From the Kansas City Star:
Bishop Finn airs frustration over KC-based National Catholic Reporter
Finn objects to editorial positions taken by the Kansas City-based newspaper.BY ALAN BAVLEY
The Kansas City StarThe bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph is expressing public frustration with the editorial stances of the National Catholic Reporter, a Kansas City-based independent newspaper that has called for the bishop to resign over his handling of sex scandals in the church. [While it is true that the National Schismatic Reporter has called for Bp. Finn’s resignation, the reason why Finn is now calling out the paper of record for heretics and schismatics is because they are the paper of record for heresy and schismatics. They promote heresy. I suppose Finn could care less that Fishwrap wants him to resign.]
In a column posted Friday in the online edition of the official diocesan newspaper, Bishop Robert Finn said the National Catholic Reporter was “undermining” church teaching on contraception and the ordination of women while praising “dissident theologies.” Finn also raised questions about whether the newspaper should call itself “Catholic.” [NO. He didn’t raise questions. He cited his predecessor on the matter. The paper should not use the word “Catholic”.]
“I have a responsibility as the local bishop to instruct the Faithful about the problematic nature of this media source which bears the name ‘Catholic,’?” Finn wrote.
“Bishop Finn clearly feels [feels? No… he knows.] our voice is not a Catholic voice,” said National Catholic Reporter publisher and former editor Tom Fox. “We are a Catholic publication, [Not according to the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. Not according to what they write. We must start calling them the National Schismatic Reporter.] but independent of the church structure. That’s one of the keys to our credibility.” [HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…. Get that? Church “structure”. These heretics contrast the “institutional” Church with their more gnostic groovy church.]
Fox said the National Catholic Reporter is a member of the Catholic Press Association, which is sanctioned by U.S. bishops. [And that means precisely NOTHING. Fishwrap obtained that membership years ago from like-thinking… like-feeling liberals. CPA member? Big deal.] The newspaper has won awards for general excellence and investigative reporting. [Awards from liberals. Again… big deal.]
Its investigative reporting has included coverage of allegations of sex abuse by members of the clergy, an issue the newspaper had been addressing since 1985, Fox said. The issue took on a high profile in the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in recent years, leading to further coverage.
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As frustrating as the slanted and inaccurate reporting of the KC Star is, so too are all of the libelous comments from their misinformed readers. You want to see the real fruits of their efforts, read the rants of those lost souls and pray for them and for the handful of supporters who are trying to fight them off in the comm box.
Two points from Lumen Gentium in contrast to Mr. Fox and the Fishwrap:
(1) Fox: “We are a Catholic publication, but independent of the church structure. That’s one of the keys to our credibility.”
LG 8: “Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicated truth and grace to all. But, the society structured with hierarchical organs and the Mystical Body of Christ, are not to be considered as two realities, nor are the visible assembly and the spiritual community, nor the earthly Church and the Church enriched with heavenly things; rather they form one complex reality which coalesces from a divine and a human element. For this reason, by no weak analogy, it is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body.”
You cannot set the “structure” of the Church against the spiritual reality of the Church, or say you “independent” of the “structure” and yet part of the reality. That is anti-incarnational, and, dare I say, anti-Christian.
In regard to bishop bashing, it is useful to know that the Second Vatican Council actually taught (from Lumen Gentium 20):
Therefore, the Sacred Council teaches that bishops by divine institution have succeeded to the place of the apostles, as shepherds of the Church, and he who hears them, hears Christ, and he who rejects them, rejects Christ and Him who sent Christ.
That, my friends, is the letter and the spirit of Vatican II.
The biggest problem with liberals is that they cannot think rationally but only from their feelings. Also, they base arguments on the fact that they are each their own pope. Sad, sad that they are calling themselves Catholic.
CPA membership may be inconsequential, but it seems to me that our bishops should not sanction (if indeed they do) the CPA as long as they grant membership to the likes of the Fishwrap.
“We are a Catholic publication,but independent of the church structure.”
Right! And I’m a member of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Team , but independent of the Team structure.
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I have a hard time believing they are Catholic. Even they seem to have a news black-out when it came to covering the March for Life. I entered it in their search engine and articles on Roe vs wade came up but no photos. BTW the article I read seemed to be slanted to towards pro-abortion. They seem to be more concerned with gun control and accusing priests. It truly is the National Schismatic Tattler.
Why are so many parishes and religious houses still keeping Fishwrap in business by subscribing to this vile dustbin of heresy? I have seen it sitting around in rectories, churches and monasteries over the years. It is still a common sight almost everywhere.
Though they will boast it is there for the open minded, it reminds me of the consecrated committing adultery with the devil while at the same time insisting that they love their spouse.
I went to the Catholic Press Association web site and using their “contact us” button sent them a message. The NCR is using its membership in the CPA as justification for defiance of the judgment of the bishop in whose diocese the NCR resides. If the CPA wishes to maintain any credibility as an association of Catholic journalists and as a judge of excellence in Catholic media, it must denounce the NCR for such defiance. The CPA should revoke NCR’s membership since it can no longer claim to be a Catholic publication. I have not received a response, but I encourage others to send the CPA a similar message.
JKnott, my experience is like yours. The parish of my college years, run by a once-proud but
now sadly heterodox order, kept stacks of National Schismatic Reporters in the vestibule
for students to take gratis. I used to wonder why the fathers bothered, since almost all issues
sat unread and were simply tossed in the dumpster when the next stack arrived. Now I realize
that it wasn’t that they were concerned with keeping students informed and catechized
(far from it), but that it was their sly way of supporting fellow-travelers. I’d guess the NSR’s
circulation figures owe much to bulk subscriptions from such ‘port-side’ parishes and religious
houses.
more gnostic groovy church
That line had me in bits Fr. Z! I’m too scared to tap it into google though, in case it already exists as an initiative of the Magisterium of Nuns, under Bishoppess McWiminpreest of the Gaiacese of Eagleswings
The Diocese of Antigonish in Nova Scotia maintains a link to the NCR on their “Emmaus Centre” web site. For awhile on the main web site there was even a pic of the bishop and a link to an NCR article bragging up the bishop’s (embarrassing) intervention last fall in Rome. For some reason however, the pic and link was taken down. This area more than ever needs to recover a sense of what it means to be Roman Catholic. Unfortunately, the chancery seems to believe that the dissident way is the way to go and there is a local band of “Nuns on the Bus” who are leading the way. NCR is THE publication for all the “movers and shakers” around these parts; those who voice dismay are politely dismissed. Very very sad…………
I paid the NcR website a visit today to see what all the fuss is about and boy, oh boy! I was rewarded with lots of bitter, resentful, spiteful, self-righteous commentary by the supporters of the NcR crowd while they commented on Bishop Finn’s recent article. Anyone who disagreed was slammed as being “not in tune with the times.”
I found no joy nor anything that was inspiring to read or come away with having learned. I was instead made glad that there are some who must be kept at a distance. I will pray for all those who are resentful and bitter and promote disobedience or the “we know better” attitude.
I am no scholar nor can I site this encyclical or that one but I have sense of what is truth and faith based and while reading some of their stuff…well, none of those two resonated within me. Instead, like a viper den of sorts…I decided best to stay away since life is hard enough without indulging bitterness, anger, and dissent.
Dear Stumbler but trying,
The fruits of the Spirit are: “charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity” (CCC 1832).
If a “Catholic” publication neither exhibits these fruits, nor helps grow them, of what use is it?
St. Paul warned the Galatians agains the works of the flesh: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like” (CCC 1852).
Thank God that you can tell the difference between the two!
.
Bp. Finn will never get a fair shake in the liberal press (secular or schismatic), but that isn’t stopping him from speaking out. My answer to the chest-pounding and shrieks of horror from the democratically-minded critics: “The silence from Rome is deafening.” It doesn’t seem that +Finn’s boss is too upset at the good bishop’s job performance. Yell and scream all you want for his dismissal, but your appeals to Pope BXVI will fall on deaf ears. It was Cardinal Ratzinger who reponded to a question about newspapers criticizing his job as Prefect of the CDF by saying, “If I don’t see something in the papers criticizing me at least once a week, then I have to examine my conscience.”
jhnewman said:
“Bishoppess McWiminpreest of the Gaiacese of Eagleswings”
HAH! That’s great! Made my night, and deserves a Gold Star!
One of the most prevalent detractions I have read is along the lines of “Bishop Finn has no authority to claim that the fishwrap is not Catholic because he is a convicted child molester”.
Correcting this lie will do no good, I suspect, but the truth is important nonetheless. I looked it up in a (presumably) neutral secular newspaper and found that he was conviced for “failing to report” the discovery of pornography (note thast the paper did not identify it as child pornography) on the personal computer belonging to one of the Priests in his charge.
I’m sure that as a human, Bishop Finn has many moral failings, but his failure in judgement (if it can be considered that) in this case does not seem to be an example of one of them.