not what they do and say sometimes, but that is again because they’re just people. They have to take their journey to understanding as well. I put the Catholic leadership at Stage Fivein my Stages of Political Maturity.” (here, if you’re interested) — they’re very, very liberal, but not yet American-Totalitarianist-College-Professor liberal.
Yes, it frustrates me immensely. It frustrates a lot of us Catholics, because we see the usual: leadership insinuating that it knows more, or is more enlightened, than the people in terms of running their lives — all the while preaching the exact opposite!
Best,
— x
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September 21st, 2014 at 11:19 am
Excellent again, Mike! I disagree a bit with your jaundiced view of the Catholic leadership. I honestly think they are naive … remember most people still believe that Hitler and Mussolini were right-wingers. If one doesn’t ever study that in some depth, one never finds out that neither Hitler nor Mussolini had any problem whatsoever with Marxism, it was Marxists they hated.
Both dictators established very much left-wing régimes when they were in power. And this is, of course, an echo of another on-line discussion you and I had in which we agreed that today’s neo-Nazis are, indeed, left-wingers… not the right-wingers that the medial label them.
For the Catholic leadership anywhere to make this kind of fundamental mistake — as so many around the world still do — indicates that their focus is not necessarily on an in-depth study of history or of comparative ideologies.
Anyway, back to your essay — this was particularly on the nose:
The Church leadership does, indeed, get mixed up. They are firmly in the “render unto Caesar” camp, which implies that they disapprove of the state’s activities, but are also then constantly hectoring the state to do more “for the people,” a thing it is never constituted to do.
The reason for this? Simple: the Catholic leadership are just people too. While they’re far better than secular leadership just about anywhere (people like Thatcher, Reagan, and others excluded). they’re still just people. The idea that they consider themselves “infallible” is also a myth, so they should be, and are, open to as much criticism as you or any Catholic wants to present.
Best,
— x
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September 21st, 2014 at 12:22 pm
I have No beef with Catholics. In Fact, it would be difficult to find me confronting anyone’s religious beliefs. It’s just not issue for me.
But I find the Catholic Church to have produced some of the finest and best educated arguments for a great many issues. I just cannot give ‘The Church’ Leadership a pass when it comes to education.
As stated, I see the primary problem with ‘The Church’ is they have been Government… and had a long, long run. They consider Organized Religion as Government to be a viable, in not preferable, Governing Theory. And one cannot criticize one’s self… which leads to the muddled statement from Dolan.
Unlike Dolan, I simply see no difference between the Any Governing Theory within the Socialist Paradigm and that of Theocracy. (Theocracy is within the Spectrum of Socialism, just as Fascism. I do need to bring up the Crusades… the Inquisition… Blah, blah, blah. The tired tripe of the Left has beaten these episodes to Death without ever seeing the Irony.)
Whether God is at the top of the Pyramid or The State matters not to me… it’s the Top Down governance which fosters oppression, Divine or Otherwise.
To be Clear, It’s not a hit on Catholics specifically. It was Dolan’s remarks that allowed me to address the subject, not that Dolan is Catholic… if that makes sense. Rather, it was addressing the distinction without a difference between the two ideas of government. I believe we all see the danger present in Theocracy when we look at Sharia. I think it becomes a bit more… uncomfortable… when we look at a religion we accept as mainstream. I do not fear, loath or disdain Catholics, or organized religion for that matter. I just want to make sure we’re all being intellectually honest… starting here.
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