John Boehner’s Catholic controversies

House Speaker John Boehner.

House Speaker John Boehner, up until recently, was known for crying in public and the oddly orange hue of his skin. 

A series of unfortunate events last week, however, turned him into a public figure who couldn’t please Catholics no matter what he did.

This is a story about two Irish Catholic priests, the ongoing fallout from the Catholic Church sex scandals, the looming 2012 presidential race, and how religion plays a complicated role when it comes to hot-button topics such as abortion, but also poverty, immigration and social justice.

This all began when Republican Boehner was invited to give the commencement address at Catholic University in Washington D.C.  There is often a kerfuffle when invitations such as these are extended. 

Who can forget the outrage when President Obama -- who supports a woman’s right to choose on the
issue of abortion -- was asked to address Notre Dame’s graduating class a couple of years back?
Other Democrats have faced similar protests, whether the issue is speaking at a Catholic college or receiving communion during a heated campaign.

For this reason, Boehner (who was himself raised Catholic) seemed like a safe choice for Catholic University. 

After all, though Catholics have traditionally been Democrats throughout American history, a shift has taken place in recent decades.  Especially among avid churchgoers, the lean towards the Republican Party has become prominent.

Perhaps that’s why over 70 priests, nuns and faculty members from Catholic colleges decided to examine Boehner’s record on issues that are not abortion, and yet are still important to church teachings.

"Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it," their letter reads.

The letter particularly cited proposed cuts in the Boehner-supported budget to Medicare, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program and food stamps. 

According to the letter, the budget "guts long-established protections for the most vulnerable members of society."

Boehner ended up giving the commencement address (and, of course, weeping), without referring to the dust-up. 

Interestingly, this conflict didn’t get nearly the attention that other church-politician conflicts normally get.  Why?

I suspect the mainstream media prefers it when Catholics keep things simple and stick to abortion, rather than thornier social issues such as the death penalty, poverty, labor rights and even immigration.

But in case Boehner thought he had earned a well-deserved rest from Catholic controversy, he was wrong.
Boehner also recently nominated an Irish American priest, Father Patrick J. Conroy, to hold the position of chaplain for the House of Representatives.  The position opened up when another Irish American, Father Daniel Coughlin -- the first ever Catholic priest to hold the chaplain position --announced his retirement last month.

On the surface, this seems like an acknowledgement of Catholic political clout. 

However, things got ugly last week when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, rescinded earlier support she’d lent to Conroy’s nomination.  Pelosi’s office said “new information” had come to light regarding Conroy. 

Though accused of no wrongdoing himself, Conroy works for the Oregon Province of the Society of Jesus, commonly referred to as the Northwest Jesuits.  This order agreed to pay $166 million to victims of sexual abuse earlier this year.

According to Pelosi, Boehner's office did not mention that settlement during the vetting process.
Conroy is expected to land the coveted chaplain’s post.  But not before proving what a lightning rod Catholicism can be in this day and age.

And just wait until presidential contender Newt Gingrich -- thrice married -- gets on the campaign trail and goes on and on about his newfound Catholic faith.

Maybe it’s good that Catholics can cause trouble for both Republicans and Democrats.  For too long, politicians have sought to exploit their connection to religious values, without thinking through all of the implications of this connection.

Or, perhaps, things will just keep going on the same messy, messy course.

(Contact Sidewalks at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

A nation of ‘insecure’ immigrants - debate set to get nasty

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.

There is a new book out by Georgetown professor Susan Martin entitled A Nation of Immigrants. That title is a no-brainer for a book such as this, though we’ve thrown that noble phrase around for so long that we’ve lost track of where it actually originated.

Fittingly, as The New York Times reminded us this week, it was that most famous Irish American, John F. Kennedy, who also wrote a book entitled A Nation of Immigrants back in 1958. Of course, that book was released at a time of historically low immigration to the U.S.

Martin’s new book reminds us that immigration has always been a vexing question for Americans, and that includes 18th century Americans who lived in this country when it was practically still a teenager.

In recent weeks -- especially with the killing of Osama bin Laden -- the debate over immigration has waned somewhat.

But with the election of 2012 looming -- Newt Gingrich planned to announce this week that he would be entering the race -- you can bet the debate over immigration is going to rise back to the top of the agenda.
And just as likely, you can bet it’s going to be nasty.

For proof of that, we can take a closer look at two prominent Irish Americans who are speaking out against a controversial federal program which, critics say, unfairly targets undocumented immigrants.

Just last week, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn came out and said he was planning to sever his state’s ties to what was believed to be a voluntary partnership with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security.

Known as Secure Communities, the ICE-run program was designed to target undocumented immigrants who are also known to be dangerous criminals.

Who could be against that? Especially in this age of terrorism? And especially now that we know Osama’s followers are likely to seek revenge for his death?

So why would Quinn opt out of Secure Communities?

Well, first of all, this was supposed to be an optional program. State governors signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the understanding that their states could opt out of the program.

ICE officials, however, are now beginning to claim that the Secure Communities program is, in fact, mandatory.

Furthermore, it turns out that while ICE claims the program targets only hardened criminals, the reality is very different.

Quinn and many others are claiming a high percentage -- as many as four in five -- of immigrants targeted under Secure Communities have no criminal record or were picked up on minor offenses.

This has led to charges that Secure Communities is leading to the indiscriminate deportation of immigrants.
Of course, there is the old argument -- what part of illegal do you not understand?

Some people note the presence of an undocumented immigrant on U.S. soil is a crime in and of itself, so they should be deported either way.

But there are practical and historical reasons for worrying about a program such as Secure Communities.

It goes without saying that we should do everything we can to get terrorists or criminals out of the country.
More importantly, we need to do our best to keep them from getting in in the first place.

But let’s also not pretend that all past immigration -- including many Irish parents, grandparents and great-grandparents -- was legal and neat.

Furthermore, law enforcement officials such as New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly have voiced concerns over programs such as Secure Communities, and not just because of his own immigrant roots.

Police officials worry that driving immigrants into the shadows will make them much less likely to report crimes or act as witnesses. In this sense, the program does not deter crime at all.

The next thing to keep your eye on is what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will do about the state’s participation in Secure Communities. Staff members said he is reviewing the details.

In the long run, one thing is for sure -- you can bet this is going to be more ugly than pretty when the 2012 presidential race heats up.

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

The good and bad guys - FBI's most wanted and possible new head honchos

Upon hearing the news that terror mastermind Osama bin Laden had been killed, James and Patrick Dowdell reportedly sped from Rockaway to Ground Zero. They brought with them bagpipes to join the gathering crowds Sunday night and mark the killing of bin Laden, who was responsible for the death of their brother, FDNY Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell, one of nearly 3,000 souls who perished that awful morning almost a decade ago.

It was an indication of how the Irish American community -- hit so hard by the terror attacks -- responded to this long awaited news.

Now that bin Laden has been sent off to (we can only hope) a much worse place, there remain practical matters of law enforcement to sort out.

For example, it has generally been accepted that while Osama bin Laden was public enemy number one, Boston Irish gangster James “Whitey” Bulger was the second Most Wanted man.

If he is still alive, of course. As Irishcentral.com and other outlets have noted, rumors have been swirling that Bulger recently died of a heart attack in Costa Rica.

Either way, Bulger has proven useful to certain Pakistani authorities who are under the gun for possibly allowing bin Laden to live right under their noses.

"If Whitey Bulger can live undetected by American police for so long, why can't Osama bin Laden live undetected by Pakistani authorities?" asked Ambassador Husain Haqqani, in an interview posted on The Atlantic magazine’s website.

But maybe that’s enough about the bad guys. In the past week numerous Irish Americans have emerged who are “wanted” for all of the right reasons.

Consider two big-time crime fighters, one from New York and one from Chicago. New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and U.S. attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald are among those being considered to lead the FBI.

Current FBI head Robert Mueller took over the agency just one week before the terror attacks of 9/11. His 10-year term is now drawing to a close.

A committee led by Vice President Joe Biden is looking closely at replacing Mueller. Fitzgerald, the son of Irish immigrants, is among the candidates.

“Mr. Fitzgerald, a longtime prosecutor and a holdover United States attorney from the Bush administration, has a strong reputation for independence, as leader of the investigation into the leak of the name of a Central Intelligence Agency operative, Valerie Plame Wilson,” a New York Times analysis noted.

However, Fitzgerald’s “willingness to challenge the Bush White House could give its current occupants pause, though they would never say so in public.”

Kelly, “by contrast, is a Democrat with a strong law enforcement résumé.

“Before becoming commissioner of the New York Police Department, he was a Treasury Department official during the Clinton administration and supervised the U.S. Customs Service, the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, has endorsed him for the F.B.I. position.”

The Times did note that Kelly’s age, 70, could pose a problem, given the 10 year-term FBI leaders serve.
Meanwhile, all of the news about the beatification of Pope John Paul II has made it easy to forget that the most popular Irish American priest of the 20th century is also “wanted” -- as a serious candidate for sainthood.

The case for Fulton Sheen’s beatification had stalled, reportedly because of conflicts between the New York Archdiocese and the one in Sheen’s native Peoria, Illinois.

Sheen was the star of a highly rated TV show in the 1950s called Life Is Worth Living. He also wrote best-selling books, a popular newspaper column, appeared on the cover of Time, and is credited for making Catholicism acceptable to many Americans in the 1950s.

This month Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria is expected to file documents with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the Vatican, which will then begin its own investigation into the cause of Sheen’s sainthood.

This comes as Buffalo priest Father Nelson Baker (1842-1936) also moves closer the sainthood, which would reportedly make him the first Irish American saint.

So, at this uncertain moment in out nation’s history, it’s useful to pause and realize that some people are “wanted” for all the right reasons.

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

Beware ‘hunger’ for government reform

Hofstra University Professor Maureen Murphy.

In some ways, 1996 seems so very long ago.

It was a pre-9/11 world, so America wasn’t waging a long-term war abroad, much less two or even three long-term wars. 

Also, in 1996, there were no iPods or iPads or Facebooks, and gasoline cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $1 a gallon.

That was also the year an array of Irish American educators and lawmakers got together and formed an impressive coalition which convinced state lawmakers that all students in New York State should learn about the Great Hunger, the
 Irish Famine which sent millions of desperate Irish across the globe in the 1840s. 

More on the Great Hunger in a moment.

These days, of course, we are waging bloody war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and something very much like it in Libya.  In 2011, we text, we tweet and, therefore, we are.

But there are important similarities between then and now.  President Bill Clinton suffered a big defeat in the 1994 congressional elections, when Republicans, led by Newt Gingrich, took over both houses of Congress.

This led to fundamental questions about the role of government in the 1996 presidential campaign. Similar questions are being asked now, in the wake of the defeat Democrats suffered in the 2010 elections, and with the 2012 presidential race looming.

This, in and of itself, is a good thing.  We should never be afraid to question the status quo, especially when hard-earned taxpayer money is the focus of these questions.

New York Daily News columnist Bill Hammond took state lawmakers to task last week in a column entitled
“The Mandate Mess: Pols Dream Up Wasteful Programs, We Pay for Them.”

“Like the road to hell, the highway to New York State's broken government is paved with good intentions,”

Hammond wrote. “Year in and year out, well-meaning Albany politicians set out to make the world a better place.”

Hammond later cites “questionable mandates” such as those which “require schools to teach about the Irish

Potato Famine, calculate the body-mass index of each student and hire four separate contractors for major construction projects.”

Irish Americans swiftly responded, defending the value of learning about the Great Hunger.

“Bill Hammond doesn't think the Irish Potato Famine is worthwhile subject matter for the children of New York?” Damian McShane of the Bronx asked in the News’ vaunted “Voice of the People” section. 

“Perhaps (Hammond) should learn the history of that event, so he could better understand the lessons children can take from it. The evils of colonialism. Racism and discrimination in Europe. The first great wave of immigration to this country. 

“These topics seem pretty relevant to me, given what's going on in the world. But apparently they're not the kind of thing Hammond thinks our children should learn -- or the kind of information one needs to get a journalism degree.”

Hard to argue with that.  Of course, Hammond might say he was trying to make a larger point.  Hammond, after all, doesn’t doubt that the lawmakers have good intentions.

“What they generally fail to do…is think all the way through the real-world consequences of their social engineering. And they almost never follow up to see what actually happens,” he adds.

The basic question -- should state governments be in the business of deciding small-scale issues such as what should be taught in history classrooms?

What Hammond and many of today’s vociferous government critics fail to address is that state governments are often simply responding to grass roots movements. 

The Great Irish Famine curriculum was not implemented because a few lawmakers decided willy-nilly that they want to be nice to the Irish.  Hofstra University’s Maureen Murphy and many other like-minded educators built an impressive coalition and pressed lawmakers into action.

The lawmakers, thus, were representing the will of a vocal group of like-minded people.  That’s pretty much how Democracy works. 

It’s not to say the will of the people is always wise.  Sometimes it’s downright dumb.  Democracy, after all, is a messy business. 

As Winston Churchill (who knew a thing or two about butting heads with the Irish) noted, democracy is the worst form of government…except for all of the other ones.

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

An Irish American Serb story

Bosko Radonjic.

In June of 1979, a hijacked Boeing 727 landed at Ireland's Shannon airport.  The plane had been commandeered by a Serbian nationalist who had been flying to Chicago, to be sentenced on a bombing charge. 

Before the plane landed, however, the Serb, named Nikola Kavaja, burst into the cockpit and claimed to have a bomb.  Kavaja eventually freed most of the crew and passengers, but maintained control of the plane.

His ultimate plan was to fly the aircraft to Yugoslavia and crash it into a building housing Communist officials.

The plane, however, ran low on fuel and had to land at Shannon, where the hijacker ultimately surrendered. 
Ireland did not have an extradition treaty with the U.S., though diplomats scurried to put one together in about five minutes, so that Kavaja could be handed over to U.S. authorities.  He was arrested in Dublin and Kavaja was ultimately sentenced to 20 years in jail.

This is one of the few, and certainly most colorful, Irish-American-Serb stories out there. But it is not the only Irish-American-Serb story.

A close associate of Kavaja's, who went to prison for participating in the same bombing, was a man by the name of Bosko Radonjic, who died earlier this month in Belgrade at the age of 67.

Known as "The Yugo," Radonjic had earlier lived in New York City before serving three years for the Chicago bombing. Radonjic later returned to New York City, where he found work as a humble parking lot attendant.

It so happens that Radonjic settled on the West Side of Manhattan, an enclave known as Hell's Kitchen.  At the time, for an enterprising young man unafraid to spill blood, this was not a bad place to be. 

Within a decade, Radonjic would find himself aligned with John Gotti. The Serb would also become the unlikely leader of the most famous Irish American criminal gang in New York history.

But that's getting ahead of ourselves. The year was 1982.  The bars and docks and gambling halls and loan-sharking operations in Hell's Kitchen were generally ruled by Jimmy Coonan and the Westies, the Irish American gang linked to the Gambino crime family.

Just a few years earlier, Westies leaders Jimmy Coonan and Mickey Featherstone had been in prison. But the duo had maintained control of the West Side.

Though heavily Irish, the Westies were willing to take on an associate who could earn and take care of himself.  So, beginning in 1983, Radonjic -- "The Yugo" -- went to work for Coonan.

Two years later, the killing of Gambino kingpin John Castellano outside of Spark's steakhouse in Manhattan shocked the underworld. Gotti was now ruling the Gambino family, and proved willing to work with the Westies.

Soon enough, however, the Westies themselves were in decline.

Featherstone began providing the government with information about Irish associates such as Coonan, "Mugsy Ritter" and James McElroy, some of whom were sentenced to decades in prison.

This came just as the West Side was flush with cash, thanks to yuppies willing to live in the formerly rough neighborhood because of its affordable rents.  Not a few of those yuppies were interested in buying cocaine.

Irish American Westies such as Kenny Shannon and Kevin Kelly spent several years attempting to exploit this market.  But police pressure grew too great and they turned themselves in. 

And so, as the 1990s dawned, it was time to call in "The Yugo." Bosko Radonjic became the acknowledged leader of what remained of the Westies, dabbling in high-profile burglaries. 

But even The Yugo couldn't stand the heat in Hell's Kitchen.  He returned to his native Serbia in the early 1990s where, during the wars that wracked that region, he became a close adviser to accused war criminal Radovan Karadzic. 

The Yugo was eventually arrested on jury-tampering charges in 1999, but he was released when the main witness against him -- Sammy "The Bull" Gravano -- was deemed unreliable.

The Westies.  A war criminal.  Sammy the Bull.  The Teflon Don.
Yup. It's just your average Irish American Serb story.

(Contact "Sidewalks" at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

The Catholic Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln

Robert Redford at the New York premiere of his new movie The Conspirator on Monday night.

MICHAEL O’Laughlin grew up on the same Baltimore Street as one of the most infamous villains in American history -- John Wilkes Booth. Booth remembered O’Laughlin -- and sought his help -- when the actor-turned-villain began to plan the crime of the century.

Booth, of course, achieved notoriety in April of 1865, when he assassinated Abraham Lincoln.  This tragedy came just days after Lincoln finally managed to steer the North to victory over the South in the Civil War. 
Had the result been different, the course of world history would have been radically altered.

It has been 150 years now since the first shots of the Civil War were fired.  There has been a deluge of TV specials, newspaper articles and commemorative events exploring this anniversary. 

Meanwhile, Robert Redford’s latest movie, The Conspirator, takes a close look at the assassination and trial of the conspirators who hatched the plot to kill Lincoln.

At the center of Redford’s new movie, in fact, is Mary Surratt (played by Robin
Wright), who was accused of participating in the plot to kill Lincoln and assist Booth’s escape. 

Much was made, in the frenzy following Lincoln’s assassination, of Surratt’s religion.  She was, after all, a devout Roman Catholic.

In fact, when you consider that Surratt as well as her accused son, John, were Catholics, and a man with the name of O’Laughlin was among those accused of taking part in the plot to kill Lincoln, it should be no surprise that a conspiracy theory swiftly took hold that Catholics were at the center of the plot to kill Lincoln.

The Internet, to this day, is filled with theories outlining the Vatican’s role in killing Lincoln, not to mention the Jesuits’.

An ex-priest who Lincoln had once defended in court named Charles Chiniquy, once asserted that, when it came to whacking the American president, "the Jesuits alone could select the assassins, train them, and show them a crown of glory in heaven.”

Redford’s new movie, according to reports, actually makes note of Mary
Surratt’s religious background, which certainly did not help her in the eyes of her accusers and public opinion.  (Neither did it help that Surratt actually had hosted meetings held by the conspirators to kill Lincoln.)

Of course, America had a deeply anti-Catholic strain in the 1860s.  The Jesuits, at this time, were accused of many evil, anti-American deeds.

O’Laughlin, meanwhile, did play a role in an earlier attempt to kidnap the president, though his religious background has been under debate for years, with some believing he was Catholic while others argued he was actually Methodist.

Either way, it should be added that it is understandable why some might believe Catholics were responsible.

John Surratt, for one, had planned on becoming a priest, had met with Booth to plan to kidnap Lincoln on March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day!) of 1865, and even fled to Rome after Booth killed the president.

Meanwhile, Lincoln is now one of the most revered men in American history.  But that was not the case during the actual Civil War. 

Among his most passionate opponents were certain Irish Catholics.  After all, Irish loyalty to the Democratic party by then was strong. 

Lincoln, of course, was a Republican.  In fact, the newly-created Republican Party was a coalition which included Know Nothings and other anti-immigrant groups.

It was Lincoln who was blamed for drafting Irish immigrants into fighting a war they didn’t understand. 
Not for nothing does the song “Paddy’s Lament” include the angry line, “Paddy, you must go and fight for Lincoln.”

Of course, political anger is one thing.  Assassination is another. 

As for Redford, he believes his movie -- which is about the trial of an outsider 150 years ago -- has relevance today.

Referring to Guantánamo Bay and other military tribunals in the news, Redford told Parade magazine, “Obviously, I could see the parallels to the present.”

Good thing we don’t assume members of certain religious groups are inherently violent anymore, right?

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)

All eyes on Guantanamo but…

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Sean Patrick Riordan is an Irish American attorney who has worked with the Feal Good Foundation, an organization which advocates on behalf of 9/11 first responders. 

Riordan, who has roots in Cork, Mayo and Armagh, served as moderator at a recent forum designed to educate first responders and their families about the nuts and bolts of the $2.8 billion Zadroga Bill, the controversial legislation passed late last year meant to compensate first responders for illnesses suffered while working at Ground Zero.

Of course, with all that money comes a lot of questions – and controversy. 

Just last week a legal firm got itself into some hot water when it ran an advertisement prominently featuring a firefighter.  The text accompanying the ad declared “I was there,” and went on to outline how the legal firm could assist the families of first responders.

The only trouble is that the firefighter depicted in the ad was actually not at Ground Zero.  There was much hue and cry, the firefighter threatened to sue, and the legal firm apologized.  (Though, according to a judge, the firm had not done anything technically wrong.)

Anyway, this all goes to show you that the Zadroga Bill, as great as a victory as it was for 9/11 families, can turn messy very quickly.  This point was not lost at the forum recently moderated by Riordan.

Sometime next month, a so-called “special master” is expected to be named regarding the funds available under the Zadroga Bill and how those funds can be divided up. That person, many observers agree, will have a crucial duty -- to make a difficult process run in a relatively smooth fashion.

If the wrong person is tapped as special master?  Things can get nasty very quickly.

Of course, unless you were one of 250 or so people who went to the Zadroga Bill forum in Queens last month, you might not know much about this.  That’s because once the Zadroga Bill was finally passed to much hoopla, the story pretty much fell off of the media radar screen.

This week, of course, all the talk is about the decision to try the criminals behind 9/11 at Guantanamo Bay, rather than in downtown New York.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was among those who support not holding the trial in New York.  However, this stinks of weakness to some Irish American observers.

“Our job was to bring Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the others to sure and swift justice as the murderers they are. And the only right way to do it was with the very system they sought to destroy and so many courageous Americans have died defending,” columnist Michael Daly wrote in Tuesday’s Daily News.

“Instead, we called these criminals enemy combatants and we lost faith in our own courts and laws. Some of us were afraid the trial would make our city a target. Others were so shameless as to complain about the inconvenience.”

Nevertheless, with all due respect, it’s hard for many New Yorkers not to breath a sigh of relief.   It seems there is no easy answer on this one. 

And, indeed, viewing these terrorists as a hazy new thing called “enemy combatants” does set a troubling precedent. 

Nevertheless, it seems to me you could forgive any family who suffered as a result of 9/11 for worrying that something horrible could happen as a result of a protracted terror trial in downtown Manhattan. Anything from a terror attack to a much-needed ambulance stuck in snarled traffic could inflict further pain on New Yorkers who have already put up with enough.

The broader point, though, is that while we jack up the rhetoric arguing for or against the terror trial, we have once again forgotten the day-to-day travails of first responders. 

Where is the public debate on who will become the “special master?”  This is a position that is expected to be filled next month! 

As it is, winning passage of the Zadroga Bill was extremely laborious and painful.  Implementing it could be worse.  It has to be handled with delicacy and respect. 

There are people in the trenches doing great work preparing for this process.

But will we be ready when the rhetoric and headlines turn nasty?

(Contact “Sidewalks” at tomdeignan@earthlink.net or facebook.com/tomdeignan)