Bishop Martino's Resignation - 2 of 2

Bishop Martino’s Resignation – 2 of 2
In pursuit of the truth – www.cinopsbegone.com – Thursday, October 8, 2009

Prologue:
Let’s get real when we talk about pro-choice politicians; particularly one who is a Catholic-label politician. His support for abortion is only one-fifth of the truth. This guy or gal is totally a two A’s; two E’s and two S’s person. He and his Democratic party are supporters for partial-birth abortion/infanticide; assisted suicide; euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research; and same-sex marriage. Always, always keep that in the back of your mind when he or she sits next to you in church. All 5 are absolutely evil.

Yes, it’s all about SHUN, SHAME AND VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE IN 2010.
Here is part 2 verbatim of the editorial in The Catholic World Report, October 2009:
In another intolerable divisive move in February, Martino told three Irish-American groups that if they honored any pro-abortion politicians at their St. Patrick’s Day celebrations he would shut down St. Peter’s Cathedral on that day. Implicit in his threat to the groups was a warning not to invite the former Scranton local, Vice President Joe Biden, whom Martino had previously identified as a pro-abortion politician who could not receive Communion in his diocese.

But even more mortifying to many of Martino’s Episcopal colleagues than these incidents was his surprise visit last October to a parish forum on election issues where the statement “Faithful Citizenship,” issued by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), had been handed out. The forum organizers disregarded Martino’s letter on the subject and were touting the loophole in the USCCB document which approves of voting for a pro-abortion politician provided that supporting his pro-abortion stance is not the “intent” of the vote. {Aren’t loopholes wonderful! Ghk}

“No USCCB document is relevant in this diocese,” Martino shot back in response to a question citing that sophistical statement. “The USCCB doesn’t speak for me … There is one teacher in this diocese, and these points are not debatable.”
The backlash to this and other moments of his six-year tenure cause Martino insomnia and poor health. Perhaps if Martino had followed the “pastoral” style of those who presided at Ted Kennedy’s Catholic funeral service he would still occupy his Episcopal Seat. They, after all lost no sleep over and felt no sickness at the thought of honoring an aggressive unapologetic pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage Catholic politicians.

It is hard to imagine a more surreal and scandalous spectacle: here was the most pro-abortion president ever appearing at a Catholic Church to deliver a eulogy over the coffin of the most infamous Catholic politician ever, all before the eyes of millions of impressionable Catholics. Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s complacent presence provided the final touch.

The meaning of it all was not lost on left-wing columnist David Gibson, who saw in the Martino resignation and glorious Catholic Kennedy funeral a happy confluence of events, writing on the website “Politics Daily: “Whatever the ins and outs of the internal Church maneuvering, the upshot is that a leading voice in the anti-Obama wing of the Church hierarchy has been silenced while both Obama and Biden continue to take center stage. At Kennedy’s funeral {in August}, for example, Biden received communion while Obama gave a moving eulogy.”

At his final press conference, Martino acknowledged that “by the standards of the world perhaps I have been not successful here.” But what morally and spiritually serious bishop at this point would want to be.

He and other struggling bishops, who err on the side of orthodoxy, while colleagues congratulate themselves for worldly tact, may in time enjoy a post-humous success. Catholics a century from will surely look back upon this era of Episcopal accommodation as a disgrace and those few bishops who bucked it not as failures but as fallen shock troops of renewal

George H. Kubeck, Ordinary, orthodox and Magisterium Catholic: will never be silenced.