Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Hey, Cardinal O’Malley

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Are you going to come out against the nice old chap who helped organize all those rallies for you? Violence against gay people isn’t something you have supported in the past, so are you going to prove your love for all things gay (except the sex, relationships, romantic love and every other important aspect of being gay) by publicly rebuking what Larry did – and asking him to step down?

You’ve previously tried to be welcoming (in your own way) to gay people in the past. I’m curious, will your actions meet your rhetoric? Because, sadly, so far your actions have fell short of your words. The sheep, on Saturday, were dressed up in wolves clothing and people were feeling a little uncomfortable in taking part of the democratic process. And with good reason; someone could have been hurt. I thought this was all supposed to be about Democracy – you know, “let the people vote?” Isn’t violence anathema to the democratic process (and Catholicism, for that matter)?

While we’re on the topic, the man on the left to you in that photo happens to be the former Mayor of Boston and Ambassador to the Vatican, Ray Flynn. He’s been taking part in these rallies too. I think you and he may just be friends nowadays and that’s kind of sweet. I’m touched. Since these rallies are all about Democracy – and not about marriage equality at all – I thought I’d ask you a quick question. You see, Mayor Flynn once supported the very thing he protests against now – subverting the alleged right of people to have an “up or down vote” in a Constitutional Convention. Isn’t that kind of hypocritical? As Cardinal of America’s largest Archdiocese, I think you would be somewhat of an expert on the subject, so I’m interested on your thoughts.

Also, isn’t it kind of weird that he tried to subvert those rights back then in order to block citizens from voting on an amendment to ban abortion? I mean, you’re not a big fan of abortion either. Heck, isn’t that even worse to you than a little man 2 man action? Probably not, because gay sex is just sick! I mean anal penetration!? Eww. To you, it’s sicker than soon-to-be babies being sucked out of tubes, right? It’s way worse than a wet vag, but then again you probably haven’t had any experience with either. At least I hope not, cheating on your celibacy with God is a definite no-no and, after all, you are a Cardinal.

So watcha think about Saturday? A lot went down. Ray, friend to the Vatican and ally in your cause to surpress the rights of minorities in Massachusetts, was a hypocrite. And one of your own lay leaders in your quest to end the rights of a minority, who helped organize all these mini-rallies across the state, knocked an innocent (straight!) girl to the ground. She hit her head on the pavement! Ouch! If you wanted my advice (and I really recommend it, as someone who’s still sympathetic to Catholics in Massachusetts), I suggest you apologize for the event and – at the very least – privately ask Larry to step down. Then you should write a nice little op-ed or do a short interview with Nat Jacobsin on how it’s important for the forces of evil your allies in defeating marriage equality to play nice at rallies. It’d be a nice gesture, even if it’s still a wrong position. People shouldn’t have to worry about Catholics beating up other protesters; I’m sure we can all agree on that. Thanks for the time, Em. (Can I call you Em?)

Sincerely,

Ryan

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Comments

  2. And Larry physically assaulted a woman just moments after he finished speaking at one of those rallies on Saturday, in Worcester.

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    But, just this from an country lawyer:

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    Think at least a dozen times before you accuse someone publicly of a crime.  The receiving end of a civil suit is really no fun at all.

    • Which of those guys is Larry Cirignano?  In your post you said it’s the guy to the right of Cardinal O’Malley.  That’s wrong, right?

        • When someone says ‘to his right’ I take him at their word. I thought Cirignano was a Flynn lookalike…really.

            • Saying he was to the right of O’Malley wasn’t, it was just ambiguous. For that I apologize. I meant to the right from my point of view and should have made that clear. However, I’m not aware of any falsehoods in this peice and would be more than happy to correct anything that’s wrong.

              • Hey, Your Eminence, what’s up? How’s it hanging, Cardinal O’Malley? I imagine, as you wake up today, you’re going to hear a bit of news coming out of Worcester. You see, a woman was allegedly assaulted by the man in the picture standing to your right, Larry Cirignano. She was a fan of marriage equality and Larry Cirignano wasn’t. Unfortunately for you, Cardinal, good ‘ol Larry is head of Catholic Citizens Group, an organization that you’ve happily encouraged to hold rallies across the state.

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                Look, I’m an idiot. I’m rainman.  I didn’t know that the other guy in the picture was Ray Flynn.  I thought to myself, my goodness, that fellow who Ryan says is Larry Cirignano, looks a lot like Ray Flynn, why they could be separated at birth.

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                Now, I know differently.

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                Read your text. Your entry is written as an open letter to Cardinal O’Malley, right?  It’s wrong.  It’s not ambiguous, or vague, or sarcastic.  It’s wrong.  Fix it. 

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                Here:  You see, a woman was allegedly assaulted by the man in the picture standing to your right left,  Larry Cirignano.

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                KMart sucks.

                • I’m sick of people that tremble over minutiae. You can’t expect daily posts (or multiple posts a day) from bloggers and not get those kinds of itty, bitty mistakes. I could have just as easily said my right, or to the right, or to your left. It’s not something anyone is going to pick up on quick editing.

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                  It wasn’t that hard to figure out. I’m sorry for being ambiguous, yet to say I need to “fact check” implies that I repeated wrong information, lied or was otherwise somehow dishonest – not just wixed up a mord here or there.

                • Evidently you failed to detect the sarcasm in which your minor transgression was compared to the denunciations of Dan Kennedy elsewhere on this site.

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                  Now you have committed two sins in as many days:  you have failed to detect sarcasm, and you made a factual error. 

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                  You will be required to grovel and take a six month unpaid suspension.

  4. I think a positive step O’Malley can take that should be acceptable to all to state firmly that one must take responsibility for one’s own actions.  Larry is the only person so far, among that whole crowd, who has a unique view of events.  O’Malley also needs to thwart any further foaming for physical violence (I realize that he can’t help himself with spritual violence) by clearly, unequivocally stating that those engaging in such must step down from their positions as representatives of his pacifist institution, the Catholic Church.  O’Malley wasted no time in punishing priests who wouldn;t circulate the anti-equality amendment petitions during mass.  He must be at least as swift and firm in talking up individuals’ responsibility to peace.

  5. I’ll assume the comments he made at the rally are accurately reported by MRW, but I don’t see them offering anything to show that he influenced the ConCon to adjourn without a vote in 1990.  He is prolife, true, but just because he liked the outcome doesn’t mean he liked the process, something several people here on BMG are saying today.

    • I don’t think he had to have influenced the adjournment in 1990 for people to point out the hypocracy of crying foul now. If adjourning instead of voting on a petition by the people is the real issue, then why didn’t he speak up in 1990? It seems this is more a desperate attempt to keep a vessel of bigotry afloat that has all but sunk.

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      Loving v. Virginia 1967 states that marriage is a civil right. You don’t get to vote away the civil rights of others. Even that aside, where is the due process? No one has justified a need to ban gay marriage, so this issue is moot. The public has a long history of not understanding why bigotry is wrong, and having to be forced via court action to play nice. Now, 39 years after our country reluctantly agreed that perhaps God did not “put us on different continents to keep us from mixing the races”, we have a new dilema. Are gay people worthy of being seen as equals in our society? People are individuals, and deserve to be recognized as such. If someone wants to deny me my right to marry who I love, let them tell me what I personally did to merit taking that right away.

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      Gay people are deserving of their equal rights and to deny them without reason is akin to tyrrany.

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