CARDINAL JOHN O'CONNOR

SECULAR JOURNALS

From THE NEWS TRIBUNE, Tacoma, WA 3/15/87. "OUR JOHN. John O'Connor:

outspoken, but moving on the same wavelength as Pope John Paul. Editor's

Note: Few outside the Roman Catholic Church knew much about John J.

O'Connor until he moved from Scranton, PA to New York to take over the

nation's fourth-largest diocese and become a Cardinal. Since that time he

has been much in the public eye as an outspoken traditionalist and a

churchman on the same wavelength as the Pope.

"To insure that the flock is going his way on traditional Catholic

teachings, this shepherd . . .has clashed with Mayor Ed Koch over gay

rights, with Gov. Mario Cuomo and Democratic vice presidential candidate

Geraldine Ferraro over the duties of a Catholic politician on the abortion

issue.

"His willingness to speak the church's mind, clearly and without the tut-

tut approach of the cleric more eager to please than proclaim, has made him

a favorite with the pope."

From George Will's article, THE VATICAN'S HABIT OF RESENTING ISRAEL.

"Israel invited O'Connor, and on the eve of his visit, the Vatican ordered

him to cancel the appointments he had made to meet with Israeli officials

in their Jerusalem offices . . .The main fault here is not with the

cardinal but with the political policy of the church of which he is a mere

prince."

CATHOLIC JOURNALS

THE WANDERER, 1/5/87, ran an article that exonerated the Vatican from any

blame and said the Jewish politicians were endeavoring to use his visit to

gain their own ends. They called their publicity of O'Connor's refusal to

meet as was originally scheduled "an acrimonious campaign, first against

O'Connor and then against the Pope." They quoted tabloid headlines that

supposedly prove the Vatican's wrongdoing as charged by the Israelis in

what they called the "crudity of the attacks against O'Connor."

From CATHOLIC NEW YORK, 4/30/87. "Basic Church teachings are in danger of

being undermined from within by pseudo-theologians seeking to `change the

structure of the Church,' Cardinal O'Connor told a Sunday Mass congregation

at St. Patrick's Cathedral on April 26, 1987.

"Noting that the Second Vatican Council made many external changes, such

as celebrating the Mass in English, the cardinal said there is now `grave

concern that coming from within the Church there is restlessness.' He said

that in some Catholic colleges, students are taught, `Jesus, yes. The

Church, no.'

"The cardinal returned to that theme later in the day. He said, `Whether

it comes from our media or from pseudo-theologians within our ranks, we're

very, very vulnerable and we don't know it. We think that people understand

the teachings of their faith, but they really don't.'"

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