"There is a truckoad of work that has to be done in Boston"

The new swags and jabots in the living room upstairs, created from scratch by the Tuck man, rule. Totally awesome. It answers the question of whether home economics with sewing should or should not be required in high school curricula. In our day, we had to take home ec, and Tuck had to take shop. Neither girls nor boys were encouraged/allowed to follow their interests. Earlier on, though, in second and third grade, we attended the progressive, private Exeter [NH] Day School, where girls and boys both took everything. Our beloved mother always spoke proudly of us as a "sweet girl carpenter." Now, in homeschooling at Chelsea-by-the-Sea, Tuck took a wicked short course in sewing from the Mother of All Swags and Jabots -- ourselves -- and outstripped the mistress.

"The archbishop said he rues the tone of much of the debate that takes place within the church and society -- a debate that has been coarsened and amplified by the proliferation of blogs and email," writes Michael Paulsen in a Boston Globe interview with Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley on the eve of the Capuchin friar's elevation to Cardinal in Vatican City ceremonies Friday:

In a rare, wide-ranging interview, O'Malley said the Catholic Church can no longer rely on its position of authority to transmit its teachings on moral values, but instead must turn increasingly to persuasion in an effort to convince a skeptical society of the merits of Christian faith . . .

His first 32 months here have been made difficult not only by the deep damage to trust, finances, and participation caused by the sexual abuse crisis, but also by controversy over the closings of 62 of 357 parishes, and, more recently, division over the church's opposition to adoptions by gay households.

"Vatican expert John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter says Archbishop O’Malley’s elevation is a special endorsement by Pope Benedict XVI," reports cbs4boston.com. "Cardinals are expected to serve as good will ambassadors around the world. But Allen believes the pope will respect O’Malley’s request to spend most of his time in Boston. 'My guess is that he is going to be very sensitive to that, because obviously there is a truckload of work that has to be done in Boston.'”

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to elevate O'Malley is controversial, of course, his having inherited the diocese of the disgraced, some say scapegoated, Bernard Cardinal Law -- now ensconsed behind closed doors at the Vatican to the dismay of our perspicacious reader and blogpal, Teresa of Technicalities -- on whose watch the sexual-abuse scandal came to a head, and it isn't just the blogs and email. Our local CBS4boston.com is on the case, with quotable quotes from "local Catholics who are still struggling with their faith":

Attorney Mitchell Garabedian represents dozens of victims who remain disappointed and disillusioned. "He's not holding healing masses; there are no workshops being conducted; there's been no apology. Why don't you tell them what's going on with the pedophile priests, if you're watching them, how you're watching them?"

According to our exclusive Fast Track poll, conducted by Survey USA, many Boston area Catholics feel the same way.

The litany of complaints -- no "healing masses," workshops or apology -- has a disagreeably reflexive Opraesque ring to it, but the sense of betrayal is deep, and Oprah rules -- just ask Harvey Mansfield -- so snap out of it. More from the Globe interview:

O'Malley, whose new red robes symbolize a willingness to shed blood for the church, noted that his fellow Capuchin bishops, who mostly serve in the developing world, have faced physical danger as a result of their positions. He said he does not expect to face such danger himself, but there are other challenges here in Boston.

''It's unlikely that I will experience a bloody persecution, but there are always more subtle forms of persecution that people have to endure for their beliefs and to be able to witness to the Gospel," he said. ''At times, I think the dominant culture, the secular culture, does trivialize our beliefs, and at times ridicules them. . . . There were many worse forms of persecution. But, I think that there are many forms of persecution, and certainly one of them is to be ridiculed."

We love to contemplate the difference between Archbishop O'Malley's tempered response to ridicule and the hysteria of our fellow sufferers of the Islamic persuasion whose lack of humor forces them to totally lose it whenever someone makes a joke at their expense. Cartoon wars come to mind. Who would ever dream that a faithless if soulful one like ourselves could find profound sustenance in Catholic dialogue? It started with Benedetto, who touched our mind and heart, first with his love of cats and Mozart and then with his recognition of the threat that Islamicism poses to Western Civilization. As we've blogged before, "he inhabits an intellectually rigorous and emotionally rich world of faith and ritual we will never know," but even so, he renews our faith in our fellow human beings:

I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand -- shall stand -- at the latter day upon the earth.

If only the heartstopping, breathtaking music of the Church -- from Gregorian Chants through Handel's "Messiah" and Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and beyond -- could enjoy a rebirth of recognition amongst the great unwashed. It happened a little bit during John Paul's funeral and Benedetto's induction last year, when the cables took a break from all-blonde-missing-girls-all-the-time to focus on the pageantry and emotional shock and awe of one of western civilization's great cultural traditions. We were totally mesmerized and are hoping for a reprise this weekend.

Comments

[pb]

I am touched by the innocent admiration you show our Pope.

I am rather less sanguine about the man who was notorious as the lightning rod (dare I say hatchet man?) for John Paul II's pontificate. Perhaps we can hope that Ratzinger the Cardinal was a very different man than Pope Benedict. And yet, it would not be the first time that elevation to the papacy has transformed a staunch bureaucrat into a benevolent statesman.

I would love to think that our many-faceted pope could produce just such a miracle. Your punditry instincts are usually excellent, Blogmother, so I'm counting on it.

[MartiniPundit]

PB - Could it be that the "hatchet man" image is one created by people who want the Catholic Church to become more like the Anglicans, aided and abetted by their clueless allies in the MSM? Do ya think?

[Teresa]

First off - Tuck's swags and jabots rock. Excellent job!

Now for the Catholic Church's problem... I have to say I don't give two hoots over whether there are "healing masses" (I wonder how a mass will heal someone who is the victim of abuse in any case). I have no issue with them sticking to their faith in the case of gay adoptions. Much as it may cause heartache to those who are gay and want to adopt, being gay is against the teachings of the Catholic Church... it always has been. So, at least on one point the Church is sticking to its guns (so to speak) and saying - this is against our teachings.

Yet, the "upper management" of the Catholic Church still doesn't seem to understand their tremendously HUGE failing - not bringing the pedophile priests to justice.

I don't care how much they stick to their beliefs in other areas of doctrine, allowing the free reign of those who would hurt children in this way is so very disgusting - it completely discredits everything else they do. And, since they went to such tremendous lengths to cover up these crimes and protect the priests involved - one always has to wonder - What else have they done that we haven't found out about?

You see, that's the greatest problem of all. Once you've found that someone is a liar to protect themselves in some way, at what point do you trust them again? Oprah probably has some glib answer to that - but I don't know that there is a way to bring back the trust. Healing masses? Give me a break. What is needed is transparency - and that will never happen. What is needed is for criminal priests to be turned over to local law enforcement. That will never happen.

When "protect your own" is your motto - you have essentially decided that you are the law... that doesn't work for any other entity in this country - why should it work for the Catholic Church?

[goomp]

Tuck as an apt student has brought back the Glory of Queen Victoria to the living room of the noble house on the Creek.

[goomp]

Persons of goodwill of honor and principle are what the world needs for its leadership. It seems that such men may be now leading the Catholic Faith.

[Laura Lee Donoho]

The room looks beautiful. Tuck did a wonderful job.

[GayleMiller]

Is the Tuck man for hire? That is high quality work!

Just my own opinion, and that is that I find the Latin mass (Tridentine?) very healing. I am better able to achieve interior silence and concentrate on what I have come to Mass to achieve which is communication with God. Ergo, I deeply dislike all the bobbing and weaving and glad handing that goes on in most masses these days.

It's also worth mentioning that I AM an old geezer (63 years old, after all) and grew up in the 50s so it really is more comfortable to me.

[Tuck Willis]

Gayle: The answer is yes. Send me the dimensions.