Despite resignation, Bishop Finn to ordain priests next month

Despite resignation, Bishop Finn to ordain priests next month April 28, 2015

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Despite announcing his resignation a week ago, Bishop Robert W. Finn will preside over the priestly ordinations of seven deacons next month in the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese.

A diocese spokesman Monday cited a scheduling conflict that prevented the new temporary leader of the diocese, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, from ordaining the seven men on May 23 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City.

Naumann, who continues to lead the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, will preside over ordinations scheduled for the same time in Leawood, Kan.

Longtime critics of Finn expressed agitation over the bishop’s continuing role in a diocese from which he stepped down under a cloud of scandal.

“Good grief. It’s appalling,” said Michael Sandridge, who was among the plaintiffs in 32 sex-abuse lawsuits against the diocese that were settled in 2014. “Like the good ol’ boy network all over again.

“… What did his resignation mean? Nothing, really,” said Sandridge, a Kansas City resident who alleged he was raped by two priests about 30 years ago.

Finn, 62, resigned April 21 for reasons unspecified by him and the Vatican. Pope Francis accepted the resignation several days after Finn visited Rome.

During that visit, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect for the Congregation for Bishops, was made aware of the upcoming ordinations and recommended that Finn lead the Missouri ceremonies, diocese spokesman Jack Smith said.

Naumann, whom the Vatican selected to administer the diocese until Finn’s permanent successor is named, delegated Finn to ordain the priests after conferring with the papal nuncio, the pope’s ambassador in Washington.

Naumann told The Kansas City Star on Monday, “If I could have done the ordinations (on the Missouri side) myself, I would have.”

But beyond his own scheduled duties to ordain four priests during the same morning hours that the Missouri ceremonies are underway, the archbishop said he wanted to respect the wishes of the seven men who trained under Finn’s tutelage.

“There is closure on this,” Naumann said in a phone interview. “Bishop Finn resigned, and the Holy See has accepted it. But he doesn’t disappear from the face of the Earth. … He still is a bishop.”

 


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