charlie-kirk

Disappointment in Faith: Addressing Cardinal Dolan

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Letter to Cardinal Dolan

September 21, 2025

Your Holiness Cardinal Dolan

As a practicing Catholic who is 77 years old, I find it so difficult to understand how you can compare Charlie Kirk to a modern day St. Paul. I find it offensive to my faith that you, as the Cardinal of New York and a representative of Christ, would use those words. 

I do not judge Charlie Kirk as a sinner or saint, but what I know is that some of his rhetoric was hateful to people of color and so many other communities. His words were always parsed but his message was always clear. His words about MLK Jr.:  “Martin Luther King Jr. was awful. He is not a good person.” This was in January 2024

His speeches at colleges promoted free speech but his speech was both inflammatory and helped create cultural battlefields at universities. His rhetoric promoted bigotry and intolerance for others. 

I will quote some of Mr. Kirk’s inflammatory statements in hopes that you will clarify your statements and give your congregation some insight.

In May 2023 Mr. Kirk said “Happening all the time in urban American, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more.”

And again in January 2024 Mr. Kirk said “If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?” 

“The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day in our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.”  —March 2024

“The American Democrat party hates this country. They wanna see it collapse. They love it when America becomes less white.” —March 2024

I cannot connect any of this to missionaries or Christian behavior. 

Cardinal Dolan, I think I know why you as a scholar of scripture used St. Paul, the missionary to describe Charlie Kirk. But Kirk’s words will haunt me as a Catholic who follows Jesus’ teachings and your words have knighted this man.

At this point where our country is so divided and so misinformed about many things, you chose those words for your description of Charlie Kirk.  

I am very disappointed.

charlie kirk

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WORDS AND ACTIONS MAKE SAINTS OR SINNERS

Ever since Charlie Kirk was shot I have been in that state of “what do I really think about this?” As usual putting it down on paper helps me sort through the phases of

  • Killing someone should never be an option
  • I didn’t agree with him on most things
  • Freedom of Speech is the right of every American even hurtful and offensive speech.
  • Inflammatory speech such as threats of physical violence, harassment, defamation and certainly speech that incites imminent violence are not protected; but as we all know this is a cloudy concept and has been debated throughout our history.

Charlie Kirk believed in the right of free speech for his ilk, but he denied others that right. He spent his time at universities in open dialogue but his actions targeting professors with a “Professor Watchlist” belied his own belief. When a woman came to the microphone, he would often cut them off with scripture or patronize them. He was a Christian nationalist and believed that liberty was only possible with a Christian population. He also thought women should not look for careers but should look to have children.

Charlie Kirk aligned himself with Nick Fuentes who is characterized as a white supremacist who holds misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic and other hate ideologies near and dear. You can tell a lot about a person by who they align themselves with.

He denied systemic racism but consistently made racist comments. His views on the Civil Rights Act, Martin Luther King and DEI policies are abhorrent to me. Kirk’s agenda was attached to whiteness in all cases.

Charlie Kirk was a master manipulator of words. If someone quoted the passages of the Bible that urge compassion and aid for the poor, homeless, and immigrants, he would insist that he loved America so much that he didn’t want anyone who hated it to come here. I am sure Kirk was aware that the vast majority of immigrants who wish to enter the country, come here for a better life.

Charlie would cherry pick and recite passages of the Bible to agree with his opinion of the LGBTQ community but scoffed or passed over passages that preach love of others. While he quoted passages about “stoning” he failed or refused to be wise enough to know that if you are an influencer you influence people. Some people take things literally. Charlie Kirk was absolutely wise enough and understood exactly that his speech spoken in the most flowery manner targeted the most vulnerable of our society. He preached consistenly against the gay community and put many transgender people in physical danger by his rhetoric. As a wordsmith he was always able to parse his words to eliminate any directives.

Charlie Kirk believed that people will be assassinated and no matter how many, we should never abandon the Second Amendment.

This man was not a saint and I will not judge whether he was a sinner. He preached hate and division in various ways and his organization Turning Point USA consistently told their followers that they were under attack. Charlie Kirk was a man who had a large following and could have made the world a better place if he showed compassion for others and valued the truth. He did not.

BTW I am free to say anything I want about Charlie Kirk and I will continue to do so. After all I live in a free country [though not sure Kimmel will agree with me today].