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In a recent post on his TheoCon blog, Catholic writer Deal Hudson wonders aloud whether Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis was punished by his fellow bishops for being so conservative and outspokenly pro-life. It’s a fair question, but I doubt that it is true given the other candidate that Burke lost to - auxiliary bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago. The two ran for chairman of the Committee on Canonical Affairs and Church Governance.

Hudson quotes Fr. Thomas Reese, S.J., to say that it is “very unusual” for an auxiliary to beat an archbishop in such elections. For starters, let’s remember that Fr. Reese is not a source that a conservative should be quoting too authoritatively. Fr. Reese said of the same bishops’ meeting: “Can a Catholic in good conscience vote for a candidate who is pro-choice? What they are saying is, ‘Yes.’”

Anyway, I highly doubt Hudson/Reese’s thesis that Archbishop Burke was defeated because the other bishops wanted to minimize his profile and authority. First off, don’t discount the fact that he was in Rome, not Baltimore, for the meeting.

Second, Bishop Paprocki is a civil and canon lawyer and a solid conservative. Last month, Bishop Paprocki called for a new approach to tort claims against the Catholic Church that would limit their liability.

Third, for those who worry that Paprocki will not take a strong stand on communion: Bishop Paprocki is an auxiliary professor at Loyola University Chicago Law School. When the Law School decided to give its distinguished alumni award to pro-abortion Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Bishop Paprocki called for the University to rescind the award and invitation.

Fourth and finally, Bishop Paprocki was responsible for amending Faithful Citizenship at the meeting to reflect the reality of America’s ongoing war on terror:

Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Chicago, for example, proposed adding a reference to “the continuing threat of fanatical extremism and global terror.”

“The reference to the ‘roots of terror’ reflects a naïve understanding of the global phenomenon of jihaidism and fanatical extremism,” Paprocki said from the floor. “Those the coalition forces are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere are not the poor and oppressed seeking to throw off their chains, but jihadist fanatics who believe they’re doing God’s will.”

Paprocki said that Pope Benedict XVI recognized these realities in his lecture at the University of Regensburg in September 2006, and that the U.S. conference should do the same.

Plus, on top of all that, Bishop Paprocki is a hockey stud.

P.S. I have added a new category as of today: “Here I Stand.” It’s the new home for all of the religious commentary that I engage in … in the past I’ve put it all in “Ministry of Strategery,” because much of it was about politics and religion. I will do my best to keep the purely religious, like this, out and separated in this new category.

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