Judge a man by his enemies?

By Domenico Bettinelli, Jr. ( articles - email ) | Jul 01, 2003

I've heard some good things about Archbishop-elect Sean O'Malley, although you'll excuse me if I wait to render final judgment to see if his "orthopraxis" lives up to his reputation for "orthodoxy."

However, I'm given further hope as I see that the ubiquitous Fr. Richard "Where's my collar" McBrien weighs in on O'Malley. In today's Boston Globe he says:

The Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a theologian at the University of Notre Dame, said Bostonians should not expect dramatic change: "The biggest difference between him and Cardinal Law is his last name. There will be absolutely no difference in the approach to church issues, theological issues, or pastoral problems. "He is very conservative, and if Voice of the Faithful or the Boston Priests Forum or any others in the diocese expect him to be any different from Cardinal Law or Bishop Lennon in terms of being open, they'll be very disappointed."

And the Boston Herald quotes the liberal theology professor, too:

The Rev. Richard McBrien, a liberal theologian at the University of Notre Dame, said despite all the kudos O'Malley has won for his response to clergy sex abuse, he is still a conservative priest who would be "uncritically loyal to the Holy See and would not veer one millimeter from its policies and teachings on anything."

Horrors! Unwavering adherence to the Church's teachings! And what's with the reference to "despite the kudos"" McBrien obviously has no compunction with revealing his antipathy toward loyalty to Peter's successor and the infallible teachings of Christ.

If this is what McBrien thinks of O'Malley, my hopes have been raised.