Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 28, 2019 / 04:25 am (CNA).- Bishop Andrew Cozzens became a bishop in the middle of a crisis.
“There was this kind of fire that was burning on the front page of the paper everyday,” Cozzens told CNA, “and then I got this call.”
The call was his appointment as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
Cozzens was appointed to that role just days after a whistleblower leveled charges of misconduct and cover-up against Archbishop John Nienstedt, who eventually resigned from his post amid scandal.
The archdiocese was in a state of chaos, and, Cozzens said, Catholics were in a great deal of pain.
“I was named a bishop at a very unique time, and it was so unique that it was clear to me God had planned it,” Cozzens told CNA.
He told CNA that he knew, from the time he was appointed, “that the Lord was calling me to be a part of healing. I didn’t have any idea what that meant when I heard that word in prayer.”
“Since the beginning,” he said, “I have felt like that’s why God made me a bishop and that’s what he wants me to do, and so I need to help do that.”
If God chose Bishop Cozzens to be a part of the Church’s healing ministry, meeting Gina Barthel was a big part of how that healing ministry would begin.
He remembers when she emailed him, in early 2014. It was just months after he’d become a bishop.
Barthel wrote to Cozzens that she had been a victim of clergy sexual abuse, and that she wanted to tell him her story. He accepted. They met in his office. Bishop Cozzens hadn’t met with many victims of abuse before. But when Gina told her story, he was disturbed. And he wanted to help her find the healing she sought.
“What was most disturbing about her story was the clear abuse of the office of spiritual direction. And since I’m a spiritual director, and have been a spiritual director, I understand how sacred that space is, and so the fact that it was clearly abused was for me the disturbing part,” Cozzens told CNA.
“Basically I knew that it would be very difficult for her to trust anyone, especially a priest or a bishop, so I was grateful that she was willing to share with me. And that was always the goal from the beginning, was to provide her an example of someone she could trust, and let her know that I was available to help her in any way that I could, to help her find healing, but obviously you can’t force those kinds of things.”
Gina Barthel told CNA that she’s found healing – and found Christ – through the Church, and with the help of Cozzens. But, she says, it wasn’t easy.
In 2005, nine years before she contacted Cozzens, Barthel was a novice in a religious community. She hoped to profess vows as a religious sister. In the course of spiritual direction, she told a priest, Fr. Jim Montanaro, OMV, that she had been sexually abused, and how that had impacted her spiritual and emotional life.
Armed with that knowledge, Barthel told CNA, Montanaro began to groom her, and eventually would sexually abuse her.
At first, the priest asked her to spend excessive time alone with him, and then discuss her body with him in sexual ways that made her uncomfortable. He told her, she remembers, that God could use that experience to heal her.
In the summer of 2005, Barthel decided to leave the religious community. She got an apartment in New York. Montanaro reached out to her, and said he wanted to remain her spiritual director.
“I was like, ‘Well that’s awesome because it’s impossible to find a spiritual director, so I don’t even have to look.’”
“So if you can imagine, a girl from Minnesota, who has no interest at all living in New York City, suddenly finding myself living in an apartment. I don’t know anyone except the sisters and what does that equal? I’m lonely. I’m isolated. It was a setup for disaster.”
Soon, she told CNA, she and Montanaro were talking every day.
“And then multiple times a day. And it turned into, at some point, a spiritual adoption. I don’t remember the timetable exactly, but he adopted me as his ‘Principessa’, like Italian for ‘princess’ and I called him ‘Papito.’ Like, ‘little father.’”
“And we would talk at night, and often the conversations at night would turn very sexual,” Barthel told CNA.
She said that over the phone, the priest would encourage her to imagine that the two of them were saints in heaven together. Then he would tell her that they should each strip naked, to be “naked without shame.”
“So it was just this weird, it feels awkward to tell you about it, because it’s creepy, right? So that was happening.”
In 2006, Barthel moved to her home state of Minnesota. She struggled with depression. She was hospitalized with major depressive episodes. And then a friend offered to send her on a pilgrimage, a group trip for which Montanaro would be the chaplain. The priest invited her to visit his home in Boston before the trip began.
“He invited me to come early and I stayed at their house in Boston, and I remember him putting a sign on the door saying: ‘Do not interrupt. Spiritual direction in session.’
“And he turned on music and he’s like, ‘I just want to hold my principessa.’ So there was a lot of holding and touching, but it was not sexual, yet.”
The priest was at least 20 years older than her. But Barthel, struggling with loneliness and depression, said she liked that he was holding her. Still, she said she knew that what was happening wasn’t right.
“I feel like in that circumstance, I was a vulnerable adult, she told CNA. “Because it was like he abused the child inside of me. He wasn’t abusing an equal, adult-adult relationship. Everything was very childlike.”
The next year, Montanaro took Barthel to stay with him at a retreat center in North Dakota and there, she alleges, began a sexual relationship with her.
Barthel told CNA how confused she was. She believed in the Church’s teaching about sexuality, but, she says, she also believed what the priest told her.
“The entire time, he was telling me what was happening was ‘miraculous graces,’” she told CNA. “Like, ‘Jesus is healing you.’ All of the things he was saying we should do were all part of God’s healing plan for me.”
“And the biggest thing I wanted in my entire adult life was to be healed of the sexual abuse that I experienced as a child. And he used that to catapult his agenda to hurt me,” she said.
“Everything was under the guise of healing, Barthel told CNA.
“And even, he was saying, ‘God’s using you to heal me,’” she said.
“So then I felt special like, ‘Well that’s kind of cool, like, it’s mutual. God’s not just using him to heal me, but He’s also using me to heal Papito.’ Like, that’s really special,” she said.
Looking back, Barthel says she can see that Montanaro was using her insecurities to manipulate her. But at the time, she says, she felt confused, and she trusted the priest.
“And I remember asking, ‘Well, do I need to go to confession? Maybe I should go to confession.’ And he always said no. ‘No, we don’t need to go to confession. This is part of God’s will. This isn’t just okay, and it’s not just good, and not just great, it’s holy.’”
The relationship continued until, after a few months, Barthel told Montanaro that it had to end.
She told CNA she realized things were wrong when the priest admitted he hadn’t told his own spiritual director about the sexual relationship.
“He said, ‘Some things are meant to be kept a secret between you and God.’ The minute he said that, my whole world started falling apart,” Barthel said.
She told a priest she trusted about the relationship. That priest called Montanaro and confronted him. Barthel said that Montanaro admitted the whole thing, but seemed to see nothing wrong with the relationship. The priest next called Montanaro’s superiors, and Montanaro was removed from ministry.
A spokesman for the St. Ignatius Province of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary told CNA that the province “first became aware of her allegations relating to Fr. Montanaro in November of 2007, when a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis notified the rector of the retreat house where Fr. Montanaro resided at the time.
“The then-Provincial of the St. Ignatius Province met with Fr. Montanaro on the day he heard of the allegations. Following that meeting, Fr. Montanaro was immediately removed from public ministry and was to cease all contact with that individual.”
“In January of 2008, the Provincial revoked Fr. Montanaro’s priestly faculties, and Montanaro subsequently sought, and obtained, dismissal from the Oblates, followed by laicization from sacred orders from Rome, which was granted in 2010. Montanaro has had no role or ministry with the St. Ignatius Province since then,” the spokesman added.
The spokesman said that at the time Montanaro was removed, the Oblates “began to provide support” for Barthel.
The Oblates, Barthel told CNA, “sent me a couple of checks to help pay my rent because the trauma hit me so hard that I couldn’t work initially. They also sent me a letter offering $15,000 and a year of therapy if I signed one of those letters stating I wouldn’t do anything further.”
“I don’t know what I was more upset about: the fact that they were trying to pay me off to keep me quiet or the fact that they thought I would only need a year of therapy to recover. It’s 12 years later and I’m still in therapy!”
Barthel said it took years of healing before she was prepared to report what had happened to police. When she did, it was too late.
“When I finally built up the courage to go to the police, I missed the statute of limitations by less than a month. That was devastating because it took so much from me to even go to the police. I finally went, I told my whole story, and then I get a call back and it’s the statute of limitation by less than 30 days”
But she was even more devastated, she says, because Montanaro’s community, the Oblates of the Blessed Virgin Mary, have declined to name Montanaro as a sexual abuser.
“One of my big grievances has been why aren’t perpetrators of adults also being listed publicly?”
Barthel told CNA that she has been concerned that Montanaro might groom other women.
The laicized priest now works as a photographer in Massachusetts. He has not responded to multiple attempts by CNA to contact him.
Among the photographs posted on Facebook by the studio where Montanaro works is a series in which several women have posed nude for the camera. The photo captions read “You are ravishing,” and “Next time you think of something beautiful, don’t forget to count yourself in.”
On the website of the studio, Montanaro writes “My biggest satisfaction is capturing the unique beauty of each person who entrusts that privilege to my partners and to me. We love to help people discover (or rediscover) their God-given beauty in a photo session, and fall in love with themselves all over again.”
In March, Barthel wrote to the Oblates.
“I have concern that he could use his credentials of previous pastoral work and education to get a job in any helper position where he would have access to vulnerable adults. While he is no longer able to hurt people using his position of power as a Catholic priest, that doesn’t mean he isn’t still a threat if he has access to vulnerable adults,” she wrote.
“This is a hurdle in my healing journey. I keep thinking, hoping, praying and wishing that someday when I Google his name, it’ll show up that he is a self-admitted abuser of adult women. Yet, to date, I find nothing. It floods me with grief and also adds to my anger that waxes and wanes as I continue to heal. I feel that as long as the Church stays silent on these matters, there is danger the abuse may continue. Who are we trying to protect and why?”
She requested that Montanaro’s self-admission of sexual misconduct be publicly acknowledged by the order.
She told CNA she has yet to hear back from the Oblates about her request.
The Oblates declined to respond to questions from CNA about Barthel’s request.
While Barthel is discouraged, she told CNA that she has not lost her faith.
“I love Jesus, I love the Church. And it’s not easy and my relationship with Jesus and the Church are different now, but in some ways it’s more beautiful than it was before because I’m more dependent upon Him. And I don’t know how to explain it.”
“My deepest healing has all come through adoration,” she said.
Barthel emphasized the role that Cozzens has played in her life. They’ve met together regularly, and prayed together, for years.
“I needed a safe place to allow the rage and pain to unfold,” Barthel told CNA.
“Yes, I did a lot of that in therapy, but the injustice against my soul demanded someone in the Church hierarchy to listen to me, hear my voice, acknowledge my pain and empathize with me. Bishop Cozzens has been that person for me.”
The bishop, she said, “has been the conduit God has chosen to use to bring me back into a free and even deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.”
“Eucharistic adoration is where I have received the majority of my healing,” she told CNA.
“Bishop Cozzens helped get me to a place to be able to go there and ask Jesus the hard questions and to sit and wait and listen for the answers. That’s the awesome thing about Jesus, if we ask, if we wait, He will speak to us.”
Barthel explained that Cozzens’ role in her life has been invaluable.
“When I first started meeting with him, I was terrified of praying; especially using my imagination which had always been my greatest source of delight in prayer and way of connecting to Jesus through the stories in Scripture. He never pushed, but would give me little tidbits of spiritual encouragement/advice that I could bring with me to Eucharistic adoration. This is what I needed. Someone who could walk with me and understood the danger and risk I was taking to pursue a life of prayer again.”
Cozzens told CNA that he’s learned, through his pastoral relationship with Barthel, what pastoral ministry to victims of abuse requires.
“One of the things that victims of abuse struggle with is going to Church. It’s really hard for them to go to Church. But if you’re a Catholic, you might think that you’re committing a mortal sin, but you just can’t do it because it’s so emotionally difficult for them. So to be gentle and to let them know that God understands the pain they’re going through, and the Church understands that too,” Cozzens said.
“Just to help people walk through that and let them know it’s ok that it takes time, and that God understands what they’re going through. To do that you have to be willing to go through ups and downs with people, because they go through their good moments and their bad moments. But gradually – and it takes time – but gradually the good moments outweigh the bad moments,” he added.
Barthel said she appreciated that understanding.
“Particularly in the beginning, coming back to the sacramental life of the church and prayer was excruciatingly painful, adding the regular breaking news reports of clergy abuse and cover up, there were so many times I wanted to throw the towel in and leave the Catholic Church altogether. While he never encouraged me to leave, he also never tried to convince me to stay. This gave me so much freedom and reminded me that the choice was mine. I needed that freedom and I believe it had a big part in helping me choose to remain Catholic,” she told CNA.
“I just wanted to be heard. I am hurting and I need someone to listen to me, and it needed to be somebody in the Church that I felt like cared.” “And I needed therapy,” she added. “Obviously, like I still go to therapy. “
For his part, Cozzens told CNA that many bishops, in the midst of the Church’s current sexual abuse crisis, have built pastoral relationships with the victims of abuse. But he also acknowledged that some bishops and priests, apprehensive about litigation or negative publicity, have been nervous about their engagement with victims of clerical sexual abuse.
“For me, you just have to put the person ahead of the situation…working with someone who has been hurt…they could turn on me, or be angry with me, or say bad things about me, but that’s the risk we all take if we’re going to be part of Christ’s healing. So I think we all need to be willing to take that risk.”
The bishop said Church officials should be confident about openness to relationships with the victims of abuse, despite the fact that bishops have faced, and continue to face lawsuits, for the Church’s handling of abuse allegations.
“We can’t see these things simply as liability issues. Because you have to see the people who God puts in front of us.”
“Anyone who has been wounded by a priest needs to learn to separate, in their minds, the distinction between what priest did and who God is, and what God does, and how God works. And that’s a very difficult things, that’s why I think priest abuse is the worst kind of abuse, because it can separate a person from the source of healing, who is God,” Cozzens said.
“So we have to try and help them make that distinction. And that usually requires patience and trust.”
Cozzens knows there are many Catholics in pain over the sexual abuse scandals, and that healing does not come easy. That it comes one person at a time. And that bishops have to be willing to walk alongside those hoping to be healed.
Gina Barthel knows her healing journey is not complete. But, she says, she is grateful that Bishop Cozzens is walking alongside her.
[…]
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?