Biography of Bishop Lynch
Bishop Robert Lynch was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1941. He received his bachelor of arts degree from the Pontifical College Josephinum in Worthington, Ohio in May 1963 and his master of divinity degree from Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts in May, 1978. That same month, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Miami.
Bishop Lynch is known for his time spent as the General Secretary of the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB). His most recent assignment before coming to St. Petersburg was in Fort Lauderdale as the pastor of St. Mark Catholic Church. Previous assignments include associate pastor of St. James in North Miami, and rector and president of St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami. He was ordained a bishop and installed as the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg on January 26, 1996.
Bishop Lynch was appointed the Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Palm Beach, while remaining the Bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, on Tuesday, June 2, 1998. He remained administrator until Thursday, January 14, 1999.
This is just the background stuff. Anybody see any major red flags, or is this one just caught up in all the hoopla?
BISHOP BANS CATHOLIC ANSWERS LIVE
One of the most popular Catholic radio programs on the air, nationwide is Catholic Answers Live. The format is a call in show that addresses issues both within and without the Church. Answers given to listeners are solidly constructed on the teachings of the Magisterium. Are the people residing in Bishop Lynch’s St. Petersburg/ Tampa, Florida diocese allowed to listen to the program. Not any more! The following report is from a Tampa resident.
Dateline: Tampa/St. Petersburg —
March 2, 2001
For a good while, several years at least, here in the Tampa Bay Area, the local Catholic Radio station WBVM 90.5 FM has been running a nationally syndicated program called "Catholic Answers, Live," (CAL). The call-in talk show program is hosted by knowledgeable Catholic lay people who choose a topic for the day, give some comment and invite callers to call in and ask questions. It is common knowledge among interested Catholics that the local bishop Robert Lynch, does not care for the Catholic Answers Live opinion. He has gone out of his way to respond to the program and has, according to some, tried to get rid of it all together. The popularity of the show, which by the way runs in the evening drive slot, is the only thing that has kept Catholic Answers Live on the air.
The main problem for Bishop Lynch is call in complaints regarding questionable liturgical practices, rebel theologians and American distortions of what is said by the Pope and the teaching office of the Church, at times, point out the irresponsibility of leadership (i.e. bishops) in correcting wrongs.
Bishop Lynch recently cut Catholic Answers Live air time by putting local people on in the CAL spot reducing the program from five to three days a week. Listeners, upset by the change argued that the local hosts of the new, "Catholic Factor ( the re-placement program) could not deliver the same quality on the air.
On February 26, CAL ran a program which interviewed Deal Hudson, editor of the popular Crisis Magazine. Mr. Hudson has been involved in President Bush’s faith-based agencies funding program. Hudson was instrumental in gathering the bishops and archbishops together for the recent meetings with the president. (Miami’s Archbishop Favalora was among those at the meeting).
In the February program with Hudson, titled "The Catholic Press: Friend or Foe," among other things, Mr. Hudson and some callers lamented what they believed to be poor journalism by the Catholic News Service (CNS). CNS is the media/news arm of the U. S. Bishops. The gist of their criticism had to do with allegations from callers and concurrence on the part of Mr. Hudson that the CNS stories often times reflect an American slant more in keeping with the bureaucratic structures and position of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops than that of the Pope and the official teaching office of the Church, the Magisterium."
The February 26th program, seems to have exhausted Bishop Lynch’s patience as two days later in place of Catholic Answers Live, WBVM ran an announcement from Diocesan Communications Chief, Bill Urbanski, declared that CAL would no longer be broadcast on WBVM 90.5 FM. The reason given focused on the Feb. 26th show and its criticism of the NCCB vis-à-vis the CNS reporting. Urbanski declare this decision to be prudent but left open the possibility for a return of Catholic Answers Live in the future if the program would reflect more balance in its content. (end)
The Official statement of the Diocese of St. Petersburg, which, according to viewers, appeared on the diocesan web site for less than 24 hours stated:
"For some time we have been concerned about the editorial content of the program Catholic Answers Live...The content of recent programs on Catholic Answers Live has raised severe doubts about the loyalty of the National conference to the Pope and his teachings. When the truthfulness of our Bishop and his loyalty to the Pope and the Magisterium is brought into question, it is time to reevaluate the wisdom of broadcasting Catholic Answers Live on Spirit FM . . ."
Bishop Lynch appears to have a habit of taking things away. Some months ago he came under heavy criticism for severely restricting exposition of the Eucharist. It appears he is now determined to eliminate any views which are contrary to his vision of the Church. Heaven help Catholics if they have to rely on the bishop’s Catholic Factor program. Tapes of the program clearly reveal a modernist agenda has been set for the diocese. Just how much farther will Bishop Lynch, head of the Communications Department of the NCCB, go toward censoring people’s right to free speech?
The March 27th Factor transcript offers a clue. Bishop Lynch was the guest, Mary Jo Murphy, the host, Jim, the caller.
Jim: "...why Catholic Answers was removed totally from the airways? I know Bill Urbanski had said that there were claims that Catholic Answers was saying, you know, that the bishops were unfaithful to the Holy Father and , you know I really, in all my listening, never heard a comment of such and the particular program that was claimed to have that statement —that, that was the last straw. It wasn’t there, I just didn’t see it."
Bishop Lynch: Uh— Catholic Answers—Since you’ve asked the question I’ll respond to it. I’m probably not going to talk about it as long as you’d like Jim, because the station has given its explanation. I affirmed it. I won’t back away from it. I would have to tell you from the very inception when it came on the air, -uh, I had difficulty Personally I had difficulties with it because a lot of the things that we were embracing at the local Church and by that, by we, I mean lay people, my priest’s council, uh, were often called into question and derided. The Renew Program would be one of the things a couple of years ago, but I clinched my teeth and lived through that whole period. Ah, but I also began to see, and it, now some things they did very well and I want to say that up front. If they stuck with the area of apologetics, they did it very well—but when they ventured into, and Canon Law, the Thursday night programs on Canon Law I also thought very good. But when they got in some controverted areas or got a controversial person like Deal Hudson the editor of Crisis magazine — uh-and then they started taking off on the bishops conference as he did that night, and I heard it, and I’m not, I mean it pushed the envelope about as far. I just don’t think if a radio station is dedicated to building up the Church that you ought to have a program on there that tears down the Church. Now, would I have been assuaged if for example somebody from the Bishops’ conference, from the Catholic News Service was invited on to give a rebuttal, I certainly would have — that would be fairness. I mean we don’t, we’re not infallible as a group of bishops in this country, or as individuals, we don’t claim that for ourselves and we can make mistakes and we can also be criticized so please don’t misunderstand me, I think that but, I think fairness requires— I mean uh, uh, even the St. Pete Times on an issue like partial birth abortion where they editorialized in favor of the presidential veto ran four articles in three days op-ed, uh, saying that, that partial birth abortion was an abomination. I, I didn’t get the same treatment from Catholic Answers. That’s my problem with it. So if they achieve that balance, uh, and they see that and they will let some other people come who can either respond or perhaps lead it in a more balanced way, I’d be very open to its return. But, let me just end this, Jim. I don’t want to go on much longer about it, but just by saying that you don’t need the diocesan radio station to basically say bad things about bishops if you’re not going to balance some of those bad things...
Jim: What exactly was it...
Bishop Lynch: Well, now —I, I just don’t want to— I just don’t wanna, I think you know, I’ve answered the thing generically, it was a long thing over many years, and uh, I think I‘ve just...
Jim: There are several bishops which have been interviewed and backing, backed that program thoroughly.
Bishop Lynch: uh. Yes. But (laugh) there’s also some other bishops that have taken it off in their areas as well, or not supported it.
Mary Jo: (in the background) —Well
Bishop Lynch: The point Jim, is I think I’ve answered your question. My basic answer is we build up the Body of Christ, we don’t tear it down, and I found them tearing it down.
Jim: I just don’t know, I love you Bis
Mary Jo: Well, thanks for calling, Jim.
Jim: -hop, but I don‘t agree.
Mary Jo: O. K. Well, thanks for calling, Jim
Bishop Lynch: All right, Well that’s your prerogative.
Mary Jo: O. K. Great. And now we’re going to. . ..
Transcript provided by Faithful Catholics of Gulf Coast Florida. (contents)
I know I can sometimes do a lot of complaining w/o seeing the good that goes on in our parishes and dioceses and most importantly, in us. But there are a lot of problems and it seems to me that these programs serve a purpose - we know the chanceries and the usccb are filled with progressives pushing various agendas and there needs to be somewhere where we can ask questions and get honest answers instead of opinions or 'good' ideas.
How did guys like this become Bishops
I see one major red flag - this guy has NEVER left Florida after ordination; he’s been transferred from place to place between central and southern Florida, not even going to north Florida.