The Reasonable Boston Globe on Menino

The usual diatribe from the cheerleaders of Reasonable Moloch worship and Foolable water-carrying follows. Those Catholic Fools that point out Mayor Menino cafeteria Catholicism are labeled "conservative activists." Those Catholics that support his nanny-statist devotions to the poverty lobby are called ... Catholic. What a surprise.

Get the mouth-foaming here.

Details:

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that critics campaigning to have him ousted as keynote speaker at a Catholic Charities fund-raiser next week are blinded by anger and risk weakening the Catholic Church by making it more exclusive.

''Faith, hope, and charity, that's what the church is about," the mayor said in his first public remarks on the issue since Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley announced last week he would not attend the event. ''If these people are Catholic and charitable, where does this animosity come from? They are not charitable at all. As a Catholic, I am trying to help people and give them hope every day."

Menino said discontent among Boston-area Catholics has its roots in the sexual-abuse scandal and the closings of churches and schools that followed. ''We all were angry" about these things, said Menino, who five months ago condemned the archdiocese's closing of Our Lady of the Presentation School in Brighton. ''But people make mistakes, and it needs forgiveness. We've got to get beyond it now.

''That's what we were trying to do," he said, referring to himself and O'Malley.

While Menino's efforts to relieve poverty and other urban ills are recognized by many Catholics, conservative activists have targeted him for his support for birth control, abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and other positions they say are anathema to authentic Catholics.

Yes, fascinating and insightful, right? Not to mention objective. Well, at least they have the decency to quote the "conservatives":

Carol McKinley -- a founder of Faithful Voice, an antiabortion group campaigning to have Catholic Charities disinvite Menino -- rejected Menino's contention that the effort is rooted in anger. She said the mayor's positions are contrary to church teaching.

''This is about an internal schism in our religion; Menino's comments clearly show that," McKinley said. ''He is trying to portray our efforts to preserve the tenets of our religion for our children as angry and hateful."

(snap)

The Catholic Action League of Massachusetts says in a memorandum posted on the Internet that the mayor is a ''supporter of the culture of death" and is involved in the ''aggressive de-Christianization of municipal government." The same memo attacks the mayor's wife for criticizing the treatment of women in Catholicism.

C.J. Doyle, executive director of the league, defended the statements last night. ''Mayor Menino has not dissented on one or two issues," Doyle said. ''He has rejected Catholic teaching across virtually the entire spectrum of social issues."

Of course, they couldn't do that without characterizing the Catholic Action Leagues statement as an "attack" on the mayor's wife, rather than what it most likely was: a condemnation of her uncharitable and intellectually dishonest attack on the Catholic Church. What? Did we fools expect the Reasonable Boston Globe to not promote the sacrament to Moloch by any means necessary?

None of their rhetorical manuevering will hide the truth, because Mayor Menino reveals his own incomprehension of--or infidelity to--his faith:

Explaining his views on the relationship between his faith and his political life, Menino, who is a church-going Catholic, said that the church should teach to the faithful but should not interfere in issues that involve the civil rights of the entire population.

When the church tries to exert political pressure to bring civil policy in line with its teachings, Menino said, ''I can argue with them, and I can not respect them for those decisions."

''When the pope speaks on doctrine, that is absolute," Menino said. ''I don't think choice and gay marriage are doctrine."

Menino said that as upset as he was by the sexual abuse scandal and its aftermath, ''I still have a church and a God I believe in."

''Why do we keep going with this anger?" he said. ''None of us likes everything that goes on."

Any Catholic that insists the Church's positions on "choice" and "gay marriage" are either ignorant or hypocritical. His honor sounds like a man desperate to have his Catholic cake and eat his politics, too. He protests too much if he complains about faithful Catholics' complaints regarding his un-Catholic stance. Perhaps he's better off giving to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Somehow, I doubt he'll cross Moloch. That would be far too Foolish for a Foolable fellow like him. Besides, his Reasonable backers in the party would never forgive him for such integrity. More's the pity.

The Reasonable Boston Globe has once again found the tired meme. Only this time, that dog won't hunt. People belong to the Catholic Church after their confirmation by their own choice. The Catholic Church does not impress her members. She invites them. Mayor Menino can play the part of the brave Independent Thinker defying a medeval Church. People are too smart for that, however. Sooner or later, someone will ask him, "why do you stay in the Catholic Church if you don't want to be a Catholic?" I wonder what he'll say?