Praise

By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 06, 2003

Thanks for the head's-up, Fr. Wilson. A bright tear coursed down my cheek in reading Bronson Havard's defense of Bishop Grahmann:

But for whatever motive, The Morning News and some of its columnists don't want to give an ounce of credit to Bishop Grahmann for settling, within 11 months, the record $120 million jury award against the diocese in 1997 for $31 million ($11 million from the diocese and $20 million from insurance). He avoided bankruptcy, victims' further suffering and an extended legal conflict. I was in his office at that dramatic moment in July 1998 when the then-papal nuncio, Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, called him and praised him on behalf of the pope and the Catholic Church.

I'll bet it was dramatic moment.

"Permit me to extend the most cordial felicitations to your Excellency for your Excellency's remarkable witness to faith and evangelical zeal in transforming the Diocese of Dallas from a tiny ecclesial backwater to a major, vibrant American see with a Sodomy Outlay of $31 million. We of the older churches can but marvel at the advances in tort law and beachwear fashions which have insured that the lay faithful will, in finanical terms, contribute more for their pastors' buggery than their breviaries -- and that for many years to come. Allow me as well to congratulate the Rector of your Excellency's cathedral. Your Excellency will, I trust, forgive me if I don a latex glove before shaking his hand. Auguri e arrivederci!"