{"id":248,"date":"2009-09-01T21:37:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-01T21:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/martino-was-he-pushed-updated.html"},"modified":"2009-09-01T21:37:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-01T21:37:00","slug":"martino-was-he-pushed-updated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/09\/martino-was-he-pushed-updated.html","title":{"rendered":"Martino: was he pushed? — UPDATED"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few people are starting to think so. And that, at least, is the assessment of this commentary<\/a> over at Catholic Culture: <\/p>\n

No intelligent observer can credit the official explanation: that Bishop Martino retired because of health problems. The outgoing bishop openly acknowledged to reporters that he “clearly” was not suffering from any grave illness.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Clearly Bishop Martino was under a great deal of pressure, and therefore it is not difficult to believe that he suffered from insomnia and fatigue: the only medical complaints that were mentioned in the press conference announcing his departure. But while those are serious problems, they are not ordinarily serious enough to compel a motivated leader to resign. And even if insomnia had risen to the level of a serious medical problem, the question remains: Why was the bishop under so much pressure– the sort of pressure that could give rise to such serious problems?<\/p>\n

If anyone had lingering doubts about the question of Bishop Martino’s health, he had only to look carefully at yesterday’s announcement from Scranton. Auxiliary Bishop John Dougherty’s retirement was announced on the same day. The Dougherty departure, taken by itself, would have been completely unremarkable; at the age of 77, he was well beyond the ordinary canonical retirement age. But the fact that the two retirements were announced simultaneously leaves no doubt about what happened. It was a house-cleaning.<\/p>\n

Bishop Martino was pushed out office. Now we reach the tougher question: Why?<\/p>\n

Two different explanations have been put forward by informed observers. One school of thought says that Bishop Martino was too rough in his administrative style. He was a bull in a china shop, constantly making new enemies, needlessly causing division, refusing to act in a collegial manner and respect the advice of his brother bishops. The other school of thought says that he was simply too conservative for the tastes of his brethren in the US bishops’ conference– and especially for his metropolitan, Cardinal Justin Rigali, who has emerged as the most influential prelate in America today.<\/p>\n

Notice: Those two explanations are not mutually exclusive. During his tenure in Scranton, Bishop Martino made a series of unpopular moves: closing schools and parishes, busting a teachers’ union, denouncing pro-choice politicians, demanding assurances that Catholic universities were providing an authentically Catholic formation for their students. Many loyal Catholics would agree that some (if not all) of these moves were necessary, desirable, even praiseworthy. But were they done with appropriate tact and consideration for the good of the faithful?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out the link<\/a> for some more questions — and answers. <\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/b> Time magazine has now weighed in<\/a>, with more background and details and, of course, speculation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few people are starting to think so. And that, at least, is the assessment of this commentary over at Catholic Culture: No intelligent observer can credit the official explanation: that Bishop Martino retired because of health problems. 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