More Holy Crap
Remember how the answer to any obviously yes question used to be, “Is the Pope Catholic?” Use that at your own peril now.
It appears that the Pope may be just incidentally Catholic.
He’s rankled the REAL Pope. Who has taken it to the Cardinal. The Pope’s latest comments about Christianity vs. Capitalism have upset some folks.
Ken Langone, the Pope of Hammers
At issue is an effort to raise $180 million for the restoration of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York being spearheaded by billionaire Ken Langone, the investor known for founding Home Depot, among other things.
Langone told CNBC that one potential seven-figure donor is concerned about statements from the pope criticizing market economies as “exclusionary,” urging the rich to give more to the poor and criticizing a “culture of prosperity” that leads some to become “incapable of feeling compassion for the poor.”
Langone said he’s raised the issue more than once with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, most recently at a breakfast in early December at which he updated him on fundraising progress.
And what did Langone whine to the Cardinal about?
“I’ve told the cardinal, ‘Your Eminence, this is one more hurdle I hope we don’t have to deal with. You want to be careful about generalities. Rich people in one country don’t act the same as rich people in another country,’ ” he said.
Oh yeah, rich people in America are way different than foreign rich people at getting camels through the eye of a needle. To begin with, very few rich people in America have camels.
Cardinal Dolan
Langone rips off his workers for billions of dollars and then tosses a million to a restoration project to get his name on a church, just like Jesus said to do.
I cannot wait for Langone to make his plea of calling sacrificing the poor just “one more hurdle” to Jesus. I’ve heard from moneychangers in the temple that Jesus has a bit of a temper.
And shame on Cardinal Dolan if he didn’t say, “Hey, Langone, kiss my funny red hat.”
I would have said that and I don’t even have a funny red hat.
Another rich sumbatch who thinks he is exempt from the eye of that needle. Is he in for a surprise!
1Thank you. I copied this to my rightwing uncle who believes he is far holier than this Pope. Truth, with a twist of wry! Excellent.
2I noticed three wingnut mega-donors passed in Texas this past year. Interesting to see if their egos,let alone their fortunes pass through the eye of any old needle you care to throw out there.
3I have a feeling Pope Francis would tell Popewannabe Langone where he can put his money. And it aint in the Poor Box.
@e platypus onion
I too noticed that. The rich are dropping like flies around here in Texas. I guess that rich old white man’s disease finally caught up with them: GREED.
4Interesting, Mr Langone. Keep talking about that little figure of $180 million to restore one property. Makes a person wonder if you give one single dollar past what your accountants figure to be your optimum charitable gift for tax purposes.
Then there is the whole other issue of property taxes. The Cathedral seems to be a rather expensive piece of property in the midst of New York, which sure could use an infusion of property taxes to fund schools.
Mr Langone and Cardinal Dolan, you might want to listen to Pope Francis, before the new mayor decides your fate.
5Please accept our apologies moneychangers, err job creators. We are soooo sorry to hurt your delicate feelings. But fret not one-percenters, the spawn of Phyllis Schaffly (I just threw up in my mouth) has a plan to correct the liberal bias in the Bible: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/conservative-bible-project-aims-rewrite-scripture-counter-perceived-liberal-bias-article-1.431955
I really wish that the vengeful God of the Old Testament would make a cameo appearance, maybe teach some of these pseudo-Christian fools a lesson or two…
6Qu’elle dork! If he doesn’t think that he lives in an economy of exclusion and inequality, then let him show us that it isn’t.
7The highlight of my holiday season was needling a hard-core, Latin-mass-attending, eats-fish-on-Fridays, Vatican II-rejecting, papist relative of mine who swears Francis isn’t a “real Catholic.”
8The religious right is neither religious nor right….
9I’m just waiting for the backlash when the Far Right Wingnut Uber-Katolisches start in with a little Papal birtherism. “Hey, the old Pope is still alive. This guy’s election was illegitmate. I think he was ordained in Kenya. Bring back Benedict!”
10Someone who is Catholic fact check this for me. Isn’t the Pope considered infallible? What il Papa wants, il Papa gets?
Hippie in the Hollar
11A vector, I know, but as the spawn of protestant escapees from the Texas Catholic church, I have witnessed the Catholic service in several languages other than Latin. As an indentured servant of the US government I heard it with my Catholic buds in Vietnamese and later in Korean. With extended family In south Texas, in Spanish. In the DFW area, in Texas English. The service has a rhythm and beauty in all those languages. To use Latin mass as a litmus test of anything is foolish. As someone else said about Rev Robbins, time passes, let ’em die off.
12Langone to Dolan – “Nice cathedral ya’ got there. Be a shame if something happened to it.”
13This is the same guy who was advised by Mitt Romney as to how to run his business as in hire only part time, pay slave wages, never deal honestly with anyone including the employees and dump them at will for any or no reason at all. And as for Dolan, who couldn’t keep himself out of two political conventions, if he didn’t tell Langone to kiss his funny red hat, Langone can come to my house and kiss mine. I have a dozen of them!!!
14Hippie New Year to the Hollar!
HitH, Papal infallibility is one of those things that, like the Immaculate Conception, everyone thinks they understand but doesn’t.
Although a tradition in the Church, papal infallibility was not held to be the case until the First Vatican Council int he 1800s (Councils are like Constitutional Conventions for the Church) where it was defined. Essentially it says, in matters of doctrine, there are special circumstances where the Pope can declare with infallibility things that the whole Church MUST believe.
This has happened only twice in history since then, both to Mary, God’s baby mama: the aforementioned doctrine of the Immacualte Conception and the doctrine of the Assumption. The whole concept around those, in short, is that to be the suitable vessel for the Son of God, she had to have been born without the stain of Original Sin on her soul, and that her incorruptible body was assumed into Heaven at the close of her life.
15And as a “good Catholic” I’m betting this “work” will be bid out — or will it be all Home Depot supplies meaning the dude gets check for profits from the sales of stuff like nails, paint, etc. Seems to be this guy doesn’t get it on so many levels and Dolan should have told him to pound sand, they were hiring local contractors who need the work and all the supplies come from small shops as well — that they appreciate his fund raising with the understanding the money will not be spent at Home Depot…and I’m betting the fund raising stops.
16Although those of us who believe in a deity would like to sell tickets and bring popcorn to watch Mr. Langone’s direct encounter with Himself, Himself conducts such meetings in executive session, which seems to indicate disapproval of using disciplinary actions for the amusement of spectators.
Dunno about you, but I am definitely wicked enough to think it would be worth watching. Would bring popcorn, you betcha. Not likely to have the chance, though.
Again from the POV of someone who is not a Catholic, but is a liberal Christian, I hope that if Cardinal Dolan doesn’t tell Mr. Langone where he can insert that idea, Pope Francis will have some choice words for Cardinal Dolan and Mr. Langone both. If Popes could be women and I were one (Pope that is, I’m already a woman) I know exactly the words I would use in that hypothetical situation (after all, maybe Dolan HAS told Mr. Langone to stick his check in the…shredder) and they’re the reason I’ll never be in the clergy of anything. (“Dolan, you will straighten up, grow a backbone, and start acting like a man of God, or I will yank that pretty red dress off your plump white pusillanimous backside….” “Langone, you seem to be under the misapprehension that you are the boss of me. Not only are you NOT the boss of me, but you are not the boss of God, who IS the boss of me. Take your filthy ill-gotten gains and your vicious, selfish, disgusting self away–we don’t want your money–or you. You are so excommunicated you might as well be buried in a sand dune in the Gobi desert with only a handful of money sticking out, which will be stolen by the first wandering goat-herder who passes by, and may it do him good.”)
There’s a poem by Stephen Vincent Benet about the rich thinking they’re going to get into heaven…they’re all standing there in a line, pink and plump and smug, telling each other it’s going to be just fine, because they’re the right kind of people, and then the Voice says “No.” I can’t find the book this afternoon (3 of my poetry books are Somewhere In This House, out of their place) but…yeah.
17Does he know that the Pope is richer than he is?
18When a cultural center opened in the islands, a plaque was prominently displayed thanking a large hotel owner for “his” contribution to help make the center possible. As one of his vendors, I and hundreds of other vendors knew all too well it should have been our names on the wall. He had recently gone bankrupt, and not paid any of us for months. I’ve seen this over and over in the 20 years since that happened. While these self made men pontificate to all who will listen about building up something with no help from anyone – – their hands are rifling through the pockets of employees, vendors, etc.
19Good on ya’, Elizabeth! I couldn’t agree more.
20So sorry, Rick! I know that to be true.
21I believe the poem was “Judgement” and as much as it saddens my mortal soul, I can’t think of a better group of miscreants ( anybody worth more than a billion bucks or 100 million–how much could all of your descendants possibly need?) to have heaven denied to them than the uber-wealthy.