NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      MILWAUKEE (CWNews.com) - The archbishop of Milwaukee said this week that the new Catholic Radio Network is not welcome in his archdiocese, because he said talk radio is less concerned with truth than controversy.

      Archbishop Rembert Weakland said the network is not welcome in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee. The San Diego-based Catholic Radio Network is completing the purchase of 10 radio stations across the US in a $57 million deal. In addition to Brookfield, the stations are located in Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Phoenix, Philadelphia, and Kansas City, Missouri.

      The archbishop said he is also concerned that the networks organizers, including Father Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press, are too closely connected with Mother Angelica, founder of the Eternal World Television Network in Alabama. "My feeling is we have enough divisions in the Church ... I find some of the people involved, especially Father Fessio, have been very divisive, and I just don't think we need that," Archbishop Weakland said. "Father Fessio ... gives in far too much to bishop-bashing and has been very opposed to anything that the Conference of Bishops is doing."

      John Lynch, chief executive officer of the network, said the decision by Archbishop Weakland both shocked and dismayed him. "I would hope that he would give us a chance to prove our worth," he said. "I think he also should go back to the Pope, who made a call last year to use the mass media to evangelize."