Five things you didn’t know about St. Louis’s new archbishop
Some things you didn’t know about St. Louis Archbishop-elect Robert Carlson, whose appointment was announced this morning by the Vatican:
- By the time he was 16-years-old he’d lived in 13 different houses.
- He traveled to St. Louis for 1999’s papal visit, but couldn’t get tickets to Pope John Paul II’s Mass at the Cathedral Basilica.
- Former St. Louis Archbishop John May got him tickets to the 1987 World Series between the Cardinals and the Twins when Carlson was an auxiliary bishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis.
- He’s interested and involved in ecumenical efforts.
- As of today, he’s a Cardinals fan. “I know exactly which side of my bread is buttered,” he told the Post-Dispatch after his first press conference. “Though I may have to go to confession for having booed them in the past when they’ve come up to Minnesota.”



Tim Townsend has been the religion reporter at the Post-Dispatch since June 2004. He previously covered personal finance and consumer news for The Wall Street Journal. He holds master's degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Divinity School. In 2005 he won the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award, given by the Religion Newswriters Association.
What I want to know is whether he will continue Burke’s obsession with abortion to the exclusion (truly, to the outright detriment) of all other issues, and whether he will continue to use Communion as a weapon to enforce obedience to a certain political point of view. I really couldn’t care less which baseball team he roots for.