DETROIT, January 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – One of the most radical bishops in the US Catholic Church has said he will refuse to offer his resignation to the Pope when he reaches mandatory retirement age next week. Thomas Gumbleton auxiliary bishop of Detroit since 1968, says that he will not be forwarding his letter of resignation to the Vatican when he turns 75. “It’s so arbitrary,” he says. “Some of them they ignore, but if you are the least bit progressive, they accept it immediately.”
In comments to the Toledo Blade, Gumbleton reiterated the socialist doctrine popular among leftist “Catholics” that the purpose of the Church is not the salvation of souls from sin, but the alleviation of material poverty. He said, “If you are saving souls one at a time you really aren’t going to get very far.” The Church, he said, ought to “transfer this world into as close an image of the reign of God, what the reign of God might look like, as possible.”
Gumbleton has made a career of championing every fashionable leftist cause that came along in the 37 years of his episcopate. Lately he has championed the efforts of gay activists to abolish Catholic teaching on sexual morality. Most recently, he was praised by the leaders of the Rainbow Sash Movement, a group that is attempting to change Catholic doctrine to accept homosexual acts. Bishop Gumbleton, “has supported our call for inclusion,” said a press release from the Movement.
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