Quoted:
I've got a solution for the Catholic Church: institute an all-female clergy [;D]

BY JOHN SHIELY
Friday, June 14, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT

MILWAUKEE--As America's bishops gather in Dallas this week, they will confer on the troubles of their church without the official advice of the Most Rev. Rembert Weakland, until recently one of their most celebrated colleagues.

In May, the Vatican accepted Archbishop Weakland's resignation after it was revealed that he had paid $450,000 in hush money from church funds to a man who accused him of "date rape." [red][...][/red] the archbishop delivered his mea culpa at a special prayer service here. Amazingly, it was greeted with a 90-second standing ovation.

Well, I sure didn't feel like applauding. A few years ago I had an unpleasant close encounter with the former archbishop.  It had nothing to do with his noncelibate waywardness, but it did show a contempt for his constituents, the kind of  contempt that allows a prelate to misuse church funds, secretly defying the trust of those who had provided them.

[red][The National Catholic Reporter attacked Mr. Hiely's company, Briggs & Stratton, for moving some work overseas.][/red]

Not long after, Briggs & Stratton filed a libel suit against the National Catholic Reporter and began taking depositions. Lo and behold, we discovered that the archdiocese was a prime mover in the attack, as a reporter's notes revealed. A top archdiocesan official had spoken with the writer in an extensive interview that included polemical comments about Briggs & Stratton's layoffs and noted my Catholic affiliation. Under oath, the official denied recollecting that the interview had anything to do with Briggs & Stratton. [red][...][/red]

In another letter I confronted the archbishop with the depositions. He responded in a curious way. "I do hope you don't find yourself dragged into more and more unpleasantness . . .," he wrote to me. "The diocese has taken no personal stances concerning Briggs & Stratton and its executives and I do hope that we will not be forced to do so in any way." [red][...][/red]

These are the tactics of a man who thinks he can manipulate people, and public opinion, to his liking--and under the specious protection of secrecy and implied threats. The archdiocesan official had explained to the writer from the National Catholic Reporter--so we learned in discovery--that Archbishop Weakland often chose to pursue certain matters through intermediaries. For example, the official said, the archbishop had not wanted to get personally involved in the handgun debate, so he pursued it through the Interfaith Conference. Apparently the same tactic of activism-by-proxy was at work in our case.

Quoted:
Why don’t you crawl back into the sewer you slid out of.