The longtime editor of the Catholic News Service was unceremoniously fired by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops this week after he had tweeted criticism of the new North Carolina law that requires biological men to use the men’s room rather than the women’s room.
Tony Spence had tweeted “#LGBT protections get flushed as NC governor signs bill over #bathroomwars”
In a tweet about the veto of a similar bill by the Georgia Governor, Spence said, “Too bad the NC Republican gov didn’t call him last week for a consult.”
Reacting to a proposed religious freedom law in Tennessee, Spence tweeted, “Stupid evidently contagious. Tennessee tries to join MS, NC, IN in passing pro-discrimination laws.”
Spence praised a Catholic school that caved under pressure to let biological boys to pee in the girl’s bathroom.
Spence’s tweets were picked up by various Catholic blogs — The Lepanto Institute, Church Militant, and LifeSiteNews that called for his ouster. Within two days, Spence was gone.
The frequently dissenting Catholic publication National Catholic Reporter reported that Spence was escorted from the building of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops after being informed by Monsignor J. Brian Bransfield, General Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Catholic News Service is a program of the Bishop’s Conference.
The Catholic News Service has long been the bane of faithful Catholics as it has generally taken a politically liberal line and even drifted into areas of dissent in Catholic teaching.
Spence is bitter that his longtime foes finally took him down. He said he had received mean emails and tweets.
He said, “The secretary general asked for my resignation, because the conference had lost confidence in my ability to lead CNS. The far right blogosphere and their troops started coming after me again and it was too much for the USCCB.”
No mention that his tweets might have also offended his ecclesiastical bosses.