There Is Never Enough Blood to Satisfy the Enemies of the Church

St. Louis Catholic
May 5, 2015

http://stlouiscatholic.blogspot.com/2015/05/there-is-never-enough-blood-to-satisfy.html

The group SNAP, which uses the sex abuse scandals in the Church as the cudgel for promoting itself and its own agenda, has moved into the truly Orwellian today. Not content with the sacrifice of Bishop Robert Finn, the Kansas City leader of SNAP is calling for the disciplining of Fr. Gregory Lockwood for the grave crime of defending Bishop Finn in print.

Thoughtcrime. Hate speech.

You see, a faithful bishop cannot even be defended by a faithful Catholic priest or layman publicly, or they'll go after him, too.

SNAP has decided that Bishop Finn is a bad man. Therefore, anyone who defends him must also be a bad man. We see this line of "reasoning" in other contexts these days by other groups with similar tactics: Bake that cake! Perform that sodomite marriage! Desecrate that Eucharist! Offer up that incense to Moloch!

Or else.

The SNAP press release is excerpted below, and I have (several responses):

MO--Victims want KC priest disciplined for defending Finn

(Oh yes, the "victims" want this. Not the professional victim-creators, oh no.)

In a stunningly (not) callous letter to his parishioners, a Kansas City pastor is (not) misleading Catholics, (not) re-victimizing adults and (not) endangering kids by (not) deceptively defending a convicted bishop and attacking the motives of those who feel betrayed by him.

(On the contrary. The only people in this incident who are seeking to make political hay out of, and "re-victimize" those who may have been abused, are those whose very mission depends upon the existence of abuse victims. Fr. Lockwood's letter is not misleading and is in fact quite charitable. But what's one more good man to destroy?)

In a letter to members of Christ the King parish on Wornall Road (written on church letterhead), Fr. Gregory Lockwood claims that Bishop Robert Finn faced a “politically motivated charge” filed by “an ambitious prosecutor with strong ties to the abortion industry.”

(That is absolutely true.)

The priest also claims that in the Fr. Shawn Ratigan case, church officials “never had any impulse to cover up.”

Fr. Lockwood also claims that many of those who are upset with Finn are “nasty,” say “mean” and “vicious” things about him and part of a “mob scene.” (Quod erat demonstrandum.)

“The issue was never the Ratigan affair,” Fr. Lockwood writes, but rather some sort of ideological crusade because Finn is conservative. He thus impugns the motives of those who care about kids, about truth and about deterring crimes by holding criminals accountable.

(The motives of many of them are very much up for some well-deserved scrutiny. Bravo to Fr. Lockwood for saying so.)

[...]

This is wrong and hurtful on so many levels. ("Wrong and hurtful". Welcome to the level of public discourse in 21st Century America.)

[...]

And third, it endangers kids by fostering a hostile climate for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers, making it less likely that child molesters – clergy or otherwise – will be reported, exposed, prosecuted, convicted and kept away from kids.

Somewhere in Christ the King parish there’s a 14 year old girl who is being molested by her uncle. He tells her “If you speak up, no one will believe you.” Then she sees her pastor, Fr. Lockwood, publicly defending a proven enabler. She decides “My uncle is right. Adults side with adults. I won’t be believed. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

And her abuse continues.

(Wow. I don't know whether to be more amazed that Fr. Lockwood holds such sway in the reporting of abuse by his letter writing activities, or that SNAP knows that somewhere in Christ the King parish there is someone who is being molested by her uncle. Do they really know and have decided not to report it themselves, or is this some kind of clumsy rhetorical device? Is it possible they have already put out next year's abuse statistics for SNAP fundraising efforts?)

[...]

Archbishop Joseph Naumann should publicly and harshly discipline Fr. Lockwood to deter this kind of callousness now and in the future.