Do you fear that it might one day run dry, that the capacity of God to “entertain” and “thrill” your soul with Christ will soon dissipate as eventually do all earthly pleasures? Then you have not yet considered the inexhaustible resources for joy in the inexhaustible heart of God.
Sam Storms

ArchbishoP Raymond Hunthausen

ArchbishoP Raymond Hunthausen

ARCHBISHOP RAYMOND HUNTHAUSEN

POST VATICAN II From YEAR OF THE WARNING, Vol. III, p. 14 (distributed by Our Lady of Roses Shrine, Bayside, NY). “Archbishop Raymond Hunthausenm of Seattle suggested last June (1981) that Americans protest the nuclear arms race by withholding 50% of their taxes (something under three percent of each tax dollar goes to nuclear weaponry). For good measure, the archbishop referred to the nearby US Navy Base for ballistic missile submarines as `the Aushwitz of Puget Sound.'”

From CATHOLIC NEW YOPRK, 3/12/87. “Key Church Officials of the Seattle Archdiocese and the Pacific Northwest met March 6 and 7 with the Vatican’s special commission (Cardinal O’Connor, New York; Cardinal Bernardin, Chicago; Archbishop Quinn, San Francisco) assessing the Church situation in Seattle following the division of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen’s authority.”

SECULAR JOURNALS From Minneapolis STAR AND TRIBUNE, 9/24/86. “Hunthausen, who has been accused of tolerating liberal practices in marriage annulments, liturgy and other shheres, was ordered by the Vatican this month to relinquish much of his authority to an auxiliary bishop (Wuerl).

“Priests and others in the Seattle archdiocese have begun petition drives seeking restoration of Hunthausen’s powers. Laighi (apostolic nuncio) said the effort was pointless. (Another priest had said, `The church is not a democracy.’

“One of the nation’s most influential Roman Catholic bishops, Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, has strongly questionned the Vatican’s efforts to impose a stricter orthodoxy on the American Church by disciplining leaders who dissent.

“It was the first time a leading American bishiop has criticized a series of Vatican actions such as those against Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen of Seattle, the Rev. Charles Curran of ther Catholic University, and others.

“Weakland asserts that in the pursuit of purity of doctrine there is a need `to avoid the fanaticisism and small-mindedness that has characterized so many periods of the church in its history – tendencies that lead to much cruelty, suppression of theologiacal creativity and lack of growth.’

“Without mentioning names, the liberal archbishop pointedly challenged the scope of the Vatican’s campaign of orthodoxy. Although Weakland has refrained from direct comment on the Hunthausen and Curran matters, his office mailed the columns to several reporters who had asked him for his thoughts.

“In interviews, at least two other bishops, Leroy Matthiesen of Amarillo, Texas and Thomas Gumbleton, auxliliary bishop of Detroit have criticized ther Vatican decisions. But they do not have the stature of the scholarly Weakland, 59, the former head of the worldwide Benedictine order of monks.”

From St. Louis POST-DISPATCH, 10/11/86. “If the Vatican continues to move against liberal American church leaders with disciplinary measures, large numbers of U.S. Cathoilics may break with the Church, says a Catholic archbishop. Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee says that the growth of a mentality similar to the one that developed in recent decades in Holland is a definite possibility if the Vatican continues to interfere in U.S. church affairs.

“Weakland is one of the nation’s most influential liberal bishops. He is the only bishop in the country who has publicly come to Hunthausen’s defense.

“Surveys show a majority of U.S. Catholics hold views that differ sharply from church leaders on divorce, birth control, marriage for priests and the ordination of women.

“`The whole American society is anti-institutional and they bring that attitude to the church,’ Weakland said,.

“In Amarillo, Texas, Bishop Leroy Matthiesen urged workers in a local armaments plant to quit rather than continue to assemble nuclear warheads.

“Further quote from Weakland, `How vast the uneasiness is out there among priests and lay people.’

From the Lewiston, Maine DAILY SUN, 5/28/87. “Seattle archbishop restored by Vatican. The Vatican has agreed to restore full powers over the Seatle archdiocese to liberal Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen, but a panel of U.S. prelates said Wednesday that doctrinal and liturgical aberrations must be resolved.

“Pope John Paul II also named Bishop Thomas Murphy, 54, of Great Falls, Montana as coadjutor, or assistant, to Hunthausen. Murphy’s duties were not immediately clear, but normally a coadjutor eventually would succeed the 65- year-old Hunthausen.”