Senior editor DLH winters in Florida, within Bishop Lynch’s diocese, and is familiar with his writings
Robert Lynch, Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the wake of the Orlando massacre, was moved to write a letter to the Bishop of Orlando. (see text of letter here)
While the murderous rampage, which took place in a gay nightclub, was perpetrated by an admitted Islamic Jihadi,
Bishop Lynch’s letter revealed a slightly different take. His Excellency deplored the “tragedy” as he passionately identified what he believed were the causes:
– 1) Not enough gun control
– 2) the “targeting” of gays and lesbians by religions, including Catholicism, and,
– 3) calls to “bar Muslims” from entering the US because of their faith, until they can be “checked out”. According to Bishop Lynch, that’s “un-American”.
The Prelate’s heartfelt thoughts have, predictably, gone ‘viral’, perhaps because the Bishop endorses a liberal position on guns and his willingness to accept blame on behalf of his own religion and all those Catholics who use “offensive language” to target LGBT folks. (Radical Islamic terrorism? What’s that got to do with anything?)
Bishop Lynch is reported to believe it is not appropriate for “ministers to get politically involved”.
However, the Bishop writes a tedious, windy blog which seems to do exactly that. Presuming that the purpose of the blog is to inform his flock on his interpretations of church teaching and his advice to the faithful, without getting “politically involved”, one can read that,
– Only “people in the Armed Forces should have assault weapons” and that “too many guns…(are)…available, too readily accessible.” In an interview he opined that “the Second Amendment protects and gave us the opportunity to bear arms, but not in the elimination of others”. (Our comment: “Huh?”)
– With reference to Pope Francis’s encyclical last summer, “Laudato Si”, which promotes the notion of “man-made climate change” and the political measures to deal with it, Bishop Lynch ponders whether “Florida’s two candidates for the presidency (Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio) will remain as negative to the… (Pope’s)… letter’s themes and propositions”. “I hope not”, Lynch writes, “because without change, history will record that…this pope got it right”.
– Regarding the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), “I was both thrilled and grateful for the upholding of the device most recently used to help the poor gain access to health care”, Lynch wrote. He noted that “the Bishops of the United States in general, and himself in particular, have long been in favor of universal access to health care which has been achieved IN PART (caps ours) by…” Obamacare. (Bishop Lynch stipulated that he did “have troubles with certain aspects of the Affordable Care Act and their requirements upon employers like “ourselves”…” but the Court’s decision was “good”.
– On the SCOTUS decision on gay marriage, Bishop Lynch wrote that the “Florida bishops have known for some time the constitutional amendment passed by our state electorate in 2008 would for sure not pass in 2016”. And while Lynch is aware that “some predict further challenges to the church as we assert time and time again that our definition of sacramental marriage is between one man and one woman”, he is very confident “that’s not going to change”!?
– Bishop Lynch also believes, as he writes, that “the death penalty is an assault on life inconsistent with the will of the Creator.” He adds, “Believe me, good reader, its days are numbered”.
Finally, as noted earlier, Bishop Lynch is greatly troubled that even the Catholic religion “…targets, mostly verbally, and also breeds contempt for gays, lesbians, and transgender people. Attacks today on LGBT men and women often plant the seed of contempt, then hatred, which can ultimately lead to violence”.
Lynch exhorts his flock to practice “social justice”…be more open to…“solidarity”; respect for human dignity; rights of workers/just wages; the just distribution of goods and natural resources; environmental stewardship; a preferential option for the poor, marginalized, social outcasts, etc.”
I searched the good Bishop’s blog throughout the summer of last year, but no where did I find even the slightest reference to the Center for Medical Progress’s revelations regarding the Planned Parenthood’s shocking abortion activity. Oh well, nothing of interest there, I guess.
This is the Catholic Church today. Bishop Lynch is 75 years old and by Church rules must retire next year. Those who follow him will likely reflect many of his views. Like Pope Francis, his view of the world and the role of the Catholic church is in conflict in many ways with the teachings I was exposed to for most of my life as a Catholic. Though he claims to believe “ministers should not get politically involved”, Bishop Lynch does little more than spout the talking points of one particular political party’s line. Few Democrat party hacks preach the line as enthusiastically and glibly as Catholic Church “leaders” like Bishop Lynch. His guiding theological principle seems to be “times they are a-changing…and so must we (as well as Church doctrine)”!
DLH
