Cardinal Dolan Slammed for Role in Parade That Includes Gays

From Newsmax - Friday September 5, 2014

Cardinal Timothy Dolan is coming under fire for agreeing to serve as grand marshal of New York City's St. Patrick's Day Parade as it opens itself to an organized gay group of marchers.

In a commentary in The Catholic Thing, two writers said that by doing so the cardinal is breaking ranks with his predecessors, including the late Cardinal John O'Connor, who have "taken strong positions against past attempts to politicize the event." 

On Wednesday, the Saint Patrick's Day Parade and Celebration Committee announced Dolan's appointment as grand marshal – as well as its decision to give a place in the parade to Out@NBCUniversal. 

Dolan endorsed the decision, saying parade organizers have "my confidence and support," a position that writers George Marlin and Brad Miner noted was an 180-degree turn from 1993 remarks by O'Connor, who decried the attempt at an "arbitrary transformation [of the parade] from the religious to the political."

"And this was the key question: Is the St. Patrick's Day Parade a Catholic religious event?" the writers asked.
"The Ancient Order of Hibernians thought so, and took their case to court," which declared the parade was a religious procession and that the Hibernians could exclude a group "that represented views in opposition to those of the church," they noted.

"Cardinal Dolan truly is naïve if he imagines his participation in the St. Patrick's Day Parade will not be seen by – dare we say? – most Catholics as yet another endorsement of the 'gay' agenda," the writers said.
"Guinness Brewery will surely end the parade boycott it recently declared. But many Catholics faithful to church teaching will wonder why Cardinal Dolan won't be shutting the doors at St. Patrick's."

Also on Thursday, a pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington said it was time to end the event because it had been "hijacked," BuzzFeed reports. 

Monsignor Charles Pope said Catholics should "enter their churches and get down on their knees on St. Patrick's Day to pray in reparation for the foolishness, and to pray for this confused world to return to its senses," the news site reports.
The statements were posted on Pope's blog on the Archdiocese of Washington's website but were subsequently removed, BuzzFeed reports.

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Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.Newsmax.com/US/Timothy-Dolan-StPatricks-parade-gay/2014/09/05/id/592758/#ixzz3Cjrj2y40 

My comments: Is this Dolan decision an indication of the politicization of the Catholic Church. Can the Catholic Church do such things and still stand for God and His Word? The answer is that it cannot.