I hope it's simply naivete.....
"How can this father be so naive????
I hope it's simply naivete"
Unfortunately it appears it is not simple naivete.
Clark is a smooth operator...he has been called on the carpet before (by then Cardinal Ratzinger) - and he knows how to push the envelope without fully stepping over the line.
Fr. Callhan was a priest acting out the true teachings of the Rochester Diocese - until he went so far that even Clark could not keep covering for him.
St. Bernard's seminary regularly churns out folks (many well intentioned in the beginning) who are more "enlightened" than Rome.
Make no mistake about it...Clark thinks he knows better than the pope.
When Benedict 16 was elected, Clark congratulated him and prayed that the office of the papacy would change him (he's a master at the back handed compliment)
This guy only has 5 to 7 yrs. left...hopefully the pope won't allow the agony to go on that long...but there is light at the end of the tunnel.