Boston's Mayor Thomas Menino was the keynote speaker for a much-publicized fund raising dinner on Friday December 9 for the local Catholic Charities, Massachusetts' largest private social services agency. He had been targeted by a few vocal conservatives for his views on abortion and the respect that he had afforded to gay people. They had succeeded in persuading Archbishop Sean O'Malley to withdraw his attendance from the event. Perhaps because of all the publicity, the dinner was sold out for the first time, almost a week in advance, and raised more money for the less well-off than ever before.
C.J. Doyle, the mayor's chief antagonist, was among a handful of protestors outside the event. The Boston Globe quoted him as saying, "It's very disturbing to have Catholic Charities honor the mayor, when he's spent his whole career working against Catholic principles." Mr. Doyle apparently has no similar feelings about President Bush, who was honored last May at an event called the "National Communion Prayer Breakfast" in the company of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and five other bishops. Mr. Bush has distinguished himself as someone who has worked tirelessly in opposition to the Catholic prohibitions against the death penalty and against economically motivated military action, in addition to poverty policies that have begun to reverse the 15-year-long slide in abortion rates nationally. Apparently one's rhetoric about abortion and gay marriage are more important to these individuals than actually doing what the Church teaches-namely caring for others.
The protestors also went after Catholic Charities itself, citing the 13 adoption placements the agency had made to gay couples in compliance with state law over a 20-year period. One of the protest organizers, Carol McKinley, has been quoted as saying that she wanted to defund the work of Catholic Charities. Ironically, she explained to an interviewer that her motivation for sabotaging the Church's social service work was her children: "If you want to teach children about confession, you have to teach them what the sins are." Like many Republican sympathizers, she apparently feels that non-Gospel values like opposition to fidelity among non-Catholic gay couples and the threat of imprisonment to abortion providers are more important than traditional Catholic values like opposition to war-making and state-sponsored killing, or care for the poor.
In his remarks at the Catholic Charities dinner, Mr. Menino reflected, "'What Jesus said, and what he showed with his life, was that the way to follow him was to take care of people…He told us in the Gospel of Matthew -- the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the sick, and yes, the imprisoned." He added, 'How much clearer could the Lord have made it?"
A spokesman for the archdiocese, quoted in the Globe, applauded the speech. ''Mayor Menino's remarks clearly demonstrate this is a person who loves his city and is dedicated to helping others," said Terrence Donilon. ''We appreciate his many good deeds on behalf of the needy. In fact, the archbishop is very thankful for the efforts of so many who contributed to the support generated tonight for the programs that Catholic Charities runs to serve children and families in need."