The editor-in-chief and director of the U.S. bishops’ official news service resigned Wednesday at the request of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference general secretary.
Tony Spence, who had worked for Catholic News Service since 2004, had publicly criticized religious freedom and bathroom privacy legislation on his Twitter feed.
The news comes mere days after the Lepanto Institute issued a report highlighting Spence’s controversial tweets, wherein he had called religious freedom laws “pro-discrimination” and “stupid.” LifeSiteNews ran an article on the report Tuesday.
“The far right blogsphere and their troops started coming after me again, and it was too much for the USCCB,” Spence told the National Catholic Reporter Thursday. “The secretary general [of the U.S. bishops’ conference] asked for my resignation, because the conference had lost confidence in my ability to lead CNS.”
NCR’s Dennis Coday writes:
Bloggers from websites of The Lepanto Institute, The Church Militant and LifeSiteNews.com posted stories in the last week that accused Spence of issuing “public statements decrying proposed legislation in several states that would protect religious freedom and deny men pretending to be women the ‘right’ to enter women’s bathrooms.”
According to the newspaper, following a meeting with Msgr. J. Brian Bransfield, the general secretary of the bishops’ conference, “Spence was escorted from the conference office building without being allowed to speak to his newsroom staff.”
Go here to read the rest. Isn’t it interesting how many professional Catholics truly despise what the Church has stood for over 2000 years?
Interesting but not surprising. Leftists have been colonizing institutions like C. difficile colonizing an immunosuppressed octogenarian’s gut in a 3rd world hospital.
The left has been effectively attacking the Church from the outside and by way of infiltration for decades.
Not decades, centuries. I presume the feckless USCCB had to be pressured to get rid of this dolt.
I am surprised he wasn’t promoted or received a gentle slap on the hand. His thinking would line up with my bishop’s anti-gun, anti-death penalty, pro-illegal immigration stances, and several others I’m sure. “Mr. Spence said some things some find objectionable. They have called for his resignation. But in this year of mercy, we forgive him for speaking publicly. His punishment is 5 days paid leave to think about what he has done.”
There was a time many decades ago when I might have naively believed the bishops were actually trying to clean house of the diabolical inclinations within…but I can now only assume that this was closer akin to an embarrassment that needed a transparent Band-aid.
[…] Diocese of Phoenix Combats Crisis of Men in the Church – Stephen Beale, Natl Cthlc Register Anti-Religious Freedom Editor Removed as Editor of Catholic News Service – D. McClarey J.D. D.A. Devon Anderson Accused of Colluding w/ P.P. to Charge David Daleiden […]