There’s a new bishop in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph (Missouri) and the National Catholic Reporter is unhappy. No charges yet that this Opus Dei bishop is looking around for an albino assassin, but he has been shaking things up at his diocesan center:
"[Bishop Robert] Finn, 53, a priest of the St. Louis archdiocese and a member of the conservative Opus Dei movement, was named coadjutor of the Kansas City-St. Joseph diocese in March 2004. The diocese comprises 130,000 Catholics in 27 countries of northwest Missouri. He succeeded Bishop Raymond Boland as ordinary on May 24, 2005. Within a week of his appointment he:
- "Dismissed the chancellor, a layman with 21 years of experience in the diocese, and the vice chancellor, a religious woman stationed in the diocese for nearly 40 years and the chief of pastoral planning for the diocese since 1990, and replaced them with a priest chancellor.
- Cancelled the diocese’s nationally renowned lay formation programs and a master’s degree program in pastoral ministry.
- Cut in half the budget of the Center for Pastoral Life and Ministry, effectively forcing the almost immediate resignation of half the seven-member team. Within 10 months all seven would be gone and the center shuttered.
- Ordered a ‘zero-based study’ of adult catechesis in the diocese and appointed as vice chancellor to oversee adult catechesis, lay formation and the catechesis study a layman with no formal training in theology or religious studies.
- Ordered the editor of the diocesan newspaper to immediately cease publishing columns by Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien.
- Announced that he would review all front page stories, opinion pieces, columns and editorials before publication."
(Nod to Bill Cork for the link.)
And that was just within the first week! Developments within the first year include this one, my personal favorite:
"Finn upgraded a Latin Mass community, which has been meeting in a city parish, to a parish in its own right and appointed himself pastor. … Later, he asked the parish that the Latin Mass community will be leaving to donate $250,000 of the estimated $1.5 million the Latin group needs to renovate the old church Finn gave them."
May his tribe increase!
Thats my Bishop! I sure do love Bishop Finn. He has done alot of good for our diocese and will undoubtably continue to do so. When a Bishop like him comes to a diocese like mine, you have to know there are considerable forces working against him, so please keep him in your prayers.
By the way, that layman he appointed as Vice Chancellor is a well known catholic apologist in our area who teaches history at a local college (or did), owned a catholic bookstore which he has to sell due to his current position, and founded a lay apologetics ministry which has been a big success as well.
That is so COOL!
I am adding Bishop Finn to my prayer list.
Most of it sounds great, but I thought the Campaign for Human Development still had problems. Have they been cleared up in some places?
For a few years now, I have been considering a move to Missouri. I guess I can cross out the “Difficulty finding a good diocese” on the “reasons not to move” side of the list.
Now that is a Bishop! Does he have a twin? Imagine a bishop like Bishop Finn moving into a diocese like Los Angeles! The Diocese of Richmond got a new bishop one year ago and this was supposed to straighten things out. The liturgies in this diocese still look more like group psychotherapy sessions focused on the congregation instead of a Catholic Mass focused on the Eucharist. Bishop Finn will be steadily in my prayers!
Thank you so much for the headline for our good Bishop Finn. As you also pointed out, he has gifted the Latin Mass Community with its own church, properly called an Oratory, which is the oldest Catholic Church building in Kansas City and unfortunately is in need of much repair. Currently, over $750,000 has been raised for its renovation but there is a long way to go. If anyone feels the spirit move them to make a tax-deductible donation towards the renovation they can go to its website. Credit cards and paypal are accepted. We are also accepting prayers. Thank you.
http://www.oldstpatrick.org/
almost immediate resignation of half the seven-member team.
Three and a half of them had to quit!? Horrors!
Wow, that’s what I call a bishop! It is time for the Church to cut the weeds and it seems like Bishop Finn is already doing that in his neck-of-the-woods. God bless him!
When I read this yesterday, my first thought was, “FINALLY! A Bishop willing to cut away at the mindless bureaucracy!” Why do dioceses need “Peace and Justice” Commissions anyway? I wrote the bishop a letter of support. Please, please God, send us more bishops like this one!
What do you want to bet that vocations increase during Bishop Finns tenure?
It’s interesting that the NCR article goes on about how the former lay ministry formation program was respected, “award winning”, influential and served as a model for other dioceses around the country, while talking very little about the actual content of the program.
If it was the kind of program I endured as a lay catechist here in Arkansas years ago, its influence could be nothing but pernicious.
I remember taking a weekend RCIA seminar that instructed us to basically let the candidates and catechumens form their own faith in response to “living the liturgy”, rather than really trying to “teach” them anything. We were facilitators, not teachers.
The gist of it was that new converts didn’t need information, but rather needed to be encouraged to define their own response to their understanding of what it means to be Catholic.
Blah, blah, blah…
On the 4-hour ride back to our parish, my group had jettisoned just about everything we had been taught at the seminar within about a half hour. We decided that it was of very little practical use, either for us or for the RCIA candidates.
Not knowing anything about the programs the bishop cut, I can see nothing inherently good about the changes he made. Can anybody explain?
“…he asked the parish that the Latin Mass community will be leaving to donate $250,000 of the estimated $1.5 million the Latin group needs to renovate the old church Finn gave them.”
Can somebody explain why this is a good thing? Is the other parish is so flush with money that they can afford to drop a quarter million on another parish? That would crush my parish and we are fairly well off.
The KC-St. Joseph Diocese has been needing rehabilitation for years. But much needs to be done. I went to a mass a couple of Sundays ago at a church in St. Joseph, with people swaying and clapping to an insultingly ’60s-esque musical version of the Gloria. The church allows laying on of hands and laymen conferring “blessings”. The young assistant pastor there ate Cracker Jack during a homily one week. Lay people who, it seems to me, seem to be pining for the Kumbaya era, appear to have too much control. My wife reported a guest priest delivered a homily there, not refuting the Da Vinci Code tripe but, rather, not denying that Jesus and Mary Magdalene had a “rather human relationship.” My wife, who heard this “homily” at that mass with our 12-yeaer-old son, reported this guy to the pastor, with, apparently, no action taken. My wife and son left the mass after the homily and were quite shaken by it.
From the pulpit, lessons tend to deal with generalities and not concrete lessons from the Gospel that apply to real situations and issues we face. There are no reminders, that I’m aware of, that attendees who are not in the state of Grace, should not receive Holy Communion, nor are there noticeable calls to regular confession. Of course, confession lines on Saturdays are sparse.
It’s not limited to this one church. There are five churches in St. Joseph. Only one even approaches “orthodox”. I question the qualifications of catechism teachers who try to teach my daughter than Judaism is a heresy (my daughter knew better and tried to argue the point, and she was only 12 at the time). I pray Bishop Finn changes things radically in St. Joseph, as well as Kansas City.
I’m not condemining anybody; I’m simply reporting my own observations and sense of outrage, as a defender of my Church. I’m tired of trying to explain to my son why people insist on playing fast and loose with the Holy Mass — changing prayers, omitting others, not taking tougher stances from the pulpit. I don’t expect perfection; I expect honest effort at orthodoxy.
When I read, in Michelle’s first sentence, that the National Catholic Distorter was not happy with Bishop Finn, I knew I was going to like him.
Christopher-
Coffee out my nose hilarious!
quasimodo-
This is what I call “fairly well off” and I don’t think that size chunk would cripple them. Have to tighten the belt a bit, sure, but how long have the Latin Mass devotees been contributing to that parish?
Weekly Offering Goal………………………………..$41,000.00
Weekly Offering………………………………………..$54,724.21
Monthly Building Fund Goal……………………….$22,000.00
Weekly Building Fund………………………………….$7,211.00
Total Monthly Building Fund……………………….$67,971.39
Catholic Home Mission Appeal…………………….$3,057.50
Other……………………………………………………………$237.00
Total Weekly Offering………………………………..$65,229.71
Mass Attendance………………………………………………9,445
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN: Total Pledges…….$3,301,085.53
Total number of Gifts & Pledges……………………………919
The new Bishop is like a physician taking agressive measures to keep a sick patient alive and restore health. It sounds like he knows exactly what he’s doing and should be lauded for the effort. The Church in the U.S. could use more bishops like this one!
Can we have one like this in Rochester?
St. Louis is a great place to be– Bp. Finn came from here, and along with Abp. Burke has made Missouri not a bad Catholic state!
Jimmy, would cloning be morally acceptable in this instance?
“…130,000 Catholics in 27 countries of northwest Missouri.”
Wow! I didn’t know Missouri was so large that it contained so many countries.
Yes, I know it is a typo. :^)
SWEET!
Reading through the list of actions, at first I was unsure what to make of him. (Opus Dei being a probable good, but one never knows, I guess.)
Then I read this: “Ordered the editor of the diocesan newspaper to immediately cease publishing columns by Notre Dame theologian Fr. Richard McBrien.”
And lo, it was as though I could hear the angels having a rockin’ party. Check out the other actions of the bishop. They all line up with this overall tenor of rehabilitation.
Yeah, buddy!
CatholicMom: Don’t toy with my emotions. Having a guy like this in L.A. would literally have the potential to change the world. Follow me here. Keeping in mind that:
(1)America’s biggest export is entertainment,
(2)Entertainment tends to have an overwhelming influence on cultural things like morality
(3)Entertainment is by and large a product of the Hollywood portion of the industry, thus having worldwide influence (usually not for the good, unfortunately),
(4)Hollywood is in the L.A. archdiocese
I would assert that the bishop of L.A. could have, if he chose to work at such a task, a very strong positive effect on the Hollywood community (Catholic or not).
And of course currently … well, I won’t go there. But, man, a guy like this is going to do good things wherever he goes. Let’s pray he keeps it up.
But I thought this *couldn’t* be done! I thought that this wasn’t *pastoral*. At least that’s what they tell me around these parts.
Sigh. I will pray for this lovely man and fight my envious thoughts.
“Can somebody explain why this is a good thing? Is the other parish is so flush with money that they can afford to drop a quarter million on another parish? That would crush my parish and we are fairly well off.”
Because the Latin Mass Community had been adding to the collection plates of the host Parish for 14 years and it is estimated they contributed at least that amount over that time.
Because Latin Mass Community members had contributed to the physical renovations of the host parish years before.
Because the host parish had far more than that in its diocesan savings account and had no large expenses on its own horizon.
Because $250,000 was the amount that was needed, in addition to other funds that had been raised, to effect the minimum needed repairs and renovations so that Old St. Patrick’s Oratory would be suitable to be moved into within the planned schedule.
Because it is charitable.
Because the Bishop thought it was just.
I’ve got one word: HOPE
YEEHAW!
Bishop Finn is truly a gift from the Almighty to the people of our diocese. I am looking forward to the day when the three ring liturgies according to P.T. Barnum are no longer allowed.
Local KC bloggers are all over this. We have waited for a bishop His Excellency Robert W. Finn and we are going to defend him.
I sent a really long blog early this morning. Addressing the many half truths of the article and to answer the questions about the $250,000 AND of course praising our new Shepherd! One who truely is in line with the Holy Father!
So what happened to my blog?
I’ll wait a while longer then submit again.
If it did not show up right away, it will not show up. Best to post again.
Donations are needed and appreciated.
http://www.oldstpatrick.org/
I know that bio-ethics and cloning is sensative but…CAN WE CLONE THIS BISHOP?????
I think he is going in the right direction, and I would want him as my bishop.
But I wouldn’t want to work for him. Classic micro manager.
“I know that bio-ethics and cloning is sensitive but…CAN WE CLONE THIS BISHOP?????”
I am surprised the Distorter article did not mention it but Bishop Finn is also working against the passage of a pro-cloning measure in Missouri.
http://www.oldstpatrick.org/
We cannot clone this bishop, but we can “clone” his formation process. Whatever produced such a faithful shepherd needs to be duplicated all over the country!
Hello folks – I will give it another go.
I will go through the article and comment in order.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Rest of comments deleted for excessive length. Please see Rule 3. Thanks! –MA]
The more nationwide support bishops like this (and Chaput and Bruskewitz) get, the more Rome will get the message Catholics want real Catholics in positions of responsibility in the Church-not McBrien-Mahoney-NCR clones.
Oh man. Why did I hit refresh? I was in the midst of reading Martha’s post and hit refresh and now they’re gone?
Dang it.
Martha, my heart goes out to the people of your diocese for what they’ve gone through. Thank God for the change.
I know Martha’s comments were long, but I happened to think they were worthwhile.
yeah, that newspaper is right–he’s a big fat meanie.
Why do I think Martha’s comments were deleted in their entirety for some other reason than mere length?
“Why do I think Martha’s comments were deleted in their entirety for some other reason than mere length?”
I don’t know why you would think that. The comments may well have been very good, but they were also extremely long and constituted a rules violation. That is the sole reason that they were partially deleted. (They were not “deleted in their entirety.”)
Tammy: I think you meant “big, fat meanie-head.” And a jerk-face.
Don’t forget to whine (exclamation points and all caps would be good for that) and stomp your foot once or twice when you’re saying that out loud.
ok – so what are the rules for length? Sorry I didn’t know. But I did have a lot of history and facts the reporter left out. That would make Bishop Finn’s decisions seem not out of line.
I don’t have a website of my own – but several local people have asked for a the full speel I gave – I’ll email it out if you want to read it.
Martha – just a former homeschoolin’ mom in KC
(kids are in college now)
Martha,
It was great information. You told the story of the last couple of decades in the Kansas City – St. Joseph Diocese very well. Maybe the Curmudgeon’s Cave or Kansas City Catholic Blog sites would be willing to let you post it.
“(They were not “deleted in their entirety.”)”
Yes, the actual comments were deleted in their entirety.
Our dear bishop has also rewarded longsuffering Msgr. Wm. Blacet by consecrating his parish church as a Diocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy. His Our Lady of Good Counsel parish has been a long-time center for Divine Mercy Sunday celebration and also a refuge for K.C. Catholics weary of liturgical experimentation.
Msgr is a wonderful priest. Most of my former Pontifical choir members sing for him. I wanted to come the dedication – but I was sick. Msgr really is special to the homeschooled children in the diocese.
Being Polish the Divine Mercy has a special place for us. St Sr Faustina was born in the same city as my mother in law. Sister died before Hitler invaded Poland – that was mercy from God. My mother in law before the war did many outings with the Ursuline sisters. Perhaps, Sr Faustina was one of them. My mother in law was taken from her home at age 14 in 1939 and put on a Natzi work farm. One year after Sister died.
martha – former homeschoolin’ mom in KC
(kids in college now)
Oh Michael thanks for the other blogs. I’ll give them a look tomorrow.
I am glad he gave Fr. McBrien’s column the boot. That man needs to be drummed out of the priesthood for helping with the production of The DaVinci Code.
No greater proof exists that the Church’s beloved monk-assassin corps has been disbanded…
Sounds like a bishop who knows how to be a bishop! There is nothing unusual about a bishop who chooses his employees and programs, decides how the resources should be allocated, or has a handle on what is taught, etc. That’s what a bishop DOES. The people who are upset didn’t want anything to change. I, for one, am happy with the changes — in the name of authentic, orthodox Catholicism, and as one tired of continual liturgical experimentation and watered-down teaching.
“Cut in half the budget of the Center for Pastoral Life and Ministry, effectively forcing the almost immediate resignation of half the seven-member team”
I found that last part quite amusing…half of a ‘seven’ member team…i’d hate to have been one of those that was halved!
I cut Coadjutor Bishop Finn off in traffic one day pulling into KC’s biggest Catholic goods store. We chatted on the way into the store, and when he asked me about where I had met him before, I reminded him that my wife and I teach NFP. He’d been pleasant to that point, but then he turned to me, shook his finger at me, and said, “We have GOT to get that into our marriage prep.” He is FOCUSED.
The NCR article used “agenda” over and over, as though the ousted people have not had an agenda for over 60 years. I say, ’bout time for another agenda.
“half of a seven-member team”. Reminds me of the old Jerry Reed song “Lord, Mr. Ford!”: “Now the average American father and mother Own one whole car and half another–and I’ll bet that half a car is a trick to drive!”.
The pope could learn a lesson from this guy. I’d wager to say if a bishop like this ever became pontiff that you wouldn’t see some disappointing encyclical on love. And, if someone like him were president of this country there would likely be no “mojado” alien problem.
“Some disappointing encyclical on love”, Opie? Read it again… It’s great!
I have enjoyed the blog, and the comments! I am lucky enough to be in this diocese. I have met the Bishop a few times, and have never seen him in anything but a cassock. He is a blessing for our diocese!
~Beth
http://thechroniclesofmommia.blogspot.com/
Upon reading the article I felt a great affirmation for the Church. I am sure Sister Beste felt great pain in 1991 having to close 10 percent of the diocese’s parishes as she led the diocese personnel and planning efforts. She is a strong-minded religious woman and responded with a vision of pastoral administrators. I was filled with hope as Bishop Boland started a Holy Hour every month for increase of vocations. He inspired many to pray for vocations and prayers are being answered. Our diocese vocations are on the increase. Maybe this is part of the vision she needed. Unfortunate for her, she couldn’t have cancelled her trip and assist Bishop Finn. Hopefully she will stop dwelling over details and move on in her life. Maybe it is for the best if she can’t see and understand the benefits of Bishop Finn’s work. May she and Mr. Noonan go in peace to continue in love to serve our Lord. My deepest respect for Bishop Finn as he leads our diocese. His leadership is not wrenching but refreshing. We have been entrusted to his care and as Shepherd of our diocese he doesn’t need “permission” of the past chancery team to provide for the spiritual needs of the people he is responsible for. It is a time of transition and a time of change. Oremus.
Peace in Christ,
Laura Clayton
Upon reading the article I felt a great affirmation for the Church. I am sure Sister Beste felt great pain in 1991 having to close 10 percent of the diocese’s parishes as she led the diocese personnel and planning efforts. She is a strong-minded religious woman and responded with a vision of pastoral administrators. I was filled with hope as Bishop Boland started a Holy Hour every month for increase of vocations. He inspired many to pray for vocations and prayers are being answered. Our diocese vocations are on the increase. Maybe this is part of the vision she needed. Unfortunate for her, she couldn’t have cancelled her trip and assist Bishop Finn. Hopefully she will stop dwelling over details and move on in her life. Maybe it is for the best if she can’t see and understand the benefits of Bishop Finn’s work. May she and Mr. Noonan go in peace to continue in love to serve our Lord. My deepest respect for Bishop Finn as he leads our diocese. His leadership is not wrenching but refreshing. We have been entrusted to his care and as Shepherd of our diocese he doesn’t need “permission” of the past chancery team to provide for the spiritual needs of the people he is responsible for. It is a time of transition and a time of change. Oremus.
Peace in Christ,
Laura Clayton
Martha’s excised comments are up in full at the following blog.
http://curmudgeonkc.blogspot.com/2006/05/marthas-story.html