ST. PAUL, Minn. — On Ash Wednesday, March 1, St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Harry Flynn asked a popular St. Paul priest, Fr. Robert Altier, an assistant pastor at St. Agnes Church, to remove his homilies from a web site run by parishioners. The “silencing” has reverberated across the cyber universe, provoking nearly unanimous exasperation because Altier’s only “offense” — in the view of many — was his support for parents who object to the archdiocese’s “safe environment” programs for children. Over the past several months, Fr. Altier, a spiritual adviser to Catholic Parents Online, which is leading the parents’ movement in...