Bishop Morlino warns dissenters to stop — or else

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I hope it doesn’t rise to that level, but if it does, I hope that the good bishop decrees whatever sanctions he feels are necessary. I have been following this story via Fr. Z and others for a while now, and Bishop Morlino has been nothing but patient and, I have to say it, utterly pastoral about it. He has given the parishioners over a year and a half to sort this out, but people will still complain about being “unpastoral.”

I have read the correspondence between the several parishioners and Bishop Morlino, which is freely available on the diocesan website, and it seems clear to me that this is mostly the rotten and deformed product of the last few decades’ “Spirit of Vatican II” decadence. The bishop says plainly that he has received precisely zero substantiated claims of any breaches of not only the documents Vatican II, but the whole of Church teaching on the part of the priests. These men seem to be excellent priests, Catholic through and through, and I find it truly abhorrent that a portion of the parishioners feel it necessary to do what they are doing. Is there something wrong with priests trying to inject a bit of Catholic identity into parish life?

What makes me the angriest is that these parishioners have effectively destroyed their own parish school. That is truly reprehensible. As I see it, these are the results:
  1. A good academic education has been sacrificed.
  2. Even worse, the daily Catholic formation of many children has been thrown in the trash. Pray tell, where are these kids going to learn the faith? In public school? Hah.
Frankly, I think we will see more of this in the coming years. The Church seems to be rightly tightening up, and while in the end I think we will come out stronger and more triumphalistic than ever, there will be a good bit of pain along the way. This reminds me of the excommunications from Bishop Bruskewitz in the 90’s.

Let us pray for the priests and parishioners of this parish. God bless Bishop Morlino for being a no-nonsense leader.
 
It would be interesting to understand what changes have been made. While I don’t condone the dissenters’ actions it’s very poor form to introduce change in a less than tactful manner that antagonizes others.

Let’s say for example (and I have no idea if this was an issue or not) the priests only wanted male altar servers. OK, fine, that decision is well within their authority. But how was it implemented? Was it done in a aggressive, antagonistic, “We can do whatever we want!” manner or was it done with great love, tact and communication?

I cannot imagine for example a pastor speaking and writing about the need to do everything possible to faster vocations to the priesthood including choosing only males who might just have a vocation to serve Mass. Who would object to that? That’s a world away from simply deleting people from the serving schedule.
 
I stay completely out of parish politics. Big waste of time. Who’s right? Who’s wrong. Hard to tell. I just don’t associate with ANY of my fellow lay persons who are struggling to be a dominant person in the parish. I say: Let the deacons and priests run things. In extreme cases, a parish member can inform the bishop of something, but, then just let it be and move on.
 
Bartolome_Casas said:
I stay completely out of parish politics. Big waste of time. Who’s right? Who’s wrong. Hard to tell. I just don’t associate with ANY of my fellow lay persons who are struggling to be a dominant person in the parish. I say: Let the deacons and priests run things. In extreme cases, a parish member can inform the bishop of something, but, then just let it be and move on.
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In my parish these people tend to be very destructive (they drive people away from the parish) and almost exclusively female…
 
Jegudiel said:
It would be interesting to understand what changes have been made. While I don’t condone the dissenters’ actions it’s very poor form to introduce change in a less than tactful manner that antagonizes others.

Let’s say for example (and I have no idea if this was an issue or not) the priests only wanted male altar servers. OK, fine, that decision is well within their authority. But how was it implemented? Was it done in a aggressive, antagonistic, “We can do whatever we want!” manner or was it done with great love, tact and communication?

I cannot imagine for example a pastor speaking and writing about the need to do everything possible to faster vocations to the priesthood including choosing only males who might just have a vocation to serve Mass. Who would object to that? That’s a world away from simply deleting people from the serving schedule.
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I can tell you first hand that they did it in a loving way. Even a woman who, from all external senses, seemed to hate these priests, she left a meeting with them commenting TO THE NEWS how friendly they are, and how she gets the sense that they really care for her. They are some of the best men in the world. Now if a diehard liberal came out of a meeting from them like that, you know they are a special breed of priests… they are truly amazing.

And they’re creating tons of vocations already. I know at least 2-3 young men of the parish have already gone to their boarding school in spain, and plan to enter the order after finishing high school there. Seriously: 2-3 young men within a few years of arriving. That’s amazing. And there’s more in the works, I’d imagine.
 
YoungTradCath said:
The bishop says plainly that he has received precisely zero substantiated claims of any breaches of not only the documents Vatican II, but the whole of Church teaching on the part of the priests. These men seem to be excellent priests, Catholic through and through, and I find it truly abhorrent that a portion of the parishioners feel it necessary to do what they are doing. Is there something wrong with priests trying to inject a bit of Catholic identity into parish life?
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This is the biggest thing: They aren’t some group of quiet schismatics who think vatican II is evil. Read the part from the bishop’s letter with my underlining emphesis:

*I repeatedly responded to these claims by asking for concrete examples to be given of any straying from the doctrine and discipline of the Church. It is my duty to ensure that the authentic teaching of the Church is handed on, and I stand ready to make corrections where needed. To this date, however, I’ve received no examples of teaching or practice contrary to the teachings of the Church. I have received examples of permissible differences in style, and, as I mentioned above, I’ve received examples of human errors, which resulted in relational hurts. I have every confidence that your priests continue to stand ready to resolve any personal issues you might have. But I’ve not received a **single **substantiated claim of false teaching or of a liturgical violation. I am still open to receiving claims of such correctable errors (with suitable reference to the proper documents). *

The liberals are probably reading all the church documents (for the first time), just to find something to get these priests on… :d
 
Superamazingmom-- I’m sorry to hear that the school has to close. I made several small donations over the past couple of years even though I live… well a thousand miles away I’d guess.

Deo Gratias for Bishop Morlino in any case.
 
I am extremely happy that the Bishop is taking a stand for his good priests. Some Catholics are willing to crucify their priests to get their own way. Some parishioners use money to try to bring their pasters to their knees. Didn’t work here. The parishioners don’t run the parish. The Pastor is in charge, the parishioners need to accept this. I wish more Bishops would exercise their authority when the parishioners try to destroy the good name and reputation of the priests who shepherd over them.
 
superamazingman said:
I’m proud to call this heroic man my bishop: threatening to put an interdict on a parish where they are backbiting and destroying the priests, simply because they are faithful priests.

host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/bishop-morlino-warns-dissenters-to-stop-or-else/article_7b4c5820-9187-11e1-bd38-001a4bcf887a.html
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Reading that it sounds as if the priests have been incredibly arrogant in the actions when taking over a new church.

Priests should remember that they are our servants not our masters.
 
mikelionheart said:
Reading that it sounds as if the priests have been incredibly arrogant in the actions when taking over a new church.

Priests should remember that they are our servants not our masters.
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The servant is the master too_ like Jesus Christ. Priest role is to teach, to sanctify, and to govern, as a servant of the Lord. Same with the Bishop, and Holy Father. Think about why we call our pastor “Father”. He has authority over his parish . Think of the Good Shepherd gospel__that is what the pastor is.
The laity should, as all Christians, promptly accept in Christian obedience decisions of their spiritual
shepherds, since they are representatives of Christ as well as teachers and rulers in the Church. Let them
follow the example of Christ, who by His obedience even unto death, opened to all men the blessed way
of the liberty of the children of God. Nor should they omit to pray for those placed over them, for they
keep watch as having to render an account of their souls, so that they may do this with joy and not with
grief.
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Surely there was more involved than refusing girl altar servers and ending the practice of EMHC’s. Any other specifics?
 
YoungTradCath said:
I have read the correspondence between the several parishioners and Bishop Morlino, which is freely available on the diocesan website, and it seems clear to me that this is mostly the rotten and deformed product of the last few decades’ “Spirit of Vatican II” decadence. The bishop says plainly that he has received precisely zero substantiated claims of any breaches of not only the documents Vatican II, but the whole of Church teaching on the part of the priests. These men seem to be excellent priests, Catholic through and through, and I find it truly abhorrent that a portion of the parishioners feel it necessary to do what they are doing. Is there something wrong with priests trying to inject a bit of Catholic identity into parish life?
Click to expand...
Can you tell us how to access the correspondence on the diocesan website? This is fascinating to me.
 
mikelionheart said:
Reading that it sounds as if the priests have been incredibly arrogant in the actions when taking over a new church.

Priests should remember that they are our servants not our masters.
Click to expand...
Of course the secular media is going to make traditional conservative priests sound arrogant.

:rolleyes:

I know them first hand, and like a said above, they are the most loving men you’ll ever meet.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Surely there was more involved than refusing girl altar servers and ending the practice of EMHC’s. Any other specifics?
Click to expand...
A reverent liturgy celebrated according to the rubrics. That was one of the big things the people flipped over.
 
I firmly believe this is a key “battle” for this diocese. There’s a sizable liberal populous, and if the priests and Bishop stand their ground, it’ll show the liberals they can’t get their way by protesting like this. Like the good bishop said, their feelings are not what is most important. Their souls are what is most important, and these priests will care for their souls like they were their own.
 
  1. Areas of legitimate personal opinion/choices are rarely interfered with by the Bishop. However, while the bishop is not going to interfere with the pastor that doesn’t mean he won’t privately reprimand him for moving too fast or too abruptly but that’s never going to make it into the public domain, nor should it.
  2. It doesn’t appear, based on the bishop’s words, that much local dialogue has taken place and that another reason the Bishop will be reluctant to intervene. If the local community hasn’t even made a real effort to solve the issues on the local level then why should the Bishop swoop in?
  3. The allegations listed against the priests are rather vague. Its hard for the Bishop to act when there’s no specifics to confront. And the few specific allegations appear to all have been already resolved.
  4. I would be surprised if this resulted in any kind of “interdict” on any individual or group. These kinds of spats rarely rise to such levels and the Bishop made only passing reference to it.
 
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