Denver, Colo., Jun 15, 2011 / 04:00 am
Corrected June 15, 2011 at 1:45 p.m. MDT. Corrects error in headline.
Catholic leaders are calling a recent National Catholic Reporter article "ludicrous" for criticizing Kansas City Bishop Robert W. Finn in the context of a discussion about scandal-plagued figures such as New York Rep. Anthony Weiner and French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
In her June 8 piece entitled "Who are these guys and where did they come from?" Phyllis Zagano discussed four prominent men who've made headlines for alleged or admitted sexual indiscretions. In a column touching on Weiner and Strauss-Kahn along with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar, she also raised concerns about Bishop Finn's failure to deal swiftly with a priest who possessed questionable photos.
Zagano's essay compared Bishop Finn to the four figures in politics and finance, who she said lacked "respect for women, or anyone else for that matter." After analyzing a series of chauvinistic and obscene behaviors she chalked up to "testosterone," the former Fordham University professor abruptly zeroed in on the Bishop of Kansas City: "Where did Finn come from, anyway?"