KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter
Oct. 21, 2019
By Fr. Peter Daly
The former bishop of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, represents the worst in the corrupted tradition of the priesthood over the centuries. He saw the church and its resources as his personal plaything. He saw the people of the church, both clergy and laity, as his servants. He sees himself as a feudal lord. Unlike Jesus, he did not see himself as a servant, especially to the poor.
Bishop Michael Bransfield is not alone. There are many other bishops and priests like him. They are the spiritual heirs of the Borgias and the Medici.
Before Bransfield went to West Virginia, he was the rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., for 15 years. There, at the largest Catholic Church in North America, he got accustomed to access to enormous amounts of money and to powerful friends. He also employed and hosted many young seminarians and priests from various seminaries and religious houses that surround Catholic University of America.
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