Washington D.C., Mar 3, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- God commanded it, Jesus practiced it, Church Fathers have preached the importance of it – fasting is a powerful and fundamental part of the Christian life.
But for many Catholics today, it’s more of an afterthought: something we grudgingly do on Good Friday, perhaps on Ash Wednesday if we remember it. Would we fast more, especially during Lent, if we understood how helpful it is for our lives?
The answer to this, say both saints of the past and experts today, is a resounding “yes.”
“Let us take for our standard and for our example those that have run the race, and have won,” said Deacon Sabatino Carnazzo, founding executive director of the Institute of Catholic Culture and a deacon at Holy Transfiguration Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Mclean, Va., of the saints.
“And…those that have run the race and won have been men and women of prayer and fasting.”
So what, in essence, is fasting?
It’s “the deprivation of the good, in order to make a decision for a greater good,” explained Deacon Carnazzo. It is most commonly associated with abstention from food, although it can also take the form of giving up other goods like comforts and entertainment.
The current fasting obligation for Latin Catholics in the United States is this: all over the age of 14 must abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and all Fridays in Lent. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, adults age 18 to 59 must fast – eating no more than one full meal and two smaller meals that together do not add up in quantity to the full meal.
Catholics, “if possible,” can continue the Good Friday fast through Holy Saturday until the Easter Vigil, the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference adds.
Other Fridays throughout the year (aside from Friday within the Octave of Easter) “are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church,” according to Canon Law 1250. Catholics once abstained from meat on all Fridays, but the U.S. bishops received permission from the Holy See for Catholics to substitute another sacrifice or perform an act of charity instead.
Eastern Rite Catholics, meanwhile, follow the fasting laws of their own particular church.
In their 1966 “Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence,” the National Conference of Catholic Bishops exhorted the faithful, on other days of Lent where fasting is not required, to “participation in daily Mass and a self-imposed observance of fasting.”
Aside from the stipulations, though, what’s the point of fasting?
“The whole purpose of fasting is to put the created order and our spiritual life in a proper balance,” Deacon Carnazzo said.
As “bodily creatures in a post-fallen state,” it’s easy to let our “lower passions” for physical goods supersede our higher intellect, he explained. We take good things for granted and reach for them whenever we feel like it, “without thinking, without reference to the One Who gives us the food, and without reference to the question of whether it’s good for us or not,” he added.
Thus, fasting helps “make more room for God in our life,” Monsignor Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter/St. Cyprian Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. said.
“And the Lord said at the well, with the (Samaritan) woman, He said that ‘everyone that drinks from this well is going to be thirsty again. Why don’t you let me go to work in your life and I’ll give you a fountain welling up to Eternal Life.’”
While fasting can take many forms, is abstaining from food especially important?
“The reason why 2000 years of Christianity has said food (for fasting), because food’s like air. It’s like water, it’s the most fundamental,” Deacon Carnazzo said. “And that’s where the Church says ‘stop right here, this fundamental level, and gain control there.’ It’s like the first step in the spiritual life.”
What the Bible says about it
Yet why is fasting so important in the life of the Church? And what are the roots of the practice in Scripture?
The very first fast was ordered by God to Adam in the Garden of Eden, Deacon Carnazzo noted, when God instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17).
This divine prohibition was not because the tree was bad, the deacon clarified. It was “made good” like all creation, but its fruit was meant to be eaten “in the right time and the right way.” In the same way, we abstain from created goods so we may enjoy them “in the right time and the right way.”
The fast is the weapon of protection against demons – St. Basil the Great.
Fasting is also good because it is submission to God, he said. By fasting from the fruit of the tree, Adam and Eve would have become partakers in the Divine Nature through their obedience to God. Instead, they tried to take this knowledge of good and evil for themselves and ate the fruit, disobeying God and bringing Original Sin, death, and illness upon mankind.
At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus abstained from food and water for 40 days and nights in the desert and thus “reversed what happened in the Garden of Eden,” Deacon Carnazzo explained. Like Adam and Eve, Christ was tempted by the devil but instead remained obedient to God the Father, reversing the disobedience of Adam and Eve and restoring our humanity.
Following the example of Jesus, Catholics are called to fast, said Fr. Lew. And the Church Fathers preached the importance of fasting.
Why fasting is so powerful
“The fast is the weapon of protection against demons,” taught St. Basil the Great. “Our Guardian Angels more really stay with those who have cleansed our souls through fasting.”
Why is fasting so powerful? “By setting aside this (created) realm where the devil works, we put ourselves into communion with another realm where the devil does not work, he cannot touch us,” Deacon Carnazzo explained.
It better disposes us for prayer, noted Monsignor Pope. Because we feel greater hunger or thirst when we fast from food and water, “it reminds us of our frailty and helps us be more humble,” he said. “Without humility, prayer and then our experience of God really can’t be unlocked.”
Thus, the practice is “clearly linked by St. Thomas Aquinas, writing within the Tradition, to chastity, to purity, and to clarity of mind,” noted Fr. Lew.
“You can kind of postulate from that that our modern-day struggles with the virtue of chastity, and perhaps a lack of clarity in theological knowledge, might be linked to an abandonment of fasting as well.”
A brief history of fasting
The current fasting obligations were set in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, but in previous centuries, the common fasts among Catholics were stricter and more regularly observed.
Catholics abstained from meat on all Fridays of the year, Easter Friday excluded. During Lent, they had to fast – one meatless meal and two smaller meatless meals – on all days excluding Sunday, the day of the Resurrection. They abstained from meat on Fridays and Saturdays in Lent – the days of Christ’s death and lying in the tomb – but were allowed meat during the main meal on the other Lenten weekdays.
The obligations extended to other days of the liturgical year. Catholics fasted and abstained on the vigils of Christmas and Pentecost Sunday, and on Ember Days – the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of St. Lucy on Dec. 13, after Ash Wednesday, after Pentecost Sunday, and after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in September – corresponding with the four seasons.
In centuries past, the Lenten abstention was more austere. Catholics gave up not only meat but also animal products like milk and butter, as well as oil and even fish at times.
Why are today’s obligations in the Latin Rite so minimal? The Church is setting clear boundaries outside of which one cannot be considered to be practicing the Christian life, Deacon Carnazzo explained. That is why intentionally violating the Lenten obligations is a mortal sin.
But should Catholics perform more than the minimum penance that is demanded? Yes, said Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P., who is currently studying for a Pontifical License in Sacred Theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
The minimum may be “what is due to God out of justice,” he explained, but we are “called not only to be just to God,” but also “to love God and to love our neighbor.” Charity, he added, “would call us to do more than just the minimum that is applied to us by the Code of Canon Law today, I think.”
In Jeremiah 31: 31-33, God promises to write His law upon our hearts, Deacon Carnazzo noted. We must go beyond following a set of rules and love God with our hearts, and this involves doing more than what we are obliged to do, he added.
Be wary of your motivation
However, Fr. Lew noted, fasting “must be stirred up by charity.” A Catholic should not fast out of dieting or pride, but out of love of God.
“It’s always dangerous in the spiritual life to compare yourself to other people,” he said, citing the Gospel of John where Jesus instructed St. Peter not to be concerned about the mission of St. John the Apostle but rather to “follow Me.” (John 21: 20-23).
In like manner, we should be focused on God during Lent and not on the sacrifices of others, he said.
Lent (is referred to) as a joyful season…It’s the joy of loving Him more.
“We will often fail, I think. And that’s not a bad thing. Because if we do fail, this is the opportunity to realize our utter dependence on God and His grace, to seek His mercy and forgiveness, and to seek His strength so that we can grow in virtue and do better,” he added.
And by realizing our weakness and dependence on God, we can “discover anew the depths of God’s mercy for us” and can be more merciful to others, he added.
Giving up good things may seem onerous and burdensome, but can – and should – a Catholic fast with joy?
“It’s referred to in the preface of Lent as a joyful season,” Fr. Lew said. “And it’s the joy of deepening our relationship with Christ, and therefore coming closer to Him. It’s the joy of loving Him more, and the more we love God the closer we draw to Him.”
“Lent is all about the Cross, and eventually the resurrection,” said Deacon Carnazzo. If we “make an authentic, real sacrifice for Christ” during Lent, “we can come to that day of the crucifixion and say ‘Yes Lord, I willingly with you accept the cross. And when we do that, then we will behold the third day of resurrection.’”
This article was originally published on CNA Feb. 20, 2016.
[…]
The publicly available tax exempt income return that Catholic Charities of Cleveland filed with the IRS for 2023 reported revenue of $60 million, salaries of $39.8M and fundraising expenses of $18.9M. Ten employees made over $100K, with the retiring CEO pulling down $278K. He made over $200K annually going back to at least 2014 (the earliest year return online). I don’t how much they got from the federal government for immigration services, but I assume it was a lot. Refugee resettlement is a very lucrative racket for some church bureaucrats. Cardinal Dolan is correct, they’re not in solely for the money. There is a hardcore ideological commitment to the bringing about the demographic transformation of America and the entire West among many of the staffers of Catholic Charities and some of the bishops. Whatever this may be, it’s not an act of mercy to destroy nations by flooding them with unassimilable immigrants from every corner of the world and to cooperate in human trafficking.
Tony, those wages are a scandal. Well done for publishing them here.
How much do the 10 top wage earners at Catholic charities in New York rake in??? Anyone?
CC NY looks lean and mean. The salaries are not excessive for the NY area.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/135562185
This kerfuffle is more about pleasing Pope Francis so that Cardinal Dolan might stay until he is 80.
We see New York charity workers on 234.000 a year, 200.000 a year…
You should ask what salaries are for leadership at CRS, CC-USA, etc., etc
Very well said! I worked in social services and had a great deal of contact with Catholic Charities USA. They were leftist idealogues. A Catholic charity which operates for the Church and uses Church resources and donations can remain faithful. A charity which takes govt grants and contracts accepts a secular straightjacket often ideologically leftist.
Yes, James Collins, for many at CC-USA, the leftist ideology IS their religion. I went to some of their meetings in Alexandria VA and came away mightily UNIMPRESSED.
How many charitable Orgs have 50% of their funds actually used for Charity, that to me is a problem. The issue for the USCCB also, as a priority, continues to be our Christian faith values. Now saying that, there is the question in a lot of Catholics (Christians) regarding their continued emphasis on “migrants” and any consideration of “illegal” tied to that word. The question of how to deal with criminals who are illegal migrants and have wreaked havoc on so many in our nation and from where they came. What is the USCCB stance on this? Does the Catholic Church then offer sanctuary to those individuals, is it considered to be the same as “the sacredness of the Confessional”? It is rare that our Pope, our Cardinals or Bishops ever speak of this to “set us on the path of truth”, instead we are all left to have our own opinions, to determine in our “hearts and souls” what is actually right…. then these consecrated Shepherds wonder why Catholics are split in their beliefs and even Faith. Should the govt come into schools, churches, etc…. No! What do we do about criminals that decide to seek sanctuary, do we offer it and put more people at risk and in danger?
It’s the American tax payer who is the loser. We are paying for the upkeep of illegal migrants whether through the Catholic Church, who is getting paid by our government or the US Government itself. The question is, would the Catholic Church provide for the illegal migrant if they did not receive payment for their deeds?
As a CPA who routinely reviews those documents, I see an industry, not a charity.
And let me also opine, the amounts involved are “material”. Not only does money not talk, it screams bloody murder-and it is much like power-in that money tends to corrupt, and large sums tend to corrupt absolutely.
Please keep in mind that the phrase “non-profit” is a misnomer of the tax regulatory term “not for INDIVIDUAL profit”. It is not intended to mean that the enterprise doesn’t “turn a profit”, simply that those profits are not returned to legal stockholders. Of course, tax-exempts love to trade on public ignorance; fomenting the idea that they are indifferent to their bottom line-and I assure you any organization that fails to be run with prudence is nothing but a bankruptcy-in-training.
The great irony of the lack of formal stockholders is that the enterprise is run for the benefit of its paid employees, who often enjoy remuneration, security and employment demands that difficult to be found elsewhere-even as they often publicly act as though their employment is more morally noble that private sector employment.
Perhaps I’m wrong but I don’t recall much coming from Dolan during the Biden administration and its assault on marriage, family and sex (both as an act and as a bilogical fact).
So in protesting, I think he has validated Vance’s contention, not disputed it.
Besides; with only about six weeks to go until St, Patrick’s Day, doesn’t the Cardinal need to make ready for the annual gay pride parade masquerading as the celebration of the French Saint?
While the Vatican threatens illegal aliens with dire punishments if they trespass:
“Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
I need to leave comments about demographics. Your fears really surprise me and I find them disappointing. A half starved woman and little child at our borders seeking food and a chance to make a living are someone Jesus would assist. President Reagan knew this.
In order to secure our borders, how about instead of arresting a father of five children on his way to work. How about the Mexican Cartels, Neghetra Italian mafia, the US Mob families, the Hells Angels, Outlaws and other 1% Bijer criminal clubs. These are just a few of the organizations that cross are borders with impunity, engaging in drugs sex trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, tax evasion etc. These are areas that rock our nation to its core, and are a direct threat on the rule of law and our sovereignty. The Pope and the Catholic Church make mistakes they are led by imperfect humans. After stating that, the fact our Border Czar willingness to go into a church and bust somebody for their immigration status, and nothing else, stinks. We have a President who was busted for hiring illegal immigrants to tear down buildings then refusing to pay them ( public record). His advisor Mr Musk violated his student visa requirements and then used similar false information on his citizenship application. Now both of them want to increase H1B visas to have what I would term indentured servants, because they would be willing to work fourteen hours days, seven days a week, sleep on a factory floor, for the opportunity to be a part of this great country.
My previous comment (I hope it gets posted – I just made my annual donation to CWR!) contained one error. The fundraising expensing referred to came to $2.3M, not $18.9.
Whew, glad it was only $2.3 M to raise money from the government..?
Glad for the truth about the money Tony. But since you hit a nerve, be prepared for the following reply:
“Sorry, but your comment doesn’t make much sense and is quite cynical considering the work of _______, etc.”
Still your numbers are scandalous. Thank you, Tony. The salary levels speaks of the arrogance that one often sees in diocesan lay employees and a layer of bureaucracy that qualifies as a level of obstructive clericalism.
Well, it looks like the ice has been broken, and now a conversation can take place. For years the USCCB rhetoric on immigration has disappointed me, but now maybe they can explain themselves and lay it out there so we can all judge their judgements a little better.
Spare us, your grace, your mitre is a bit tight…
Did you condemn biden for joining the freemasons? His support for abortion? Mutilation of children?
Then suddenly when a good Catholic calls you out, you get your pink mafia cassock in a bunch…
Amen! Vance spoke the truth.
Mary Jane. Vance, who has NO governing experience. He seems to want to govern the actions of my Cardinal Tim Dolan. John Donald Vance has been MAGA stung. “Catholic convert?” Vance is complicit with his ignorance of prolific lying. He might refer to the Catechism 2478 III… Offenses Against Truth. To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way. Vance might get off with accepting “little white lies”. However, prolific lying infects the minds of our vulnerable youngsters. Offenses Against Truth are not white.
https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_two/article_8/iii_offenses_against_truth.html
Mr Morgan, with respect Church teachings against rash judgment, detraction, calumny and the like don’t just just apply to members of the GOP or President Trump’s VP.
We are all instructed to act that way.
morganD: Have you ever considered applying your sanctimonious attitude to your own words and motivations?
Catholic “Charities” has been involved for years in funding groups directly involved in the crushing of unborn babies with their disbursements and complaints to bishops have fallen on deaf ears.
Now, come after me with your vile accusations.
Do you know that Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Richmond actually drove a 14 year old Hispanic girl in their custody under one of these government contracts for an abortion? As her legal guardian the Catholic Charities head actually signed petmission for this abortion. I’d like Cardinal Dolan to know that the fruits of these contracts between the Church and the Feds has done great harm and committed grave, mortally perilous evils. And then, after the dirty deed was committed the bishops at the USCCB conspired to cover this up. If you don’t believe me, post your email address and I’ll send you a copy of the conspiratorial letter.
yes, I’ve heard these situations, esp over funding it in Africa, are one reason parishioner are not funding CSA, over worries some of it will go for those nasty purposes
Project much?
YOU have no governing experience.
Of course, if you can’t actually dispute the contention, you can offer an ad hominem attack under the veneer of rectitude.
Man, the political left folllows its playbook with fealty.
Excellent point, Fr j!
He does seem to be getting a tad sensitive.
Spot on agree 💯
Serious Crimes Committed by Illegal Aliens | FAIRus.org https://search.app/EnQi3NjLJrvnQA55A
Maybe instead of the Bishop Dolan being “disappointed” with Vance, Americans should be disappointed with the Bishop along with the whole USCCB for not apologizing to the family of Laken Riley and all the other many victimized families of illegal immigration due to their continuing support of the democratic parties open border policies despite being proven over and over to be deadly.
Dolan: Don’t get so high and mighty to those of us who are onto the game the bishops, the USCCB, CCHD, CLINIC, CRS and Catholic Chatities USA are playing. It IS all about the money. The Catholic Church has become an agent of the Federal government, and more particulary, the leftist Democrat Party.
ALL contracts (i.e. the money flow) between the Federal government and the Catholic Church MUST END NOW! I was once the Director of my diocese’s Catholic Charities and I’ve seen the corruption firsthand. We’re on to you corrupt bishops and not afraid to speak out.
And another thing, Cardinal Dolan: Don’t even dare to make the case that Catholics (or for that matter all Americans) don’t want immigration of the poor and others from South of our borders. That would be disingenuous. Americans WANT immigration. We just DO NOT WANT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Now get that straight.
It’s true that many US Citizens do want immigration & don’t care where immigrants come from as long as they come here lawfully. Otherwise our workforce will continue to be shrink & age out in the future since we aren’t having children at a replacement level.
But unfortunately there are also a number of people in the States, Catholic & otherwise, who do oppose immigration from some parts of Latin America. Haiti for instance.
Americans want cheap labor that works hard and doesn’t complain. These illegals keep our economy running hot, enabling you to live a good lifestyle. Hundreds of thousands of Americans get rich using illegal immigrant labor and these Americans welcome these illegals with open arms. The Bishops use government money to help these illegals with shelter, food, clothing toiletries, and spiritual guidance. Eternal salvation comes to Believers who obey the Teachings of Christ.
It’s not about money at all. It’s about helping people in need of food, shelter, clothing, toiletries, and spiritual guidance. Eternal salvation comes to believers who obey the teachings of Christ.
A very good sentiment. Do you have any concrete ideas of how you personally would sustain these acts of charity? For how long, for how many, and where exactly?
The Catholic Thing, Jan. 30, 2025.
Also related TCT article (from 2013).
I want to make something very clear to Cardinal Dolan: You are NOT my bishop. You may as well be speaking as the bishop of Outer Mongolia. However, Cardinal, Vice-President Vance IS my Vice-president. He was speaking as a government official giving his thoughts on contracts the Federal government has had in the past with the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Dolan, anything you say as a bishop should remain in your lane i.e. ecclesial matters. As a USA citizen you get to express your opinion about political matters but your opinion in this regard carries no more weight than anyone else’s. Stay in your own lane and, most especially, stay in your own diocese. Even the USCCB cannot speak for all the bishops in the USA; each bishop governs his own diocese.
This Bishop WAS asked to pray at the inauguration so perhaps it IS proper to comment on an issue taken up by THIS administration.
And, James Connor, he could not even utter the name of Jesus Christ once in his so-called prayer. I thought we’d been instructed to pray in Jesus’ name!
“I don’t really care, Margaret.”
– JD Vance
I stopped giving to CRS when I found out they had Sister Carol Keehan on their board of directors. To remind everyone, as head of the Catholic Health Association she played a crucial role in passing the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) in 2010.
Well, looks like Cardinal Gladhand doesn’t like being told the truth!
“Eminence” Dolan and his USCCB colleagues are engaged in what people in the arts world call “poverty pimping.” And poverty pumping always involves “artistry.”
This term in the arts world is used to describe “artists” who run government funded programs to deliver “art” to “those less fortunate.” The primary beneficiaries of this arrangement are, as mentioned above by Tony W, the “head if the art studio” who gets himself or herself paid handsomely by the government bureaucrats running the the great society “arts” program, and the career bureaucrats paid to dole out the ill-gotten revenues to the povery pimping studio heads.
Why do artists call this grift “poverty pimping” you might ask? Because the actual artists that are sent to “deliver the arts” to the less fortunate are paid dirt-low wages by the poverty pimping studio heads who make their living doing this racket.
This is exactly what the poverty-pimping USCCB bureaucracy is doing with their participation in the outlaw illegal immigration industry. They are paying their USCCB staffs, and virtue signaling about their “preferential option for the poor” and their “concern for the most vulnerable.”
We can all see what’s going on, and thank you to Vuce President Vance for calling out the grifters of the USCCB.
At TCT this morning, Michael Pakulak takes the USCCB to task on its participation in the illegal immigration racketeering:
https://www.thecatholicthing.org/
That link you shared did not go to the article you gave us to read about the USCCB.
CC and the US govt is a well oiled machine. https://x.com/BenBergquam/status/1836159809407647836?t=a4VQ629WIcscC3hyLJ_0oA&s=19
Call me if and when the USCCB budgets as much for the pro-Life office as they do their immigration office…
Who can blame Cardinal Dolan for scolding an elected lay person for daring to speak out about how the Bishops spend the tax dollars of lay people! How shocked the Bishops must have been to be told by a politician to “look in the mirror”? How could such advice have failed to strike a nerve? We haven’t seen his Eminence this animated since he opened “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The VP had better make nice, or he might not get an invitation to the Al Smith dinner when he runs for President. Elected officials should know how perilous it is to cross other politicians.
Too funny!!
The Bishops are using this tax money to help people in need. Didn’t Christ instruct his Followers to help people in need?
how is killing an unborn directly or indirectly helping?
“Didn’t Christ instruct his Followers to help people in need?” Yes.
Didn’t Christ instruct his Followers to help people in need avoid the border laws of a country like the Vatican? No.
This episode might have a happy ending. The Cardinal might get 5 more years, Vance might get the Republican nomination for President, and both might be sitting next to each other in a few years at the Al Smith dinner laughing like only politicians can. Cardinal Dolan might even get to pray at the Inauguration of President Vance.
Wow! The bishops find their voice. You can kill all the babies you want to but don’t touch our very lucrative income source. They join with the elites in favor of illegals and against their flocks. Interesting! We’ll see more of this as our country returns to common sense.
The remarks by Mr. Vance were true. This is why “Catholic Charities” are being defunded. The BILLION dollar pipeline is being turned off. I approve. Government handouts are not the best means for true charity. Too many illegals, too much sex and drug trafficking has been facilitated by these agencies. It needs to stop.
Why are the bishops so eager to support illegal immigration? Why can they not tell would be illegals simply to “obey the law?” Are they spiritual leaders or Democratic activists?
As for the money – It is high time that Lay people, people in the pew, donors, had full and truthful info on exactly where the money is going. The awful abuse crisis never would have become so widespread for so long if Lay people knew their church donations were going to pay hush money to victims, to cover up the sins of clergy who should have been in jail, to pay $$$$$$ to attorneys to arrange the cover up, etc. The people would have demanded a stop to this sleazy sordid clerical behavior at once.
The Bishops are helping people in need. What are you doing to help people in need?
He is helping people who are breaking the law. That makes him an accomplice.
That link you shared did not go to the article you gave us to read about the USCCB.
Kudos to Cardinal Dolan for standing up against Vice President Vance on this issue. The Church must push back aggressively about our moral stance on all issues. This administration is ruthlessly carrying out its agenda in unprecedented ways and trying to silence and eliminate opposition. This is not the way we do things in this country and we must push back. I also appreciate the Cardinal’s public recognition of Vance’s stance on family life and education. We must also give due credit when due. This administration does stand for many good things and they deserve our support and recognition. We must pray for all our leaders.
No
“This administration is ruthlessly carrying out its agenda in unprecedented ways and trying to silence and eliminate opposition.”
A falsehood tinged with a pretense of morality is still a falsehood. You didn’t seem to have an issue when B. Hussein Obama, your progressive darling, deported over 3 million people. And based on our recent history, the progressive Democrats you support have been far more aggressive in trying to silence opposition and shut down discussion. Your viewpoints might be more fitting for a more left-leaning site.
you can’t have a free for all in a welfare country or you’ll go broke
Two conflicting quotes and three afterthoughts:
FIRST, we read from Cardinal Dolan: “You want to come look at our audits, which are scrupulously done? You think we make money caring for the immigrants? We’re losing it hand over fist … we’re not in a money-making business.”
SECOND, but we also read (article): “In 2023, the latest year for which figures are available, the USCCB spent nearly $131 million on migration and refugee services, with nearly $130 million of that cost being covered by government grants, primarily from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State.”
THIRD, yours truly would like to see a more complete account of apples and oranges accounting. Both assertions might be true. But, about a complete set of books, what does it also mean to participate in a porous border policy (?)—with, for example, over 8,000 deaths on the desert (etc.) among the attracted illegal immigrants, and at least 400,000 youth subject to sex trafficking, and well over 100 rural hospitals closed over unpaid overloads.
FOURTH, given all of the “pull” factors here alongside all the “push” factors there in failed nation-states, we are surely in a new era where the Catholic Social Teaching requires a new class of interpreters of the caliber of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.
While Dolan blundered, in another matter, by welcoming the LGBTQ demographic (not a community) into New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade, it’s probably still inaccurate to tar him and all the bishops with the same brush more deserved by McElroy, Cupich, Tobin (New Jersey) & Co.
FIFTH, about political, economic and societal incoherence, the great prophet Honore de Balzac got it just about right when he said “bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.”
And, the eminent and early 20th-century sociologist Max Weber foresaw the whole disjointed modern thing in his tome “Bureaucracy.” Staring into the coming world, he landed himself for a few years in an asylum able to read only bird books and books on art. Impenitently committed to the Enlightenment, said he still of our coming rationalization and bureaucratization: “Not summer’s bloom lies ahead of us, but rather a polar night of icy darkness and hardness.”
WHAT A GREAT TIME for prayer, and for a “listening” that is less polarized, technocracized, politicized, algorithmized–and even apostasized!
But, surely AI must be the answer! In a de-sacralized universe, digitally layer the bureaucracies together!
Peter, very well said!
Cardinal Dolan, as Chair of the Near East Welfare Association (NEWA), has done much good work in advocacy for the persecuted and neglected in the Holy Land. Perhaps it would be well for his critics to see how much they have contributed to the good of others. It’s much easier to criticize than to praise.
Br. Jaques, are you in line for a promotion?
“You’re being such a meanie!” What a pathetic but typical response from a progressive. No substance, no substantive arguments, no nuanced discussion, just name calling. This from the same cardinal who has provided cover for James Martin for how many decades? Sorry cardinal, you’re going to have to do better than that if you expect people to take you seriously. Most of us tuned you out a long time ago.
Dolan doesn’t get that we see the deal. The fact the churches are getting anything from taxpayers is shameful. They take from both taxpayers AND parishioners! That’s some good gig!
yes, our parish took a small PP loan and one of the council members remarked as to whether it was even moral to do so
Vice-President Vance’s remarks were painfully on target. Indeed, it could be thought that they were offered too kindly.
The facade of naive sentimentalism worn by the USCCB is quite transparent. It unintentionally provides cover to criminal operations, now designated terrorist organizations, which exploit men, women and children in terrifying financial and physical ways, ending often in the worst abuse, torture and murder. It difficult to believe our bishops are unaware of these gross realities.
The episcopate’s concern for justice had best take into account as well justice for disadvantaged citizens of the United States, not only illegal immigrants whose situation is best addressed in their native lands.
Given their inadequate and unrealistic response to the nature of illegal migration one can only conclude this issue is above the competency of our bishops. Obviously they are not up to confronting the injustice presently rife within the Church. Of course the consequences for addressing that mess are far more threatening, while barking at the new administration allows them the moral high horse.
Woke be the flavor of the day.
We should applaud the bishops wherever they are in the world for their corporal works of mercy.
The Martha dimension.
As for the spiritual works, could the bishops, the clergy do better?
And so many do.
Sit at the feet of Christ as did Mary, correct and convert sinners, instruct the ignorant, counsel the doubtful, bear wrongs patiently .
The former course will be applauded by the zeitgeist and rightly so.
The latter course of spiritual mercy will take enormous courage.
The zeitgeist will not be pleased.
Invasion is not the equivalent of a “migration.”
I did not appreciate the Cardinal’s back-handing of Vance. Dolan is my Cardinal. If this is his example of leadership, mark me unimpressed, if not disgusted. It is my understanding that Catholic Charities has facilities in MEXICO where they counsel illegals on EXACTLY what to say and do in order to remain in the US and get financial support once they get there. You know, all the free stuff for which US taxpayers foot the bill. If this is not against US law, it should be. For now, lets say it is simply immoral and smarmy. There are literally billions of poor people in other parts of the world. The reality is we CANNOT afford to take them all in here. The 20 million illegals we are presently stuck with has come close to bankrupting several blue American cities. We cannot muster enough resources to care for our OWN poor properly. Maybe Catholic Charities needs to tell the leaders of OTHER nations that they should be caring for their own poor?? My guess is they will not, lest they be expelled from the country, jailed, or worse. Evidently that makes truthful US politicians a free target for Dolan. Dolan needs to remember that his Catholic parishioners here are AMERICANS too. I suggest it would be unwise of him to force us to make a choice between the two. A lot of church pews are empty already.
In the end, our Catholic Church leaders can provide all the assistance they want to those in our country illegally. One caveat, however, the Catholic Church should USE ITS OWN MONEY and not taxpayer dollars to do so. All those contracts between the Federal Government and the Catholic Church need to end NOW. I do not want my Churcĥ to be an extension ofcsecular government.
“I was really disappointed with what he said.”
Now do Fr. James Martin.
“The USCCB has not been a good partner in commonsense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better.”
Diplomatic and true.
So the Church has been helping people in need by providing a place to sleep a meal to eat, providing clothing, toiletries, a place to worship and words of encouragement. This is what Christ instructed the Church to do. Eternal salvation comes to those people obey the teachings of Christ.
Gerald: And helping them to violate Federal law. Sorry, not in my Church.
Christ did not call his people to help those who are breaking the law. That makes us accomplices to their crimes.
Give unto Ceaser…
VP Vance was fairly spot on
The crooked Cardinal doth protest too much. And not a word against the Biden Administration’s mad-dog pursuit of abortion ‘rights’.
Above comment corrected [ommitted incorrect line about “Obama 2008 baseball caps” – they were present, but before Dolan arrived in NYC; added, “nay, three”]. Hopefully you’ll approve this one and not the first, if you approve any of them:
Two things I know about Timothy Dolan, nay three:
1. He arrived in NYC (from Milwaukee) beaming before the cameras about how many hot dogs he ate and how he was a “Yankees fan.” Sorry. Never trusted him from that moment on. Presumably he was a Brewers fan the day before.
2. His position on abortion was to “keep it safe, legal and rare.” Lots can be said about that, but the first thing one notices is that it’s a well-worn politician’s talking-point. Concluded long ago that he is a politican.
3. Then came the travesty of American governance known as “Obamacare.” Then-Archbishop Dolan comandeered column-inches in NYC parish bulletins to proclaim the disingenuous if not outright claim that “the Church has been promoting nationalized healthcare for over a hundred years,” and thereby passive-aggressivewly pushing Catholics to support it. Of course, his claim was thereafter debunked and the obfuscations clarified by Bishp Nickless in a profound essay on the nature of subsidiarity. Then I had to conclude that he’s a leftist hack.
And then they made him a Cardinal.
Shook his hand at a service once — brilliantly performed, of course. Behind that Hollywood smile is gaze as cold and dead as ice. But that’s just my opinion.
May God save Cdl. Dolan, all the Bishops, and His Church.
That’s why we probably need to allow married men into the priesthood.
The ends do not always justify the means.