Joke du Jour (Update, Update II)

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, as quoted at Joe.My.God.:

"We've been caricatured as being anti-gay," Dolan said in an interview airing Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press. "And as much as we'd say, 'Wait a minute, we're pro marriage, we're pro traditional marriage, we're not anti anybody,' I don't know. "When you have forces like Hollywood, when you have forces like politicians, when you have forces like some opinion-molders that are behind it, it's a tough battle," he said. The legal battle over same-sex marriage has moved to states, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision striking down a tenet of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. "I think I'd be a Pollyanna to say that there doesn't seem to be kind of a stampede to do this," Dolan told David Gregory of Meet the Press. "I regret that. I wish that were not the case for the states."

"Caricatured"? Is he serious? This from one of the most stridently anti-gay voices in the public sphere -- who, incidentally, did his share to cover up child sexual abuse by Catholic priests and to shield the Church's money from the victims' awards for reparations.

If the hierarchy really wonders why the Church is losing adherents, they need look no farther than Cardinal Timothy Dolan, whose moral compass seems to be pointing due South.

Update: And if the good Cardinal wants to know why the Church is seen as homophobic, he might want to consult with one of his colleagues from Malta:

Malta’s Auxiliary Bishop has spoken out to express his displeasure at the lack of a clear difference between marriage and civil partnerships in the debate around civil partnerships for same-sex couples in Malta, saying that gay people do “not produce offspring” so do “not have a role in society”.

Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna made the comments on PBS’s Dissett, during an interview with the PBS Head of News Reno Bugeja.

“While the sexual activity of heterosexual couples has a fundamental role in producing future members of the society, that of same-sex couples does not have a role in society as it does not produce offspring,” he said.

The more I look at that statement, the more mind-numbingly stupid it appears. What ever gave the bishop that anyone's sex life has anything to do with "society"? I'll continue to keep mine private, thank you.

(Update II:) A number of the commenters on this story have pointed out that, if he's following the rules, the bishop has not procreated either, and thus has no place in society.