Green Shoots in the Catholic Desert

The new Bishop in the Kansas City Archdiocese is rooting out the Social Gospel of the Religious Left, and returning the Church to more fundamental Christian roots.

He has replaced Lay directors with Priests, has cut the budgets of social programs while enhancing those of spiritual ones; in short, he is returning the Church to it`s primary mission of saving souls.

For too long, the Catholic Church (and many mainstream Protestant ones) has, thanks to the usurpations of `60`s religious hippies, promoted social issues-counseling, welfare programs, ``social justice`` programs (i.e.neo-Marxism), ecumenism (aunschlauss of religions), councils for economic development, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-sexual orientation discrimination, etc. The Religious Left cares for the physical and emotional well-being of Man, while ignoring the ultimate destination of the Human Soul. Many of these programs actively promote views which are at odds with the core teachings of the Catholic Church, and do so in a proudly defiant spirit. Finally, we have a Bishop who has said ``enough``.

For example, Bishop Finn wasn`t pleased to learn that several of his parish priests planned to vote for a pro-abortion candidate because of his committment to ``social justice``:

“Finn was adamant: Abortion is the holocaust of the modern world, it’s all in the catechism.” This went on for some time until a couple priests revealed that they planned to vote for John Kerry. “Finn just kind of turned and walked away,” the priest said.

Abortion, for those of you who aren`t Catholic or don`t know, is considered a serious Sin and this is a matter of Faith and Morals, meaning it is a settled issue. Catholics do not have the option of following their conscience on this, as they do on issues such as nationalized healthcare. A priest voting for a pro-abortion candidate is absolutely unacceptable; theoretically he could be defrocked.

Furthermore, Finn resisted the misuse of Catholic news outlets attacking this teaching:

In May 2004, Finn, while still coadjutor, called de Zutter into his office to complain about a column by Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien. He had called bishops who wanted to bar politicians from Communion “a tiny number of extremist U.S. bishops” and “zealous, but theologically unsophisticated.” He included Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Finn’s former boss.

Finn ordered McBrien`s column removed from the paper.

So the new Bishop wants to emphasize the actual teachings of the Faith, rather than the bleeding heart, soft headed, non-Christian teachings of the ``reformers`` who want to translate Christ`s Bride (the Church) into a religious wing of the Democrat Party and purveyor of Santa Clause-like temporal goodies.

We will spend far more time in Eternity than on this Earth, and the salvation of souls is the primary duty of those who claim to speak for Christ. Now, we need to care for the physical needs of the people-how can you save their souls if they are starving? But the primary goal is to lead them on the path to salvation. The Religious Left never worries about that. Their goals are far more worldly.

We need more Bishop Finns!