Cardinal O’malley at Crux

By Dwight Longenecker
Standing on My Head
September 12, 2014

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2014/09/cardinal-omalley-at-crux.html


Last evening I attended the official launch of Crux–the Boston Globe’s new website dedicated to “all things Catholic.”

The venue was the splendid campus of Boston College. In the afternoon I had the chance to tour the campus with fellow Patheos blogger Tim Muldoon, and had the better part of an hour with theologian Fr Robert Daly SJ–we reminisced about our mutual friend, Dom Sebastian Moore OSB, who was a monk at Downside, an irascible intellectual and former professor at BC. I picked Fr Daly’s brain about the thought of Rene Girard for one of the books I am working on.

Veteran Vatican reporter John Allen is the Boston Globe’s catch from many years of reporting at the National Catholic Reporter. Allen’s objective reporting on Catholic affairs has won admiration from Catholics from both sides of the “right-left” divide as well as respect from journalists in the non-Catholic world.

I also met MaryAnn Glendon again–former ambassador to the Holy See and now serving the church in a new role helping to reform the Vatican Bank. The panel included Globe writer Margery Egan, a theology professor and Robert Christian–the editor of Millennial–a website for young Catholics. Hosffman Ospino, a Boston College assistant professor of Hispanic ministry and religious education was also on the panel.

Cardinal O’Malley gave an excellent speech on Pope Francis–highlighting Francis teaching that while the church is in the business of compassion and social justice she is not just an NGO. The reason for the church is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cardinal Sean also criticized Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (has he been reading my blog?) MTD is that particularly American version of the Christian faith which reduces the gospel to a miss mash of self help religion, good works and the idea that God is perhaps “out there” and is to be used as a kind of fire extinguisher or someone one might just call on for help when nothing else seems to work.

Cardinal O’Malley’s address was simple and to the point: the Catholic Chruch is here to share the good news that God love us so much that he sent his only begotten and all who believe in him will have eternal life.

This is the first time I had heard Cardinal O’Malley speak and he did not disappoint. His message was clear. His presentation was humble. He was relaxed and confident without a trace of egotism or grandeur. He acknowledged that the Catholic Church is huge, splendid, complex and difficult.

I’ll be writing later about the stated aims of John Allen and the Boston Globe. Here is Michael O’Loughlin’s report on the event.

I believe this new enterprise has great promise, and later today I’ll explain why.