San Francisco, Calif., Mar 26, 2017 / 04:02 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In 2013, Beyonce Knowles topped GQ’s list of “The 100 Hottest Women of the 21st Century.”
That same year, the “definitive men’s magazine” that promises “sexy women” along with style advice, entertainment news and more ran a shorter listicle: “10 Reasons Why You Should Quit Watching Porn.”
The list included reasons such as decreased sexual impotence in men that regularly viewed pornography, and a reported lack of control of sexual desires. It was inspired by an interview with NoFap, an online community of people dedicated to holding each other accountable in abstaining from pornography and masturbation.The site clearly states that it is decidedly non-religious.
Matt Fradd, on the other hand, is a Catholic. Fradd has spent much of his adult life urging people to quit pornography, and developing websites and resources to help pornography addicts.
But even though he’s Catholic, Fradd’s new anti-porn book, “The Porn Myth,” won’t quote the saints or the Bible or recommend a regimen of rosaries.
“I wanted to write a non-religious response to pro-pornography arguments,” Fradd said.
That’s not because he’s abandoned his beliefs, or thinks that faith has nothing to say about pornography.
“Whenever I get up to speak, people expect that I’m just going to use a bunch of moral arguments (against porn). And I have them, and I’m happy to use them, and I think ultimately that’s what we need to get to. But I think using science…is always the best way to introduce this issue to people.”
“In an increasingly secular culture, we need arguments based on scientific research, of which there’s been much,” he said. It’s why he cites numerous studies on each page of his book, and why he’s included 50 pages of additional appendixes citing additional research.
Fradd is careful to clarify in his book that it is not a book against sex or sexuality. What he does want to do is challenge the way many people have come to think about pornography, and question whether it leads to human flourishing.
“This book rests on one fundamental presupposition: if you want something to flourish, you need to use it in accordance with its nature,” Fradd wrote. “Don’t plant tomatoes in a dark closet and water them with soda and expect to have vibrant tomato plants. To do so would be to act contrary to the nature of tomatoes. Similarly, don’t rip sex out of its obvious relational context, turn it into a commodity, and then expect individuals, families and society to flourish.”
But why dedicate a whole book to the scientific effects of pornography?
Fradd said that the sheer volume of pornography consumption makes this an especially urgent book – and it’s at least two decades too late. According to one survey, about 63 percent of men and 21 percent of women ages 18-30 have reported that they view pornography several times a week – not to mention those viewing it slightly less often.
“If we have an iPhone we have a portable X-rated movie theater. And some studies suggest children as young as 8 are being exposed to it, so if I meet someone who’s 14, I know that they have looked at porn or are looking at it regularly,” Fradd said.
Fradd recalls in his book a study done by Melissa Farley, director of Prostitution Research and Education. When Farley’s team set out to do a study about men who buy sex, they had a difficult time finding men who don’t do so.
“The use of pornography, phone sex, lapdances, and other services has become so widespread that Farley’s team had to loosen their definition of a non-sex buyer in order to assemble a hundred-person control group for their research,” Fradd wrote.
Throughout the book, Fradd uses scientific research to debunk numerous and prevailing “myths” or arguments about pornography, including the ideas that pornography empowers women, that it isn’t addictive, and that it’s a healthy part of sexuality and relationships.
One of the most commonly believed myths is that pornography doesn’t hurt anyone, Fradd said. But he has found that pornography harms people personally, relationally, and societally.
On the personal level, a 2014 study from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin found that frequent pornography use in men was associated with decreased brain matter in certain areas of the brain.
The abstract explained that the association may not be causation, but correlation, “which means that if porn isn’t shrinking your brain, it would mean that people with small brains like porn more,” Fradd said.
“It’s not a feather in your cap, either way.”
As for whether or not pornography empowers women, Fradd said that while he agrees that a woman who consents to producing pornography is in some sense “better” than a woman who is forced or coerced, but not by much, because pornography is still being used by the consumer to treat another person as a means to an end.
“No matter the level of consent, it is a manly thing to treat a woman who has forgotten her dignity with dignity nonetheless,” Fradd wrote.
Fradd also quotes Rebecca Whisnant, a feminist theory professor, who once refuted the myth of porn as female empowerment in a talk:
“Feminism is about ending the subordination of women. Expanding women’s freedom of choice on a variety of fronts is an important part of that, but it is not the whole story. In fact, any meaningful liberation movement involves not only claiming the right to make choices, but also holding oneself accountable for the effects of those choices on oneself and on others,” she said in a 2007 talk.
These women are also perpetuating a system that robs women, as a group, of empowerment, Fradd said, such as women who are sex trafficked while participating in the porn industry. By some estimates, two million women and girls are held in sexual slavery at any given time.
It’s part of the reason why Fradd is donating all of the proceeds of “The Porn Myth” to Children of the Immaculate Heart, a non-profit corporation operating in San Diego, Calif, whose mission is to serve survivors of human trafficking.
Porn also disempowers the women whose relationships are destroyed by men caught up in pornography addictions, Fradd noted.
“Ask the millions of women whose husbands habitually turn to porn. Do these women feel empowered by pornography?” Fradd asked.
Pornography use in marriage is one way that porn harms relationships. According to Fradd’s research, a survey of 350 divorce lawyers reported in 2003 that pornography was at least part of the problem in half of all divorce cases they saw.
Another commonly believed myth is that marriage will solve a porn addiction, which shows a misunderstanding of the psychology of addiction in the first place, Fradd explains.
But pornography can also damage the relationships of a single person looking for love.
A 2011 TED talk by psychologist Philip Zimbardo said that studies showed a “widespread fear of intimacy and social awkwardness among men,” and an inability to engage in face-to-face conversations with women, Fradd wrote.
“Why? Zimbardo says this is caused by disproportionate Internet use in general and excessive new access to pornography in particular. ‘Boys’ brains are being digitally rewired in a totally new way, for change, novelty, excitement.’”
And Zimbardo is not alone in his observations. As Fradd notes, neuroscientist William Struthers wrote in 2009 that “With repeated sexual acting out in the absence of a partner, a man will be bound and attached to the image and not a person.”
In other words, men can start preferring pixels to people. According to NoFap’s statistics in 2013, about half of their users had never had sex with a real person, meaning their only experience of sexual intimacy has been digital.
That reason alone has been why many people, men especially, have sought to kick their porn habits, Fradd said.
“I know agnostics or atheists who quit porn literally because they couldn’t have sex with people they were hooking up with. That’s why they quit porn. And these guys are fit, good-looking young men, who couldn’t get an erection around a young woman. But they realized if the woman left and they opened up their laptop they’d get an immediate erection.”
Studies have also shown that pornography addiction is driven by the increase in amounts, and varieties, of material readily available to anyone with access to the internet.
“People find themselves viewing more and more disturbing pornography, and the reason for this is because of a decrease in dopamine in the brain, which happens because of the addiction one has, and they end up seeking out more graphic, violent forms of pornogrpahy just to boost the dopamine enough to feel normal,” Fradd said.
“People don’t wake up when they’re 30 and decide to look at child porn or feces porn or something disgusting like that. These are big things that people spiral into, and the industry has to keep pushing the envelope because it’s addictive,” he added.
While the statistics of pornography can be disturbing and depressing, Fradd stressed that there was still hope. He devotes several chapters in the book to protecting children from pornography, dealing with pornograpy in marriage, and getting help for those addicted to pornography.
Fradd himself has spent years in ministry to those with pornography addictions, and helps run the site Integrity Restored, which offers numerous resources to help those struggling with addictions and those in ministry to them.
The most effective steps for someone to follow for someone addicted to porn?
“They should find a spiritual director, they should go to therapy, and they should find a 12 step group (like Sexaholics Anonymous),” Fradd said. “With those three things together, we’ve seen the most success.”
Often well-meaning Christians will relegate pornography addictions to the spiritual realm, telling people that they simply need to pray more, Fradd said. And while prayer isn’t a bad thing, it doesn’t address the psychological aspect of addiction.
“When people do things like put a picture of Mary on their laptop or pray more, it doesn’t actually usually work. It’s not a solely spiritual problem, so what we don’t need is a solely spiritual answer,” he said.
Just as you should encourage a clinically depressed person to seek counseling and therapy, you should also encourage someone experiencing addiction to seek professional help, he added.
Fradd said he’s also been encouraged by the number of celebrities who have recently spoken out against pornography, such as Pamela Anderson, British comedian Russell Brand, actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rashida Jones, and former NFL player and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” actor Terry Crews, to name a few.
Slowly, he said, society is catching up to the science that shows how harmful pornography can be.
“We’ve reached a tipping point in our culture such that everyone either struggles with porn and/or knows someone who does, and we all see the negative effects,” he said.
“So the porn industry’s cronies can tell us that pornography is healthy for well-rounded adults, but they now sound like the tobacco apologists sounded like in the 80s. In light of the evidence, their assertions seem increasingly ridiculous.”
Fradd’s book is available at: https://www.thepornmyth.com/
[…]
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.
I appreciate the insights offered in the article regarding Cardinal Dolan’s remarks on the intersection of bishops and immigration policies. It’s quite refreshing to see a clear stance on such a complex and often polarizing topic. To expand on this discussion, it’s worth noting that the role of the Church in immigration issues isn’t new. Historically, religious institutions have acted as advocates for marginalized communities, often stepping in where governments fall short. For instance, organizations like Catholic Charities don’t just provide immediate relief but also engage in systemic advocacy to influence immigration policies. This holistic approach can foster more comprehensive solutions that reflect the Church’s values of compassion and dignity. Additionally, the theological aspect of this issue can’t be overlooked. Many argue that the Church’s teachings emphasize the inherent dignity of all individuals, regardless of their immigration status. This raises meaningful questions about how faith leaders can balance doctrinal convictions with public policy advocacy. As we consider these dynamics, I’m curious about how legal measures, such as the “writ of mandamus,” could play a role in addressing immigration cases where timely action is needed from authorities. How might faith leaders utilize such legal tools to further their advocacy for vulnerable immigrant communities?