Early this month, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York made headlines as his flock digested two unexpected developments: The cardinal endorsed a new policy that would allow a homosexual-rights activist group to march under its own banner in the city’s 2015 St. Patrick’s Day Parade; and the Church leader also agreed to serve as the next grand marshal for that parade.

His decision revived past debate over the religious character of a popular New York City event that celebrates Irish-Catholic heritage and had previously barred the participation of “LGBT” groups and other “political” entities, including pro-life organizations. Cardinal Dolan’s critics argued that his public acceptance of the parade organizers’ change in policy was misguided.

Pat Archbold, in a blog post for the Register, was among the first to fire off a sharply worded rebuke.

“If a parade that is meant to honor a great saint is being used to promote a sinful agenda, it should be canceled rather than allow it to be used in such a way,” wrote Archbold. “It is one thing for a parade committee to fold under pressure, but it is quite another that the cardinal-archbishop of New York would be asked to lend his name and office to the parade. Such an action can be viewed in no other way than total capitulation to gay-identity groups.”

Meanwhile, the cardinal’s supporters contended that he was adhering to Pope Francis, who has called for Church leaders to engage the culture even when they might get “bruised” in the process.

“I’m not sure a bishop has a choice but to run out to meet prodigals, regardless of motivating factors,” said Elizabeth Scalia, who blogs at The Anchoress. She referenced the Parable of the Prodigal Son in her post, which supported the cardinal’s decision to serve as the grand marshal. “The father wants everyone to come home and be with him. Once they’re at the doorstep, they may be encouraged to come in; once they’re inside, they can be talked with … and made whole.”

That argument didn’t pass muster with New Yorkers who recalled Cardinal John O’Connor’s firm opposition to past efforts to include homosexual-rights groups in the parade when he served as archbishop of New York. O’Connor dismissed such demands as political correctness run amok and expressed his pastoral communion by emptying the bed pans of patients with AIDS. But few would contest the fact that much has changed in the culture since Cardinal O’Connor used the pulpit of St. Patrick’s to challenge the received wisdom of ruling elites in New York and Washington.

In 1993, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defined marriage as a union of one man and one woman. In 2013, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, dismissed DOMA as an expression of irrational animus toward what he called a marginalized minority group. Such unapologetic hostility by the highest court in the land for the millennia-old social understanding of marriage is a game changer for Church leaders as well as lawmakers. Those who reject this new thinking must tread carefully as they chart the best path to navigate this altered landscape.

In this difficult context, the Church must continue to care for its flock and to bear witness to Christian love — especially to those at society’s margins, as Pope Francis has so eloquently emphasized, including to persons who experience same-sex attraction.

Yet what is missing from Cardinal Dolan’s own statements addressing the debate over the parade is plain speech about the larger issues at stake, as homosexual-rights activists gain ground in their campaign to transform the event into a political platform advancing their own agenda. We are in the midst of a clash of civilizations — in this case, not between the West and Islam, but between Catholicism and the current mainstream culture.

The cardinal was more forthright last year when he went to the op-ed pages of the New York Daily News to defend the right of a priest to explain Church teaching on homosexuality to parents at a local Catholic boys’ school. “It seems that no one can talk of virtue anymore without, at the very least, being labeled out of touch with reality, and in this case, accused of far worse — spreading hatred,” Cardinal Dolan observed.

Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago, in a Sept. 7 column in his archdiocesan Catholic New World newspaper, was equally candid about the problems posed by a value system, sanctioned and imposed by ruling elites, that collides with Catholic teaching.

“Since the biblical vision of what it means to be human tells us that not every friendship or love can be expressed in sexual relations, the Church’s teaching on these issues is now evidence of intolerance for what the civil law upholds and even imposes,” wrote Cardinal George. “[T]those who do not conform to the official religion, we are warned, place their citizenship in danger.”

Where does this leave ordinary Catholics?

Wrote Cardinal George, “The inevitable result is a crisis of belief for many Catholics.” And he went on to suggest that “many have opted to go along with the powers that be. This reduces a great tension in their lives, although it also brings with it the worship of a false god.”

Cardinal George, though he did not specifically address the parade controversy, asked the faithful to step back from their attachment to traditions that may have outlived their value and rethink the best way to use their time and treasure. As the earth moves under our feet, we must cling to Christ and his Church and prepare ourselves
for future tests that will come soon enough.

“Catholics do know, with the certainty of faith, that, when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, the Church, in some recognizable shape or form that is both Catholic and apostolic, will be there to meet him,” he concluded. “There is no such divine guarantee for any country, culture or society of this or any age.”