I not only love Timothy Cardinal Dolan, but I am COMMANDED by my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to love him.

There is no wiggle room on this.

I am commanded to love him.  As I am commanded to hold him, even a Prince of the Church, to account.

Simply put, and for whatever little it is worth, I do not feel this man is anywhere fit to be the pope in relation to the times in which we find ourselves.

As I stated in a Facebook discussion yesterday with a prominent American blogger, the Archbishop Cardinal is a man with whom I’d have no problem sitting bar-side, tilting back a few beers and watching his Packers get spanked following Sunday Mass.  But I do have a problem with his approach in handling those who would rather spit in the face of the very Bride of Christ.

I have a big problem with that.

I will not go into all the details that are currently out there for public consumption.  But I will present two paragraphs in a recent open-letter to NY Governor Cuomo to underline my concern:

“As we have discussed in the past, we obviously disagree on the question of the legality of abortion, but surely we are in equally strong agreement that the abortion rate in New York is tragically high. There was a time when abortion supporters claimed they wanted to make abortion “safe, legal, and rare.” Yet this measure is specifically designed to expand access to abortion, and therefore to increase the abortion rate. I am hard pressed to think of a piece of legislation that is less needed or more harmful than this one.

I do hope you will reconsider this position. I stand ready and eager to discuss this or any other matter with you at any time. My brother bishops and I would very much like to work closely with you to reduce New York’s scandalous abortion rate and to provide an environment for all women and girls in which they are not made to feel as though their only alternative is to abort, something which goes against all human instinct, and which all too often leads to lifelong feelings of regret, guilt and pain for them, and for the baby’s father as well.”

Work closely with Cuomo to reduce the abortion rate?  Leads to lifelong feelings?  How about leads to eternal damnation, your Eminence.

These aren’t just words coming from a Catholic Cardinal.  They are, in my estimation, unbecoming words of a Catholic Cardinal.

And still, Mary Wagner sits in jail.

Cardinal Dolan, there is a seat waiting for you in New York.  If you would only be brave enough… to take it.