Bishop Robert C. Morlino - Profile in Courage

Bishop Robert C. Morlino, ordinary of the Madison WI Diocese is requiring a tape of a talk he gave to be played at all the Masses in the diocese this Sunday. The talk deals with 2 issues in the upcoming election, the Marriage Amendment & the death penalty referendums. It also deals with stem cell research.

Why is he taking the extraordinary step to get his message out. To quote from the accompanying Letter to Priests he sent with it: "My office has received reports that in isolated cases, priests have refused to cooperate with my requests in terms of preaching in defense of marriage and have even expressed disagreement with my clear wishes in this matter. Please listen to the enclosed message: it deals with the marriage referendum, the death penalty referendum, and the issue of embryonic-stem cell research."

He goes on to warn those priests who still might not try to undermine his efforts: "I must make it very clear that any verbal or non-verbal expression of disagreement with this teaching on the part of the priest will have to be considered by myself as an act of disobedience, which could have serious consequences."

The letter originally sent to the priests of the diocese with the header Personal and Confidential. At least 1 priest leaked a copy to the Wisconson State Journal. The result, according to the diocesan website: "Due to leakage and misrepresentation of this confidential letter from Bishop Morlino to his priests, he has decided to publish the letter in its entirety."

Bishop Morlino labels the message being put out about embryonic stem cell research offering the only hope & denying homosexuals the right to marriage as wrong as "BALONEY!" As he puts it: "That is the nicest thing I can say in Church." He later says: "There is a lot of it arround today. People who like baloney are having a feast."

His arguement against the death penalty points out that it is not necessary in the USA. This is based on what Pope John Paul said in Evangelium Vitae (56). "If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect public order and the safety of persons, public authority must limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person." (Quoting paragraph 2267 of the 1993 Cathecism)

Audio of Homily

I think the article about it on the LifeSite website puts it best. "At the conclusion of the exercise, the score stands at three-nothing for the Bishop. Not only will his message to the faithful get conveyed at all Sunday Masses this weekend, the general public has been alerted to the Bishop's concerns from the front page (above the fold) in the Wisconsin State Journal, and a second article in the paper has Bishop Morlino defending his actions."

Earlier in the month of October the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) filed a complaint about a brochure called Marriage Matters the diocese sent out about the marriage amendment to the Catholics of the Madison diocese. The WDC accused the diocese of electioneering. Bishop Morlino refused to back down & defended himself & the diocese. Instead he issued a media release. In it he called the WDC action as "an attempt to intimidate the Catholic Church." He also calls their actions "persecution".

“I wish only to protect the truth about marriage and to proclaim that there is no right to redefine marriage. I stand against denying anyone’s basic human rights, and as we move ahead in the future, I will do everything to support authentic human rights for all people. The right to redefine marriage is not one of those authentic human rights. I pray that the Lord will give our citizenry wisdom to act prudently and truthfully with regard to the marriage referendum.”

Bishop Morlino has shown that he will not be bullied nor undermined in his efforts by his critics & he will not be silenced by those who oppose him. God will surely bless Bishop Morlino's efforts.