KANSAS CITY (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Reaction to the announcement that Pope Francis had accepted Bishop Robert W. Finn’s resignation ranged across a wide spectrum Tuesday.
“There are some groups that I know are elated and overjoyed and there are some groups that are saddened by it. I think he did what he felt best for the diocese under the circumstances. I wish him the best and I will continue to pray for him.”
| Mike Murtha, a Finn supporter who has attended St. John Francis Regis Catholic Church in south Kansas City.
“Pope Francis’s removal of Bishop Robert Finn … is a good step but just a beginning. The pope must show that this decision represents a meaningful shift in papal practice — that it signals a new era in bishop accountability. But what no pope has done to date is publicly confirm that he removed a culpable bishop because of his failure to make children’s safety his first priority. We urge Pope Francis to issue such a statement immediately. That … would send a bracing message to bishops and religious superiors worldwide that a new era has begun.”
| Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director, BishopAccountability.org, a group that tracks the abuse crisis in the Catholic church.
“I still admire him deeply. I am saddened about his resignation and I feel a great deal of sympathy for him.… In the end, he got caught up in the cross currents of Vatican II. He did things differently than what a lot of people wanted…. He wasn’t like a political bishop but he was a holy bishop and he made some mistakes I found not so easy to forgive at first but I realized that he didn’t do this intentionally, it was a mistake and I wish the community could have forgiven him.…I know from the very beginning that in his heart, he was very hurt by his mistakes and the mistakes of diocese in how they handled it. He is a really good man and I really feel for him.”
| Jim Dougherty, a former Kansas City resident who now serves as a church deacon in Hawaii.
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