I would not have used the word "crusade" to describe responsible Catholic leadership but it does grab one's attention. The recent interchange between Archbishop Dolan and Maureen Dowd (and the NY Times) is not all that interesting: most with-it Catholics know and understand the archbishop to be correct in his assessment. The thesis is not original to the Archbishop. A book length exposition on anti-Catholic bias was done by Philip Jenkins in The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (OUP, 2003). Jenkins explores the liberal anti-Catholic bias and the reasons why many just accept it while the same can't be said in the Jewish and Muslim communities.
So, one can barely say that Dolan's criticism is newsworthy. EXCEPT to say that his pointing out in a rather public way (thanks be to God!) that Dowd and the Times is in fact, anti-Catholic, and this type public engagement with the press hasn't been done too much in since Cardinal O'Connor died in 2000. Remember, O'Connor regularly spoke to the press, especially following the 10:15 Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick. His successor, Cardinal Egan, didn't much engage the media when he was the archbishop of the Capital of the World.
Take a look at Joseph Bottom's piece in the NY Post today.
Read Archbishop Dolan's comments on his blog, The Gospel in the Digital Age
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