Arch-Politician of Massachusetts

The sparkling eyes and woolly white beard give Sean O'Malley the look of a frisky goat. One wants to like him. Yet, he makes it virtually impossible.

Yesterday alone, he did a double whammy, slapping and then patronizing gays in general and his gay parishioners in particular. Two, two, two insults in one. Specifically:

• He backed out of the Catholic Charities dinner, which is to raise funds for the poor and hono Tom Menino for his work for the underprivileged.
• He said that the church is still opposed to gay marriage, but non-sexually active gays are still welcome (bring cash).

Unfortunately, the first act shows him at his worst.

The Catholic World News quotes the odious C.J. Doyle on the issue as calling Da Mare "relentless opposition to the moral teachings of the Roman Catholic Church." That head of the anti-everything-liberal and loving Cacholic Action League cannot separate Menino's good deeds from self-righteous judgments (left in the Christian faith to God, supposedly).

For himself, O'Malley again showed that he'll play politics first, even if it means hurting the needy and ignorning his Christian duty in the process. As his statement put it, "In light of the Mayor's past statements concerning abortion and same-sex marriage policies, the Archbishop regrets that he cannot attend the dinner."

History has never been kind to such hypocrisy.

At the same time, in a letter to the archdiocese's 300 parishes, our whiskered prelate tried his politics on estranged gay Catholics. The joke in saying that Catholics should not be hateful or discriminate against homosexuals is that O'Malley is trying to overturn legal same-sex marriage.

That's not hateful or discriminatory he writes: "The stand on marriage is in defense of an institution we feel is crucial for children, family life, and society." The the rest of us, it's pure politics, apparently his forte.

The letter reads in part, ''Many homosexual persons in our church lead holy lives and make an outstanding contribution to the life of the church by their service, generosity and the sharing of their spiritual gifts. We must strive to eradicate prejudices against people with a homosexual orientation."

It also iterated that sex outside of marriage is a sin. So, ha ha, if he has his way, homosexual cannot marry and any fornication on their part is mortal sin. Ha ha.

It's a pity that a mean brain is behind those pleasant eyes. He need only welcome married same-sex Catholic couples to give power to his words.