Hubbard batting one for two

Albany Bishop Howard Hubbard's homily in response to the Mercure verdict is not exactly a mea culpa (which would have been a good idea), but does include these powerful rhetorical questions cutting to the heart of the matter: "How could men of God be doing the work of the devil? How could bishops be more concerned about avoiding scandal and preserving the image of the Church than protecting children?"

On his dealings with Gov. Andrew Cuomo, however, Hubbard has been made to look foolish and feckless by a canon lawyer. While the bishop has mounted a defense, the strikes against his position include multiple provocations -- not just the governor's disinclination to marry housemate Sandra Lee (who says: "We don't even think about it, and nobody says anything") and support of gay marriage but, crucially, Cuomo's absolutist positions in favor of unrestricted abortion and embryonic stem cell research. It may be nice to have a governor and his lady strolling over occasionally from the Executive Mansion to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a politician who when he was attorney general kept a portrait of Thomas More (the Holbein print) in his Capitol office. Yet as More put it in Robert Bolt's "A Man for All Seasons": "It profits a man nothing to trade his soul for the whole world, but for Wales ..." And as another Catholic Thomas, Archbishop Becket, said in T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral":

... For every life and every act
Consequence of good and evil can be shown.
And as in time results of many deeds are blended
So good and evil in the end become confounded.

Comments

[Matthew]

1. You're still ticked that Cuomo & his housemate aren't married? Oh goodness gracious, let it go.

The electorate knew about it & quite frankly, doesn't think his martial status (or lack thereof) has zilch to do w/ how he does his job.

2. Every person I know who has ever gone through a nasty divorce practically never wants to leap into another marriage under ANY circumstances.

They should get married when THEY are ready & not when the peanut gallery thinks. The stakes of making a mistake (& the costs to actually split) have become so much higher these days.

3. A recent Pew Study research found that people simply don't hold actually "being married" to be as important as your generation holds it to be.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1802/decline-marriage-rise-new-families

I bring this up in how my own parents treat my older brother & younger sister. They are practically both identical career'wise. They both have jobs that allow them to do what THEY enjoy. They both gain serious enjoyment in working w/ kids & making this crazy, screwed up world a better place, yet my sister ranks significantly higher in the pecking order in how the two are treated SIMPLY because she's married. The parental comments are always subtle but its very noticeable if one keeps their mouth shut & their eyes & ears open.

[Bob Conner]

Marriage is the foundation of civilization, old boy, as you can tell from those places where most children are not being raised by married parents.

[Matthew]

Negative, Ghost Rider.

Society, a collection of individuals choosing to live together, is the foundation of civilization. Marriage & what defines it is culture driven & isn't consistently defined from culture to culture.

[Molly]

One might speculate that the bishop has not asked Cuomo directly about the chasteness of his relationship with his live-in girlfriend. Much as one didn't ask about the bishop or priest's "housekeeper" centuries ago.

Anyway, you know I don't think that the Church should be actively prohibiting those in the pews from participating in sacraments. Seems to me Jesus welcomed the adulterers and tax collectors to break bread with him at his table. Why are we judging? Should the Catholic Church start denying communion to every parishoner who isn't married in the Catholic Church? Many of it's most ardent supporters might have to defect in that case.

[Bob Conner]

I'm not saying the church should be looking to withhold communion from Cuomo on the basis of his relationship with Lee, but that its public nature makes it a legitimate subject for comment.

[Matthew]

"I'm not saying the church should be looking to withhold communion from Cuomo on the basis of his relationship with Lee, but that its public nature makes it a legitimate subject for comment."

Bob,

I think that's a very disingenious statement. If he were single or a widower, we wouldn't be telling ANY public official that they should get married regardless of whether they were simply dating someone or not.

So what makes the governor fair game in this case? Its not like he ran on any sort of "moral" or "family values" platform like his opponent did (or his predessors).

[Bob Conner]

Lee shares a household with Cuomo, held the Bible at his swearing-in and has been acting as a quasi first lady, and has made a public statement (as quoted in this blog post) which got my attention. Like it or not, a governor is to some extent a role model and the state of marriage is to some extent a public issue. It seems to me all this makes their nonmarital status a legitimate subject for comment.

[Matthew]

You're reaching.

My sister lived w/ her (now) husband for close to 4 years (if not longer). She went to his graduation which is an equally public event (& he went to his). They advised each other on major life decisions before even that. She lived w/ his family for multiple summers during that span. They way you're describing making it out, you'd have them tying the knot the moment they moved in together.

The only thing marriage really benefits is come tax time, medical decision making, & next of kin issue. Beyond that, there really isn't much of an upside to it anymore.

[Bob Conner]

I guess we're just going to have to disagree, Matt. I think marriage is a moral issue, and that where it is mostly absent the consequences are disastrous for those communities and the children growing up in them.

[Matthew]

"it is mostly absent the consequences are disastrous for those communities and the children growing up in them."

As opposed to bad marriages & the consequences of such when they were rushed into it.

[Bob Conner]

The best approach to most bad marriages is to make them better, but I don't think their badness is generally the result of having rushed into the wedded state.

[Matthew]

"The best approach to most bad marriages is to make them better, but I don't think their badness is generally the result of having rushed into the wedded state."

No matter how much one polishes it or sprays perfume on it or use good lighting to make it look good, a turd a still a turd.