BishopAccountability.org
	He Who Cast the First Stone Lives in Glass House By Margery Eagan Boston Herald November 26, 2009 http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/20091126he_who_cast_the_first_stone_lives_in_glass_house/srvc=news&position=also Today I’m thankful for Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin, who has advised pro-choice Congressman Patrick Kennedy that he has no business receiving communion. I’m thankful Tobin’s allowed me the chance to remind those taking him seriously - as, incredibly, some of you are - that a bishop can’t be holier-than-thou when he’s hiding the identities of more than 100 priests accused of molesting children - many of whom have admitted their guilt. Who knows what these priests are up to. Do they still live in places like Providence and Warwick? Does one of them have some 12-year-old neighborhood boy in his lascivious sights? Well, we don’t know because Tobin won’t tell. Yet here he is lecturing Kennedy. “Be the best Catholic in the whole world.” “Be a shining example of what it means to be a Catholic in public life.” “Live up to your faith . . . in conscience.” It’s not clear where shielding pedophiles fits within “live up to your faith . . . in conscience.” But that’s where Tobin’s at. Oh Bishop Tobin, Bishop Tobin! If I may paraphrase St. Matthew, surely one of your favorites: How can you tell your brother Patrick to take the speck from his eye when you’ve got a 2 X 4 stuck in yours, you hypocrite? Like most American Catholics, I am pro-choice but greatly respect the church’s pro-life stance. It’s seamless and consistent, carrying us from conception through natural death. But it’s outrageous to threaten Catholic politicians into forcing a Catholic view on all Americans - Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist and non-believers. I don’t get why politicians still kowtow to discredited bishops. I don’t get where bishops like Tobin find the chutzpah to shout scandal when they’re responsible for the biggest sex scandal in history. And still they won’t come clean. Don’t believe me? Check out Bishop-Accountability.org. It’ll take your breath away. So leave the church, they tell me. I want to scream. Why should the faithful, good nuns and priests be driven from the faith they love by a head-in-the-sand hierarchy that’s been corrupt on and off now for 2,000 years? So today I am thankful for Bishop Tobin’s self-righteousness - and for the opportunity to denounce his hypocrisy. If there’s anybody who should be denied communion in this little dust-up, let’s be brutally honest here, Bishop Tobin. For your reckless disregard of the innocents already born, it’s you.
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