Kansas City Star editorial writer Yael T. Abouhalkah’s mother should have told her son to mind his own business. He writes for the notoriously anti-Catholic newspaper, the Kansas City Star, and recently lectured Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas about his decision to have Bishop Robert Finn preside at two ordinations that took place last month; Finn recently resigned as Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and Naumann is the apostolic administrator of the diocese.
Archbishop Naumann recently celebrated the ordination of priests in his own diocese on the same day that the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph held its ordinations. That is why he asked Bishop Finn to preside over his former diocese. As well he should: not only is Bishop Finn a bishop in good standing in the Catholic Church, he is a holy man who has done a magnificent job in securing bright and able men to the priesthood. Indeed, the number of men he has galvanized to become priests makes Finn the envy of bishops in much larger dioceses throughout the nation.
All of this upsets Abouhalkah a great deal. He called the decision to empower Bishop Finn to preside over the ordinations “repulsive” and “reckless.” Bill Donohue called Abouhalkah’s condemnation malicious, obscene, and intrusive. Catholics no more report to the Kansas City Star than its employees report to the Catholic Church. We respect those lines. Would that the Star do likewise.
