You are here: Home » Featured » Outspoken Conservative Catholic Abruptly Resigns Post as Bishop

Outspoken Conservative Catholic Abruptly Resigns Post as Bishop

09/02/09- Bridgette P. LaVictoire
When Scranton, PA Bishop Joseph Martino went into the Vatican recently it was not so much a social call as the end of his career.

This past Monday Bishop Martino tendered his resignation 10 years before the mandatory retirement age in the Catholic Church. It is unlikely that his resignation was voluntary. The vocal critic of the Democratic Party in the United States, especially pro-choice politicians, has begun to anger many within the Catholic faith including many of his own parishioners.

During the election Bishop Martino called for the denial of Communion to all politicians who supported abortion rights and a more liberal social agenda.

He was one of the most vocal critics of Notre Dame when they invited Pres. Obama to speak at their commencement, and he publicly attacked both VP Biden and Sen. Bob Casey who are both Catholic. VP Biden is pro-choice, but Sen. Bob Casey is pro-life. Sen. Casey’s opposition to abortion rights makes him stand out in the Democratic Party, but that does not mean that he has been rabid in pursuit pro-life legislation. When Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania invited an openly gay writer to speak at their university, Bishop Martino was vocal in his condemnation.

Bishop Martino threatened to close the cathedral on St. Patrick’s Day if any of the Irish-American organizations included pro-choice politicians in the celebrations. He ordered that VP Biden, who was a candidate at the time, not be given communion in any of the parishes within his diocese.

Just before the election he disrupted a voter education meeting to go over a variety of issues in order to lambaste them for voting for any issue other than abortion. He also went after Sen. Bob Casey Junior for his vote to confirm Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius to the position of head of Health and Human Services.

Bishop Martino’s resignation shows a very different crack in the Catholic Church than we have seen in many other religious organizations in the Western world. Unlike the Anglican, Lutheran, and Methodist churches, the question in the Catholic Church is less about the social agenda put forward by the Catholic hierarchy, but more about the church’s role in politics. In Maine, the heavy amount of money donated to the attempt to overthrow Maine’s marriage equality law has earned the Catholic Church in that state the ire of many parishioners who may not necessarily believe in same-sex marriage but who are looking at the struggling religious schools and the shuttering of many schools and churches due to lack of funds.

For many, including many in the clergy, the Catholic Church should stay out of politics. They remember a time when Catholics were seen as being evil people who sacrificed children on their altars. Even some of this anti-Catholic sentiment remains in America today with many Christian Conservatives perpetuating many of those same beliefs that once threatened to derail the presidency of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. There was also a time when the Catholic Church paid out of politics outright, and any priest who openly attempted to interfere in politics was removed from their parish and sometimes from the clergy. It is possible that Pope Benedict is beginning to understand the risk that he faces in trying to get involved not only in American politics, but the politics of the Western world. In recent months Pope Benedict has been trying to come to some accommodation with the Obama Administration regarding various policies and is trying desperately to extricate itself from the political scene before too many Catholics walk away from the church.