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Archbishop Timothy Dolan Wins the Third Annual Coughie Award!
This year's field of finalists included, Bishop Thomas Olmstead of Phoenix, notable for excommunicating and disciplining Sister Margaret McBride, a hospital administrator who allowed an abortion in order to save the life of a critically ill pregnant woman. Until this very weekend our panel was leaning towards presenting the award to a a group of orthodox Catholic bloggers who seek to stifle progressive dissent in the Church. And there was of course perennial favorite, Catholic League President Bill Donohue -- who may very well have an award named for him someday. Although Donohue lost again this year -- he nevertheless had a hand in the winning performance by New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. The newly elected President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops nosed-out his fellow Coughie finalist by imploring: "Keep at it, Bill! We need you!" But before we discuss Archbishop Dolan's stunning last minute victory, a few words about the award's namesake. The Coughlin Award (aka "the Coughie") is named after the infamous 1930s radio priest and noted anti-Semite, Rev. Charles Coughlin whose media diatribes against FDR and Judaism were openly sympathetic to the racist policies of Adolph Hitler made him. Such advocacy was clearly antithetical the very definition of the word "catholic," which, according to Webster's Unabridged Dictionary means:
Catholic Cath"o*lic\ (k[a^]th"[-o]*[i^]k), a. [L. catholicus, Gr. kaqoliko`s, universal, general; kata` down, wholly + "o`los whole, probably akin to E. solid: cf. F. catholique.] So in order to win a Coughie, a candidate must do something that makes the faith less inclusive; furthers the culture wars with some incendiary behavior, and thereby ultimately embarrass the Church. This year's winner has risen to the challenge by completing all three tasks with breathtaking simplicity, snatching the victory from a determined field of tough competitors. Archbishop Dolan is a rising star of the culture wars. When the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops elected him as president, they signaled their intention to escalate the culture wars at the expense of economic justice, and push strident orthodoxy over inclusiveness. In October 2009 Dolan went after two New York Times" reporters for their examination of Church obstruction in cases of sexual abuse. Taking a page from Bill Donohue's playbook, Dolan equated any critical discussion of Church affairs as anti-Catholic bigotry -- while ignoring acts of real anti-Catholicism by the likes of movement conservative-friendly John Hagee and the New Apostolic Reformation. Yes indeed, those were deeds that made the archbishop a contender. But what clinched the Coughie for Dolan was his brilliant last minute praise for Donohue's demagogic attack upon the Smithsonian Institution for displaying a work by David Wojnarowicz, who died of AIDS in 1992. At issue was a short film that portrays a crucifix with ants on it. In the context of the film, it appears to be a commentary on human suffering, -- including that of Christ. But this very same image caused Donohue to bluster that the piece was a "vile display" and accused the Smithsonian of using federal money "to bash Christians." Misinterpretation of art is, of course, nothing new.
Salvador Dali believed ants represented corruption, and painted them frequently; his many crucifixions, like the "Corpus Hypercubus" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, have nonetheless won acceptance from many of the faithful over time. | |||||||||||
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