KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
by Thomas C. Fox | Jan. 27, 2013
Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph Bishop Robert Finn wrote Friday the National Catholic Reporter is undermining church teachings. He cited coverage of women’s ordination, artificial contraception, sexual morality in general, and the “lionizing” of dissident theologies.
His remarks appeared in a column entitled “The Bishop’s Role In Fostering The Mission Of The Catholic Media.” It was posted in the online edition of the official diocesan newspaper, the Catholic Key.
The bishop praised the work of the Key and went on to write:
In a different way, I am sorry to say, my attention has been drawn once again to the National Catholic Reporter, a newspaper with headquarters in this Diocese. I have received letters and other complaints about NCR from the beginning of my time here. In the last months I have been deluged with emails and other correspondence from Catholics concerned about the editorial stances of the Reporter: officially condemning Church teaching on the ordination of women, insistent undermining of Church teaching on artificial contraception and sexual morality in general, lionizing dissident theologies while rejecting established Magisterial teaching, and a litany of other issues.
My predecessor bishops have taken different approaches to the challenge. Bishop Charles Helmsing in October of 1968 issued a condemnation of the National Catholic Reporter and asked the publishers to remove the name “Catholic” from their title – to no avail. From my perspective, NCR’s positions against authentic Church teaching and leadership have not changed trajectory in the intervening decades. …
Finn seems to imply NCR has had bad relations with its local bishops since 1968. This has not been the case. Bishop Helmsing’s successors – Bishop John Sullivan and Bishop Raymond Boland – had cordial relations with NCR. Once Boland came to our Kansas City office and blessed our building as we consulted with him about use of new emerging media technologies. Later Boland spoke at NCR’s 40th anniversary ceremony in Washington, D.C.
In an email former NCR Publisher Sister of Saint Anne Rita Larivee, who was publisher at the time of Finn’s early years as diocesan bishop, remembers having respectful meetings with Finn. She wrote:
I personally visited with him in is office to welcome him to the diocese. We had a fine conversation. But during his first year, he made many significant changes within the diocese that caused many concerns for various groups. Because of these shifts in previous policies, NCR wrote a story about this period of transition – Dennis Cody (now NCR Editor) wrote the story. Again, I visited with Bishop Finn in his office to assure him that this was a story about the changes that had taken place, as NCR does with other diocese, but that it was not an article about him personally. …
After a local judge found Finn guilty last year of failing to report suspected child abuse involving a local priest NCR published an editorial calling on Finn to either resign or be removed from his position. NCR and other local news outlets, including the Kansas City Star provided ongoing coverage of the incident.
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