Bishop in the Doghouse

The 1986 meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, at Washington’s Capital Hilton Hotel, was scheduled to debate the bishops’ controversial pastoral letter on the economy. But the pastoral was unexpectedly upstaged by what everyone was calling “the Hunthausen affair.” That affair brought the American bishops as close to an open break with Rome as they have ever come. Not very close, as it turned out, but close enough.

Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle has made national headlines before, but for different reasons. He is an inveterate pacifist and anti-nuclear protestor who has called a locally based nuclear-armed submarine the “Auschwitz of Puget Sound.” He withholds half his income tax in protest against this country’s military stance. He condemns the American “lifestyle” of “outrageous wealth and power,” saying it invites nuclear war. To some he is a prophet, to others a kook.

JS

About the Author

Joseph Sobran

Featured Tags

The 1986 meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, at Washington’s Capital Hilton Hotel, was scheduled to debate the bishops’ controversial pastoral letter on the economy. But the pastoral was unexpectedly upstaged by what everyone was calling “the Hunthausen affair.” That affair brought the American bishops as close to an open break with Rome as they have ever come. Not very close, as it turned out, but close enough.

Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen of Seattle has made national headlines before, but for different reasons. He is an inveterate pacifist and anti-nuclear protestor who has called a locally based nuclear-armed submarine the “Auschwitz of Puget Sound.” He withholds half his income tax in protest against this country’s military stance. He condemns the American “lifestyle” of “outrageous wealth and power,” saying it invites nuclear war. To some he is a prophet, to others a kook.