Are Vatican Sharks Purging Orthodox Bishops?

Why Bishop Finn but not Cardinal Danneels?

Bishop Finn's "crime" was that he delayed reporting a priest with child porn on his computer. There was never an accusation of his covering up sex abuse. Danneels, on the other hand, did cover up sex abuse (including his own nephew!) for years. But he is still A-okay while Finn was purged. Is this the Vatican administration of the long knives? In with the progressives out with the orthodox?

Here's Finn's real crime:

At the National Catholic Reporter, the Kansas City-based flagship of the radical progressivists in the U.S. Church, Michael Sean Winters has all but admitted that Finn’s departure was the result of a campaign by a cohort of progressives. NCR clashed with Finn for years, and the bishop insisted the paper should cease identifying itself as Catholic....

Winters continues, “Kansas City had a long tradition of lay involvement in the workings of the diocese, dating back before the Second Vatican Council and its emphasis on the priesthood of the baptized. That tradition was ignored. Lines were drawn between the culture of the Church and the ambient culture.” The culture, in other words, that trumpets radical feminism, homosexuality, abortion, contraception and longs for a Catholic Church emasculated and guided by the secularist agenda. 

Clearly, Finn’s “flaw of hubris” was mainly that he was interested in restoring traditional concepts, like the priesthood of the ordained and a moral order in accordance with the Natural Law, to Kansas City that until 2005 had long been firmly and comfortably in the hands of post-Vatican II, 60s’ radicals. Finn’s rejection of the “ambient culture,” particularly of the acceptance of abortion, contraception and homosexuality, was the real sticking point for the NCR crowd.

Keep an eye on who's in and who's out at the Vatican. It would be nice to think politics doesn't play a part in faith, but Church history tells a widely different story and many saints died over Church/state politics: Joan of Arc, Thomas More, John Fisher, and Thomas a Becket to name a few.

When a member of the left, like John Allen, suggests a purge is going on, my thumbs start to prick:

The suspicion that Finn is the victim of an “ideological purge” was put forward recently not by conservatives but by John Allen, the former star of NCR, now associate editor of Crux, the Catholic news magazine of the Boston Globe. Shortly after the close of the 2014 Synod, Allen wrote of the possibility that Finn was one member of an “enemies list” held by Pope Francis, of those prominent prelates who would oppose a swing to the left in the Church....

“Many on the Catholic right can’t help but suspect that the recent preponderance of conservatives who’ve found themselves under the gun isn’t an accident,” Allen continued. “Some perceive a through-the-looking-glass situation, in which upholding Catholic tradition is now perceived as a greater offense than rejecting it.” 

Pope Francis needs to issue a clear statement of his intentions to clarify the speculation, Allen said. “Otherwise, the risk is that a good chunk of the Church may conclude that if the pope sees them as the enemy, there’s no good reason they shouldn’t see him the same way.”

What a thought! Please pray for the pope and for Holy Mother Church, the poor battered bride of Christ. And no matter what, don't jump out of the boat. The sharks circling in the water don't offer a viable alternative; just a painful, bloody end.