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| The above graphic is from this article which gives more background on Bishop Morlino and the rocky relationship he has with the faithful in Madison, WI. |
Bishop Robert Morlino must be getting desperate for a new color beanie. Actually, he's really be working at this for quite some time. This link will take you to past posts I've written about Morlino's attempts to curry favor with the Pope and 'pastor' his flock in Madison. This time he is now threatening Canonical sanctions for the laity of a parish in Platteville, WI who are none too happy about the very traditional foreign priests Morlino invited in to minister at St Mary's Catholic Church back in June of 2010. There was a serious clash of culture from the get go. Bishop Morlino has now raised the stakes.
Bishop Morlino warns dissenters to stop — or else
Madison Catholic Bishop
Robert Morlino has moved to quell a backlash against a group of
conservative priests in Platteville by warning parishioners they risk
formal church censure unless they stop spreading "rumors and gossip."
The action by
Morlino, which two Catholic scholars called highly unusual, appears to
include the possibility of offenders being prohibited from taking part
in church sacraments such as communion, confession and burial.
The warning
came in a five-page letter Wednesday from Morlino to St. Mary’s Catholic
Church in Platteville. The congregation has been roiled by opposition
to the traditionalist priests, who began serving the parish in June
2010.
Within months,
church donations fell by more than half, and about 40 percent of the
church’s 1,200 members signed a petition seeking the priests’ ouster.
The church’s 77-year-old school is set to close June 1, a loss many
parishioners tie directly to the collapse of donations.
The letter, in
which Morlino raises the prospect of invoking the church’s Code of Canon
Law against dissenters, has stunned many parishioners.
"There’s almost
shock and awe," said Myron Tranel, a member of the church’s finance
council. "But mostly, there’s a lot of disappointment that the bishop
has decided to deal with it this way."
Others applaud the bishop’s move, saying decisive action was needed because criticism had gotten out of hand.
"This is a
warning shot across the bow — you either want to be a Catholic or you
don’t," said Gregory Merrick, a member of the church’s pastoral council.
Diocesan
spokesman Brent King said Morlino’s main message is that this should be a
time of "prayer, serious introspection and forgiveness." The specific
texts from the church’s code of law were included precisely so that they
may never be needed, King said.
"The bishop’s caution that ‘this cannot continue’ should not be made into anything more than that — a caution," King said. (Last I checked, the word caution was not synonymous with 'threat'. This is a threat.)
Standing by the priests
The priests are
from the Society of Jesus Christ the Priest, a group known for
traditionalist liturgy and devotion to strict Catholic teaching. They do
not allow girls to be altar servers or allow parishioners to assist in
distributing communion. Critics say they emphasize doctrine over
pastoral care and institute changes in a heavy-handed way.
Morlino has
stood by them and did so again in the letter to parishioners, the
primary purpose of which was to announce his decision to accept the
parish’s recommendation to close the school. The priests have admitted
"that they undertook some changes in a way that was abrupt for many
people," Morlino wrote, yet he said no one has provided concrete
examples of the priests straying from church doctrine. (When this first erupted and donations dropped to half what they were, Morlino stated he would do everything to keep the school open. At the time I wrote that 'everything' would not include money and the school would have to close.)
In the end,
"the Catholic faith is being taught according to the proper
understanding of the Second Vatican Council, and what remains are
personal likes and dislikes, along with inflated rumors and gossip, some
of which may even rise to the level of calumnious inciting of hatred of
your priests, the faith and myself," Morlino wrote. (Operative words are "and myself".)
Where there are
those who work to "incite hatred," there "may need to be more formal
warning and action," Morlino wrote. An addendum cites many church laws,
including one in which anyone who publicly incites animosities or hatred
toward church authorities "is to be punished by an interdict or other
just penalties."
‘A very severe penalty’
The term
"interdict" carries great weight in Catholicism, said the Rev. Steven
Avella, a history professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee and a
Catholic priest. "Interdict is a very severe penalty that effectively
prohibits the Catholic sacraments from being celebrated," he said.
The penalty was
widely used in the Middle Ages and sometimes employed in the early
years of the United States, he said. It has been used sparingly in
recent history, he said. "Sanctions and penalties of this kind would
only be a last resort — a sort of ‘nuclear option,’ if you will."
Dennis Doyle, a
Catholic theologian at the University of Dayton in Ohio, said it is "a
very unusual situation for a bishop to invoke the possibility of
canonical penalties."
"This is a
situation where push has come to shove and the bishop is asserting his
authority and letting the people know, as it were, that he ‘owns the
buildings and calls the shots,’" Doyle said.
Being
interdicted differs from being ex-communicated in that the person under
interdict is still considered a church member, Doyle said. (Like divorced and remarried. You can look, but not touch.)
Questions over intent
Terry Busch, a
church member who has been vocal in his opposition to the priests,
wonders if he’s a target of the bishop’s message.
"There’s
nothing I’ve ever said that isn’t true, but it sounds like if you say
anything about the priests or the church, they’re coming after you," he
said. "Now I don’t know exactly what that means. Do they send you to
hell or take you to court?"
King, the
diocesan spokesman, said that he would not engage in any "what if"
speculation and that parishioners shouldn’t either, as it would only
make healing more difficult. "The question of hypothetical penalties,
for hypothetical crimes, is not one we will entertain," he said.
Even though the
school will indeed close, "our hope is that, very soon, healing can
come to the St. Mary’s Parish community, through prayer and
forgiveness," King said. "That might sound idealistic, but in Christ, it
is very possible." (The forgiveness will have to be a one way street. The Diocesan spokesman didn't use the word 'reconciliation' which entails a two way street.)
Meanwhile,
parishioners are trying to sort it all out. Rosemary Anderson, a St.
Mary’s member who recently started attending services elsewhere, said
St. Mary’s parishioners aren’t rebels and aren’t trying to make some
grand statement.
"Platteville,
Wisconsin, is not the hotbed of revolutionary movement in the world,"
she said. "We just want our parish community back." (You are now because your bishop intentionally decided to make you such.)
Even if the
bishop were to take away her ability to participate at St. Mary’s, "he
cannot take away, hurt or lessen my spiritual relationship with God,"
she said.
Merrick, a
parishioner who supports the priests, said the church does not seek
blind loyalty and is not eager to come down hard on people, yet basic
rules and doctrine must be enforced.
"The church in the last 50 or
60 years has been very reticent to use its weight to corral people into
toeing the line," he said. "The reason the bishop had to do this is that
there was just a great deal of backbiting and meeting behind the scenes
going on. (This from a man on the 'pastoral' council. Bring on the cattle trucks.)
Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/bishop-morlino-warns-dissenters-to-stop-or-else/article_7b4c5820-9187-11e1-bd38-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz1tOm4EmnT
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Here we go for real, right back to the middle ages. Oh wow, threatening--eergh I mean issuing a caution--to interdict upset laity has got to be the most mind boggling thing that has come down the Catholic pike in the last three weeks. And there has been a lot of mind boggling things come down that pike the last three weeks. My poor mind is truly boggled. Actually, it's not that boggled since this is the action of one Robert Morlino who has never made a mistake he couldn't twist to make himself the victim of his own poor judgment.
There is one thing about this story should give the True Believers their own note of 'caution'. While they may get off on the thought of their less True Believing fellow parishioners being 'pastorally' threatened with Interdict, they should also note the closure of their school. They should note this for two reasons. The first reason is they can not financially sustain their version of Trentan Catholicism on their own. The second reason is their True Believing bishops won't let loose with any Diocesan money to help them keep their schools and physical plants. Not only will True Believers inherit their wished for 'leaner and meaner' Church, they will also inherit a much smaller, less competent, less capable of providing needed services church. And they will still have to support the life styles and fantasies of their bishops. In this case, Morlino is still planning to build his 70 million dollar Cathedral to replace the one that burned down in 2005. Obviously there is no money for any school in Platteville and there was never going to be.
Rather than re evaluate a decision that placed very conservative priests in the wrong area, Bishop Morlino is threatening the nuclear option. It's hard to believe the desire for altar girls and lay Eucharistic ministers and some lay input into decisions effecting the parish is enough to bring on the threat of interdict. This is all about the use of naked power and who has it and who doesn't. As now as it ever was, forever and ever. Amen.
