Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

  • Shop
  • Subscribe to BMG
  • Contact
  • Log In
  • Front Page
  • All Posts
  • About
  • Rules
  • Events
  • Register on BMG

Hey, Cardinal O’Malley

December 18, 2006 By Ryan

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

Please share widely!
fb-share-icon
Tweet
0
0

Filed Under: User Tagged With: cardinal-omalley, catholicism, cirignano, gay-marriage, gay-rights, glbt, larry-cirignano, marriage-equality, massachusetts, worcester

Comments

  1. eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says

    December 18, 2006 at 9:13 am

    Are there witness reports?
    I need facts.

    • gary says

      December 18, 2006 at 9:27 am

      Globe’s account.

      <

      p>
      Not sure if Globe has facts or not.

      • eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says

        December 18, 2006 at 9:41 am

        I just read rollbiz post too.

        <

        p>
        What a nut. I’m looking for my contrarian angle here, but can’t come up with anything.

        • eb3-fka-ernie-boch-iii says

          December 18, 2006 at 9:42 am

          not rollbiz

  2. gary says

    December 18, 2006 at 9:47 am

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

    <

    p>
    But, just this from an country lawyer:

    <

    p>
    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.

    • ryepower12 says

      December 18, 2006 at 11:28 am

      How many times can a man say alleged? Dammnit, Jim, I’m not a thesaurus, I’m a doctor!

      • gary says

        December 18, 2006 at 11:59 am

  3. peter-porcupine says

    December 18, 2006 at 11:13 am

    Hre’s a link to the Cirignano that I know!

    <

    p>
    http://www.patriotst…

    <

    p>
    While he is conservative politically, I just could NOT see him striking ANYONE!  THANK YOU RYAN for posting that photo!

    • gary says

      December 18, 2006 at 12:05 pm

      Mayor Ray Flynn and Cirignano

    • gary says

      December 18, 2006 at 4:26 pm

      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?

      • kai says

        December 18, 2006 at 4:39 pm

        it goes Flynn, O’Malley, Cirignano.  Larry is standing to the Cardinal’s left.

        • david says

          December 18, 2006 at 4:43 pm

          • kai says

            December 18, 2006 at 5:09 pm

      • david says

        December 18, 2006 at 4:44 pm

        Cirignano is the guy who’s not Ray Flynn and is not the Cardinal.

        • gary says

          December 18, 2006 at 4:45 pm

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

          • centralmassdad says

            December 18, 2006 at 4:50 pm

             

            • gary says

              December 18, 2006 at 4:56 pm

            • laurel says

              December 18, 2006 at 5:01 pm

            • ryepower12 says

              December 18, 2006 at 5:52 pm

              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.

              • gary says

                December 18, 2006 at 7:24 pm

                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.

                <

                p>
                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.

                <

                p>
                Now, I know differently.

                <

                p>
                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. 

                <

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

                <

                p>
                KMart sucks.

                • laurel says

                  December 18, 2006 at 7:38 pm

                  “the brown-haired man with gold tie, standing to your left (viewer’s right)”

                • ryepower12 says

                  December 18, 2006 at 7:41 pm

                  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.

                  <

                  p>
                  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.

                • centralmassdad says

                  December 19, 2006 at 11:15 am

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

                  <

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

                  <

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

  4. laurel says

    December 18, 2006 at 2:24 pm

    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. kai says

    December 18, 2006 at 2:56 pm

    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.

    • john-hosty-grinnell says

      December 19, 2006 at 9:38 am

      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.

      <

      p>
      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.

      <

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

Recommended Posts

  • No posts liked yet.

Recent User Posts

Predictions Open Thread

December 22, 2022 By jconway

This is why I love Joe Biden

December 21, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Garland’s Word

December 19, 2022 By terrymcginty

Some Parting Thoughts

December 19, 2022 By jconway

Beware the latest grift

December 16, 2022 By fredrichlariccia

Thank you, Blue Mass Group!

December 15, 2022 By methuenprogressive

Recent Comments

  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftSo where to, then??
  • Christopher on Some Parting ThoughtsI've enjoyed our discussions as well (but we have yet to…
  • Christopher on Beware the latest griftI can't imagine anyone of our ilk not already on Twitter…
  • blueeyes on Beware the latest griftI will miss this site. Where are people going? Twitter?…
  • chrismatth on A valedictoryI joined BMG late - 13 years ago next month and three da…
  • SomervilleTom on Geopolitics of FusionEVERY un-designed, un-built, and un-tested technology is…
  • Charley on the MTA on A valedictoryThat’s a great idea, and I’ll be there on Sunday. It’s a…

Archive

@bluemassgroup on Twitter

Twitter feed is not available at the moment.

From our sponsors




Google Calendar







Search

Archives

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter




Copyright © 2025 Owned and operated by BMG Media Empire LLC. Read the terms of use. Some rights reserved.