"Springtime of Vatican II"
Update

What Have They Got on You, Cardinal McCarrick?

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        When the homosexual priest scandal exploded in the world press after years of concealment by a number of North American bishops, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick quickly revealed himself (along with Cardinal Mahony) as one of the craftiest ecclesiatical spinmeisters.

        When, during the so-called "pedophile summit" in Rome in April 2002, I questioned McCarrick on whether he intended to continue admitting known homosexuals to the seminaries under his charge, he bobbed and weaved and never gave a straight answer, while giving every appearance that he had answered my question. A very crafty performance indeed.

        And now the old fox is bobbing and weaving again. While several American bishops have — finally — found the courage to announce that pro-abortion politicians are no longer to be allowed to receive Holy Communion in their dioceses, McCarrick has conspicuously refrained from following suit.

        In a recent interview with 30 Giorni magazine, reported by Zenit news, McCarrick said that "I think that many bishops among us think that such persons [pro-abortion politicians] should have canonical censures. But I also think that many bishops would not like the possibility of receiving the Eucharist to be a part of these sanctions. Personally, I think it should be a pastoral concern to avoid the Eucharist becoming a point of confrontation."

        That is a statement only a calculating politician would utter. As McCarrick surely knows, it is pro-abortion politicians, not the Church, that make the Holy Eucharist "a point of confrontation" when they dare to receive it. And it is they who commit a sacrilege against the very Body and Blood of Christ when they consume the Blessed Sacrament at the same time they make themselves complicit in the mass murder of unborn children.

        Why is McCarrick running away from his duty to prevent sacrilege, just as he ran away from his duty to rid the priesthood of homosexual infiltrators? Is it simply that he lacks faith in the Real Presence and has come to regard Holy Communion as a kind of ecclesial perk to which pro-abortion politicians, who call themselves Catholic, are just as entitled as anyone else? Or is there some other reason at work here?

        For years it has been rumored that McCarrick was about to be exposed by one major news organ or another for his own involvement in homosexual activity. At one point, I was reliably informed, a major story was about to be broken, but the story was apparently spiked. Indeed, McCarrick’s systematic refusal to defend the faith against homosexual infiltrators in the priesthood and pro-abortion politicians at the Communion rail could readily be explained by the presence of some very ugly skeletons in his own closet, which limit his range of action against enemies of the Church.

        McCarrick applauds the creation of yet another episcopal commission to discuss what he calls the "complex and delicate question" of whether the political promoters of abortion may receive the Body and Blood of Christ. That commission will, of course, provide political cover for prelates like McCarrick, who for some strange reason will not do their duty before God.

        But there is nothing "complex" or "delicate" about whether the promoters of mass murder should receive Holy Communion. On the other hand, it might be a very delicate question indeed — for certain prelates who have things to hide. And so the question arises: What have they got on you, Cardinal McCarrick?