Fr. Dwight Longenecker
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has said that capitalism has collapsed. Much has been made over the observation from Pope John Paul II that there were two materialistic, atheistic systems in world power: communism and unrestrained capitalism. Cardinal Murphy O’Connor seems to be echoing those sentiments by suggesting that, just as communism tumbled, so now capitalism (because of the credit crunch) is crumbling.
The remark has got him into hot water with the UK government, who, like many governments are trying to appear calm in the midst of the worst economic meltdown since the depression. The further irony is that the Cardinal made his comments at a posh fund raising dinner to which the richest and most influential Catholics in Britain were invited to cough up funds for the British Bishops…but if the Cardinal’s words are true, then maybe they were just the ones to hear the message.
It might have done their souls some good, even if it wasn’t the wisest remark at a fund raising dinner replete with plenty of fat cat capitalists.
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