The Pope Francis revolution: Inside the catastrophic collapse of the Catholic right

[rug]

Once a major political force with the power to derail presidential campaigns, right-wing Catholicism is in decline



The Pope Francis revolution: Inside the catastrophic collapse of the Catholic right
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Pope Francis, Bill Donohue (Credit: AP/Gregorio Borgia/Andrew Medichini/Fox News/Photo montage by Salon)

Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 12:30 PM EST
Patricia Miller

For years they struck fear in the hearts of progressive Catholic candidates. They could, and did, help destroy presidential campaigns. The media took them seriously, reporting on their pronouncements as representative of a significant bloc of conservative Catholics. They were not legion; but they were powerful. They were the Christian right’s smaller, more shadowy counterpart: the Catholic right wing.

But now, many of their leading spokesmen—and they are almost all men—have been discredited within a stunningly short period. Former lights of the Catholic right like Bill Donohue and Cardinal Raymond Burke have seen their clout dissipate almost overnight. How did this happen and what does it mean for progressive Catholic candidates eyeing 2016?

Many on the right were the victims of their own rhetoric run amok. Catholic League President Bill Donohue is being widely pilloried for asserting in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack that “Muslims are right to be angry,” and that Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier played a role in his own death. “Had he not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive,” Donohue said in a statement that horrified even fellow conservatives.

Donohue, the leading proponent of the “war on Christmas” and other ginned-up made-for-Fox-News controversies over supposedly anti-Catholic persecution, was the ringleader behind efforts to discredit John Kerry with people of faith during the 2004 presidential election. He attacked Mara Vanderslice, Kerry’s first director of religious outreach, as an “ultra-leftist who consorts with anti-Catholic bigots” because of her work with organizations like ACT UP, an AIDS advocacy group that criticized the Catholic Church’s ban on condoms. The accusations spooked the Kerry campaign enough that they removed Vanderslice as head of outreach, even as Kerry, who is a committed Catholic, faltered in the polls with people of faith.

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/18/the_pope_francis_revolution_inside_the_catastrophic_collapse_of_the_catholic_right/

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1. In Dolan's case I think he's trying to keep his head down

I think he doesn't want to wind up like Burke, reassigned to some minor posting that sidelines him. I think it's why he broke ties with that clown Pavone - Pavone wants to jump off the cliff and Dolan doesn't want to be holding his hand when he does so. Maybe Dolan figures if he sits down and shuts up he can last through to the next Papal reign with his skin intact - after all Dolan is a relatively young 64. He wouldn't be required to retire until 75 (and could vote in papal conclaves until Feb 6, 2030 when he turns 80). If he keeps somewhat quiet maybe he could coast along as Cardinal Archbishop of New York until he has to retire. If he pisses the Pope off Francis might decide he's not worth the trouble and could reassign him elsewhere and put someone else in as the head of the New York diocese.