Cardinal Dolan agrees with me: No 'Black Thursday'

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in a beautifully written column in today's N.Y. Post, addressed the new "Black Thursday" phenomenon that is upon us. As I said in my post on this topic earlier today, it's anything but a good sign, this urge to break from our Thanksgiving family traditions in favor of consumerism. 

Here's what Cardinal Dolan said about it:

Experts in behavioral sciences and sociology seem to share my apprehension. These scholars write that personal contact — verbal, face-to-face quality conversation and healthy leisure where we simply “spend time” as family or friends — is going the way of the rotary telephone. Now we prefer to text, e-mail, Facebook or Twitter — with a personal phone call or letter even becoming quaint, and quality time in each other’s company rare.

And now the days that a classic, civil culture sets aside for such lofty projects as visiting, conversing or sharing a meal together — such as the weekly Sabbath and holidays such as Thanksgiving — are in jeopardy.

The stores, we hear, will open on Thanksgiving. Isn’t that a sign of progress and liberation? Sorry, but no — it’s a sign of a further descent into a highly privatized, impersonal, keep-people-at-a-distance culture, one that values having stuff and doing things over just being with people whom we love, cherish and appreciate.

Take the time to read Cardinal Dolan's entire op/ed piece, by clicking HERE.

Missed my take on this topic? Click HERE for that.