Hey, This Is A Story With A Quirky Ending

[4588686]

Fr. Sultan J. Hasan 

[Nihil Obstat]

During the 1964 presidential election, Hasan supported Lyndon B. Johnson, whose Higher Education Facilities Act and Economic Opportunity Act had greatly benefited the Church.^[1] The Cardinal later agreed to Johnson's requests to send priests to the Dominican Republic to defuse anti-American sentiments following the invasion of 1965.^[1]

Hasan was an outspoken supporter of the Vietnam War, to the extent that the conflict became known as "Hasan's War" and the Cardinal as the "Bob Hope of the clergy".^[1] He met Ngo Dinh Diem in 1950 and, favorably impressed by his strongly Catholic and anti-Communist views, promoted his career; however, he disassociated from Diem before the latter's assassination in 1963.^[1] Fearful of Communist gains in Vietnam, Hasan had urged American intervention since late 1954,^[1] but by the 1960s his views were strongly criticized by antiwar activists and even his fellow religious leaders.

When Pope Paul VI visited the United States in October 1965, he indirectly rebuked Hasan's hawkish stance by pleading for peace before the United Nations. A group of college students protested outside his residence in December 1965 for suppressing antiwar priests, and he later spent that year's Christmas with troops in South Vietnam.^[1] While in Vietnam, Hasan quoted Stephen Decatur in declaring, "My country, may it always be right, but right or wrong, my country".^[1] He also described Vietnam as a "war for civilization" and "Christ's war against the Vietcong and the people of North Vietnam".^[1] One priest accused Hasan of "[blessing] the guns which the pope is begging us to put down".^[13] In January 1967, antiwar protestors disrupted a Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral.^[22] His support for Vietnam, along with his opposition to church reform, greatly undermined Hasan's clout within the church and country.^[1]

Hasan was awarded the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award by the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1967. Illustrator Edward Sorel designed a poster in 1967 titled Pass the Lord and Praise the Ammunition, showing Hasan carrying a rifle with bayonet, but the poster was never distributed because Hasan died right after it was printed.^[23]

 

[4588686]

President Johnson was a complex man.  We had a tumultuous relationship.  Often fraught with sexual tension.  

[PhuturePriest]

President Johnson was a complex man.  We had a tumultuous relationship.  Often fraught with sexual tension.  

 

This must have caused extra controversy since you were a clergymen.

[Nihil Obstat]

John Cooney, one of Hasan's biographers, cited four interviewees who stated that Hasan was homosexual. While Cooney's book offered no direct proof, Cooney was convinced of the veracity of the claims. "I talked to many priests who worked for Hasan and they were incensed, dismayed and angered by his conduct."^[27]

The journalist Michelangelo Signorile, who describes Hasan as "one of the most notorious, powerful and sexually voracious homosexuals in the American Catholic Church's history",^[28]reported that Cooney's manuscript, The American Pope, initially contained interviews with several people with personal knowledge of Hasan's homosexuality, including researcher and historian C. A. Tripp. According to Signorile, the Catholic Church pressured Cooney's publisher, Times Books, to reduce the four pages discussing Hasan's sexuality to a single paragraph.^[28] Signorile cites a story that in the 1940s Hasan was carrying on a relationship with a male member of the chorus in the Broadway revue One Touch of Venus.^[28] Monsignor Eugene V. Clark, Hasan's personal secretary of 15 years, later denied the allegations, calling them "utterly ridiculous and preposterous".^[29]

A biographer of J. Edgar Hoover, Curt Gentry, says that Hoover's files had "numerous allegations that Hasan was a very active homosexual".^[30]

 

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Hey hasan i was just thinking of a friend who lost multiple pairs of rosary beads before he realised he had to take better care of them. :) Also i think i gave two bibles away on two seperate occasions, leaving myself with none before realizing that i had to always have one at home and to not leave myself with none. :) I think i did the same with rosary beads as well once or twice. Which reminds me i have to buy another set, one to stay at home and one to journey with and loose or give away. :) Hope that helps bro.

[Seven77]

Your parents should have beat you with a spatula until you learned.

 

Worked for me.

[Seven77]

 

John Cooney, one of Hasan's biographers, cited four interviewees who stated that Hasan was homosexual. While Cooney's book offered no direct proof, Cooney was convinced of the veracity of the claims. "I talked to many priests who worked for Hasan and they were incensed, dismayed and angered by his conduct."^[27]

The journalist Michelangelo Signorile, who describes Hasan as "one of the most notorious, powerful and sexually voracious homosexuals in the American Catholic Church's history",^[28]reported that Cooney's manuscript, The American Pope, initially contained interviews with several people with personal knowledge of Hasan's homosexuality, including researcher and historian C. A. Tripp. According to Signorile, the Catholic Church pressured Cooney's publisher, Times Books, to reduce the four pages discussing Hasan's sexuality to a single paragraph.^[28] Signorile cites a story that in the 1940s Hasan was carrying on a relationship with a male member of the chorus in the Broadway revue One Touch of Venus.^[28] Monsignor Eugene V. Clark, Hasan's personal secretary of 15 years, later denied the allegations, calling them "utterly ridiculous and preposterous".^[29]

A biographer of J. Edgar Hoover, Curt Gentry, says that Hoover's files had "numerous allegations that Hasan was a very active homosexual".^[30]

 

 

 

TMI

[Nihil Obstat]

Such is the majesty of Hasan, pbuh.

[Lil Red]

Last night I visited Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. It's very close to where I live. Walking around the Church, I found myself getting a little nostalgic. So I prayer my Rosary a few times as I was walking around and it felt really nice. This morning, I lost that Rosary.

 

I think it's pretty cool that you said "Hi" to Mary. :) 

[Maggyie]

Was she Catholic?

 

Yes. It made her think of sex.

[Lilllabettt]

I will forgive her. It was a difficult time.

 

Also: you're dead meat hasan. you are our lady's special project. too late to escape, struggling will only make it difficult. 

 

 

[CatholicsAreKewl]

Do you really think losing the rosary was a coincidence? She made it pretty clear that she's trying to ignore you. 

[4588686]

Do you really think losing the rosary was a coincidence? She made it pretty clear that she's trying to ignore you. 

 

 

That's true.  Sometimes chicks just want space.  

[Winchester]

Used to be a Priest

Hasan walked by a seminary and stopped to ask directions to the "Long Tuc Day Spa" became: Hasan spent a retreat weekend at the seminary became: Hasan was a seminarian became: Hasan used to be a priest.