Old Liberal Cardinal Just Won't Go Away

Edit: there's almost complete silence on this, the Puerto Rican Archbishop who won't go away, either, among other things, but there is no shortage of senior clergy who won't do everyone a favor and step down. They seem to get passed over by the usual suspects, especially when there are real Catholics who can be attacked for not being in tune with today's "Church".

[La Times] The next day, a church spokesman said Mahony was "reducing his public profile" voluntarily. The cardinal had taken it upon himself to cancel appearances, including confirmations, the spokesman said.

But at the very same hour, Mahony was mounting a high-profile defense. In an extraordinary open letter to Gomez posted on his blog, the cardinal struck an aggrieved tone. "Not once over these past years did you ever raise any questions about our policies, practices, or procedures" for abuse cases, he wrote.

Gomez subsequently released a statement he said was designed to clear up "confusion" in the media: "Cardinal Mahony has all the prerogatives and privileges of his standing as a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church." [Why?]

Link to LA Times...

Here's an article by Charles Coulombe, a longtime foe of Cardinal Mahony in an piece entitled Cardinal Unbound.

[New Oxford Review] All the world, Catholic and otherwise, was agog at the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI and is keen to find out where Pope Francis is going to lead us. His record as a Jesuit and Archbishop of Buenos Aires is being scoured, his every action carefully examined for clues. No doubt the forthcoming months and years will reveal all. But against the background music of that cosmic orchestra is heard the codetta of a tinny kazoo: the implicit criticisms of Benedict XVI made on Twitter by Roger Cardinal Mahony, Dowager Archbishop of Los Angeles. Here is a sampling from the cardinalatial bouquet:

“So long, Papal ermine and fancy lace! Welcome, simple cassock, and hopefully, ordinary black shoes! St. Francis must be overjoyed!”

“Mass with Pope Francis: moving from HIGH Church to LOW and humble Church! What a blessing that we are encountering Jesus without trappings!”
Link to NOR....

 He didn't have the grace to stay home from the Conclave, despite calls to do some from senior Church officials, so he's unlikely to shut up now.  For many, including Robert Keiser, the Cardinal is a possible sign for discontinuity, revolutionary change and adopting the sins of the modern age.