Cardinal George Misquoted

Cardinal George Misquoted June 22, 2010

This is interesting. I wish the USCCB would give us the transcript, because it would indicate where the misquotes come from, and I see no reason why an anonymous version of the transcript could not be released to help us know what really happened. Nonetheless, according to Helen Osman at the USCCB website:

It appears that Catholic News Agency would benefit from a similar strategy. To put it plain and simple, the quotes they attribute to Cardinal Francis George in their story (also posted on EWTN) are just wrong. I was in the room, as a member of the USCCB staff, for the presentation. And the official audio file that recorded the session for USCCB archives confirms my memory.

While the cardinal did present a sequence of events to the bishops, he never used the phrase “so-called Catholic,” accused the Catholic Health Association of creating a “parallel magisterium” or said the meeting of the three bishops with Sr. Keehan had “frustrating results.” And that’s just three examples. Not to mention that the reporting of the events is just plain wrong: for an example, the Stupak Amendment was not defeated in the Senate in December 2009, as the article states.

While this is good, I do hope the bishops, and Cardinal George, reflect on the way the USCCB’s positions have been misunderstood, and abused, by many for the sake of political gain.


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