U.S. Catholic bishops buck tradition, choose N.Y. archbishop as president

[struggle4progress]

By William Wan and Michelle Boorstein Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 16, 2010; 8:12 PM

America's Catholic bishops pulled a shocker Tuesday in picking their new president, disregarding tradition and precedent by rejecting the current vice president and instead choosing a man seen as more outspoken and conservative.

On a 128-111 vote, the U.S. Conference of Bishops picked New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who heads one of the nation's most prominent dioceses, to be its president for the next three years.

He defeated Tucson Bishop Gerald Kicanas, who had been vice president and had faced a barrage of last-minute criticism in recent days over how he dealt with a priest who was accused of molesting more than a dozen boys and is now in jail. Victims' advocates spoke out against Kicanas, but the more significant opposition came from conservatives, who considered him too moderate in tone ...

"It signals that this is a very conservative body that's going to continue to play a major role in this country's culture wars," Reese said ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/16/AR2010111604368.html

[laconicsax]

1. Kicanas was more heavily opposed for being moderate than how he handled a rapist...

Hmm.

[mctpp]

2. Doesnt shock me

Right now the repubs are the "right" party, so any organization is going to become more conserv. to get the public backing. But what they fail to realize is that the Mid-terms is a low turn-out election. So what this does is puts all these mid-center, leaning-right out in the open and when we take over in 2012 those places are going to be hit hard.

[struggle4progress]

3. Decades of conservative appointments by the last two popes, more likely

[rug]

4. Dolan will be the next named Cardinal. It's simply cozying up.

[trotsky]

5. "instead choosing a man seen as more outspoken and conservative"

I'm sorry, but how can this possibly be seen as "a shocker"? The Catholic church has been lurching farther to the right for years.