Free Republic

NCR published a letter from a priest of the Kansas City, MO diocese, Fr. Michael Gillgannon to Bishop Finn.  The letter reveals the thought processes and categories of the deeply entrenched left-leaning Catholic liberal democrat now evolving into a mean-spirited whiner in the face of a shifting American episcopate. Fr. Gillgannon’s letter is far too long, and not always very interesting since it is pretty much a recitation of the left’s talking points.  I won’t do a full fisk here.  But there are a few passages to highlight.  First, however, let’s see NCR’s intro about who the writer is, before...

“We are engaged in a constant warfare with Satan, with the glamour of evil, and the lure of false truths and empty promises. If we fail to realize how constantly these forces work against us, we are more likely to fall, and even chance forfeiting God’s gift of eternal life. “But we are the Church on Earth – The Church Militant. We are engaged in a constant warfare with Satan, with the glamour of evil, and the lure of false truths and empty promises. If we fail to realize how constantly these forces work against us, we are more likely...

As Archbishop Naumann and I stressed in our recent Pastoral Letter, “Our Moral Responsibility as Catholic Citizens,” we can never vote for a candidate because of his or permissive stand on abortion. At the same time, if we are inclined to vote for someone despite their pro-abortion stance, it seems we are morally obliged to establish a proportionate reason sufficient to justify the destruction of 45 million human persons through abortion. If we learn that our “candidate of choice” further pledges – through an instrument such as FOCA - to eliminate all existing limitations against abortion, it is that much...

Though he didn't summon a press conference to announce his connection to Opus Dei, Bishop Robert W. Finn insists he didn't keep it a secret, either. Those listening carefully at his May 3, 2004, Mass of consecration as bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph would have heard the name of Opus Dei's founder, St. Josemaria Escriva, intoned at the bishop's request during the Litany of Saints. They might have noticed an unfamiliar priest, Father Jay Alvarez, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, serving as an attendant, whom Bishop Finn introduced to all who asked as his spiritual director. And...