Seattle Socialists Unleash Anti-Papal Hatred

Liberal Catholics Unload Anger
Can't Wait Even a Day to Attack Pope John Paul II


The socialist wing of the Catholic Church has long had a strong grip on the Seattle Archdiocese and worse, on the coverage it receives in Seattle's daily newspapers.

As ultraliberal local Catholic leaders defied the Vatican on a variety of issues, they could always count on the papers to be on their side.

These obnoxious socialist Catholics, from the stealth Canadian province of Seattle, were a constant pain in the rear for the Pope. Nothing was more pathetic than witnessing lobbying against Tim Eyman's tax-cutting initiatives during mass on "moral" grounds.

Sure enough, the Seattle Times checks in with a predictable assessment of the Pope's "behind the times" tenure, with some attempts at balance. The story actually begins with positive comments from supporters, but quickly degenerates into special-interest agendas and bashing.

Yes, a story about the Pope's tenure should be balanced the way Tu has done, but it's a bit early to go after him in this way. Give it a day or two, he just passed away hours ago.

Beyond that, would the passing of other, non-Catholic, spiritual leaders require stories to be "balanced" this way?

No.

Essentially, if a mob in Seattle thinks the church should change its views, then it must do so or it is bigoted, backward, you name it. In this story, his hate-filled critics qualify their statements with faint praise, allowing for his health condition at the time of interview, then unleash their real feelings:


(Seattle Times- Janet Tu- April 2, 2005)

Carrie Sheehan of Seattle said she supported the pope's stance against the death penalty, his spirituality and his sensitivity to the beliefs of others. But she disagreed with him on issues such as ordination of women and reproductive rights.

"In society and culture, the role of women has changed," she said. "But the church has not kept up with that."

James Weston, president of Dignity/Seattle, a group for gay, lesbian and bisexual Catholics, admired the pope's outreach to other denominations and his world travels. But "he's not been nearly as pastoral in his approach to gays as he could have been."

Weston cited a 1986 Vatican letter to the nation's bishops that called homosexual activity immoral and warned church leaders not to allow groups that disobey church teachings to use church facilities. Dignity was one such group. And Dignity/Seattle, which had sponsored a weekly Mass at a Seattle church since 1980, was removed from sponsorship.

"With this conservative pope, it seems the church is really coming down more and more on gay and lesbian people," Weston said.

Louise McAllister, a local member of the progressive Catholic organization Call to Action, said while she agreed with the pope's opposition to capital punishment and the war in Iraq, "at the same time, he took a lackadaisical approach to the pedophile scandal" and "packed the ranks of the hierarchy with conservative bishops."

She had felt hopeful, she said, in the wake of Vatican II, which she saw as calling lay Catholics to have a greater voice in church governance. She also had hoped it would lead to greater discussion about ordaining women and making celibacy optional for priests.

But John Paul II "just stymied everything," McAllister said. "I think of it mainly as there was a momentum going and he put the brakes on."

In the Seattle Archdiocese, some Catholics have strong feelings to this day about the Vatican's intense scrutiny of Hunthausen in 1983, when it launched a two-year investigation of the archbishop for ignoring or deviating from official church teachings in several areas.

For some Catholics, especially liberal-minded ones, the investigation was seen as part of a larger effort by the pope to retain power in the Vatican, ensuring that local churches around the world followed church orthodoxy.

After the investigation concluded Hunthausen was too lax about such issues as divorce, homosexuality, liturgy and education of priests, the Vatican requested that Hunthausen surrender control in those areas to an auxiliary bishop appointed by the Holy See. It was an arrangement Hunthausen later deemed unworkable.